Reviews

*Thank you to Knights Of for sending me a copy in exchange for an honest review!*

I'm pretty sure the review I've written is almost as long as the book itself. Damn. Unintentional, but I really struggled to try and put my feelings about this book into words because they were so mixed.

I love the concept behind the book and I can really appreciate what its purpose was and what was trying to be done here - it just didn't work for me as much as I wanted it to. I can see how others might fall in love with this story, but it just fell a bit flat for me. It was good, but nothing I want to scream about. I think most of my feelings stem from how rushed it felt.

I think though this book as marketed as young adult, it definitely fell towards the younger end of that spectrum. It honestly felt more like a middle grade book, despite the characters supposedly being 15. They didn’t really feel like they were 15 in their mannerisms or their speech, and the writing style was very dialogue centred. For the ideas presented in this book, I would have loved for it to have been matured.

Because this book was so short, it made for really quick pacing. It was easy to get into and keep entertained by, because it kept moving forward really smoothly. I read it in just over an hour and it’s definitely something you can binge. CCW also really shone through here in how funny and charming some of this dialogue could be. These characters aren't with you for long, but they have such bright and unique personalities they’ll resonate with you. Empress and Aniya feel like complete opposites but somehow compliment each other perfectly, I loved their dynamic and how they came together throughout the story. I think it captured the coming of age and the angst of growing up well - there were moments in here I found extremely relatable from my own adolescence. It was well captured in that sense.

This book touched on a lot of important things like poverty, classism, bullying and multiple forms of racism. While the inclusion of these issues was great, we never get anything deeper than surface level. For the most part, they’re briefly brought up in a couple of sentences and then dismissed without ever being addressed. And the feelings of the characters in relation to these things are never really delved into either. I just think it was such a wasted opportunity and it really could've added complexity and depth to the narrative.

The relationships in here were a high point for me, probably the best thing about this book. Aniya’s parents were so supportive and really made an effort to try and connect with Aniya through the turbulence of her adolescence, and help with Empress. It was so sweet to see. Obviously, the friendship/sisterhood between Empress and Aniya was the show stopper here, though I think more character development could’ve been on page. On the first page we’re shown Aniya to not be very receptive to having Empress as a friend but a couple of pages she’s doing anything and everything for her - it just felt a bit haphazard. The thing is, there weren’t really many pages in this book to really allow for the development either.

The magical realism element came completely out of the blue with no real explanation but hey - I don’t really wanna criticise that. To be honest it was fun and made for an interesting turn of events so I don’t really care about the logistics of it really, I loved it. The only thing that I will say is that I’d maybe have loved it from the beginning instead of for a short period halfway through? But it was wacky and unexpected and a fun element.

My main hang ups about this book really are the size of it and the ending. I really don’t know how to feel about the last twenty pages or so. The plot just felt like it got a bit far fetched, a bit too dreamlike and utopian and completely unrealistic. Listen, I KNOW we had magical spells and I wasn’t hung up about that but this… I don’t know how to feel but I don’t have ridiculously positive feelings I don’t think. I get it’s for a younger audience so we want easy, quick problem solving and the ultimate happily ever after but it just didn’t work for me here at all. I like the optimism but it just came out of nowhere and seemingly solved everything without actually talking bluntly about the issue at hand properly.

I wish it was longer to actually dive into the issues it brought forward, it feels like the outline of some amazing story but feels incomplete. I still love CCW and know this book will be a favourite for some people, just unfortunately not me. It is a tiny gem and raises some great points and I love the overarching theme of kindness and friendship, but it needed more for me.

hanjohn21's review against another edition

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emotional mysterious medium-paced

3.5

myevergrowingbookshelf's review

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4.0

I loved it! Empress and Aniya were such great characters! I loved the idea behind the book, I mean who didn’t love the film Freaky Friday? And a little bit of a witchy spell for an October read…perfect timing! I’m not exactly a big fantasy person, so this is how I like my magic in books