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4.07 AVERAGE
4.07 AVERAGE
adventurous
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
tense
fast-paced
This is bloody brilliant! 5 star read
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Oh my goddddd this book was made for me. I absolutely LOVED it!!! I am a simple girl who loves YA fantasy. I don’t even care that every stereotypical trope was used in this, I completely ate it up.
- 17 year old FMC ✅
- love triangle with two prince brothers ✅
- hated bad boy illegitimate prince who only has a soft spot for the FMC ✅
- snarky and charming bisexual twin brother ✅
- trials ✅
- elemental magic ✅
- a hinted at gay subplot ✅
It’s been so long since I’ve been this excited about a series. The ending set the rest of the series up so nicely and I cannot wait to see where it goes next!!!
- 17 year old FMC ✅
- love triangle with two prince brothers ✅
- hated bad boy illegitimate prince who only has a soft spot for the FMC ✅
- snarky and charming bisexual twin brother ✅
- trials ✅
- elemental magic ✅
- a hinted at gay subplot ✅
It’s been so long since I’ve been this excited about a series. The ending set the rest of the series up so nicely and I cannot wait to see where it goes next!!!
I enjoyed this; there were parts that frustrated me but it was a quick and easy read and I am intrigued by the premise and will probably read the second one if I still remember it in a year
adventurous
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
TLDR The prose is nice and it reads quickly and well, but the world building and character dynamic feels pretty surface-level.
"It hurts, knowing that they look at me and expect more. They expect cloudbursts and flash floods and downpours and rainstorms.
But I am only drizzle."
First of all, the prose is lovely. Both lyrical and grounded. It shows, how much better the author is at writing narration rather than dialogue. Even when I was kinda losing interest, one nice paragraph would pull me in.
It has elemental magic, which is always a win for me, and the concept of government automatically changing every ~25 years to keep it young and strong is really interesting.
I struggled with Blaze as a MC often; she's very woe is me, not very quick to catch on, and straight up hypocritical when it comes to Fox ("I shouldn't trust him, he's dangerous, he killed so many" Girl, who are YOU again ?? Unbelievable). It's fine, I guess, because it's understandable. She has not stepped a foot outside her family home in 17 years, has no social skills, and is hated by pretty much the whole kingdom. But I like my FMC with a bit more backbone.
It still started really well, because once again, the concept is good, Blaze's position as someone who caused the death of so many, while feeling guilty for it but also grieving for powers she can't seem to call forth anymore is interesting, her dynamic with her brother is really sweet; so far so good.
But slowly, the romance kind of takes over. And, to my horror, there's a love triangle. And slowly but surely, while her powers problem gets solved too easily, and the trials don't feel like that big of a deal either, so much of Blaze's actions and internal struggles is about her feelings.
And that specific aspect of the story is the least original one.
It's a classic dynamic, with a sweet boy, and a rude one. You know the trope.
I get the imagery in there, with a relationship based on pure, innocent feelings of comfort and not much else vs a person who has had a similar experience to you and that makes them understand you, but the way you both reacted to that experience turned you into two very different people. That's interesting in its own right. I just don't think the triangle was necessary.
Escepecially because the way it's resolved was dumb and upsetting.
Now, I said it's surface-level for several reasons
The character dynamic.
Blaze has never had friends. So when she ends up in the competition, and meets the other Heirs, there's a found family trope being set up, and Blaze herself mentions how she feels loved and accepted, but we never really see those relationships develop. It's a couple of moments, they get mentionned together, but it doesn't FEEL deep. It's just being described as deep.
Even with one of the love interest, who is mentionned to be a literal slaver early one, it's brushed aside, just mentionned a couple more times later on like oh yeah, and to add to the list of reasons that's a bad idea, he's also a slaver. My dude, that's a BIG REASON.
There's a real worldbuilding background there, with groups of people with different magic, history, gods, slavery; big, important themes. And yet so much of it is brushed aside to focus on teen romance and parties.
Parties that happen every day btw. Also a reason it feel surface-level. The parties just feel convenient to have characters be forced to meet, and then abruptely end when it's done, regardless of whatever else was going on.
And finally, the mere concept of those teenagers taking over the government. The Heirs that win will be the news ruling royalty. We have at least two 17yo and a 15yo. And while they train for the trials, there's not a single class or lesson on, you know, ruling?
The ending sets up a book 2 that would hopefully explore a lot more of the worldbuilding, but I'm not sure I'll get to it.
adventurous
dark
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This book felt like it took forever to read. I had it checked out on Libby, then by the time I had to return it there was an 8 or so week wait, then my fairyloot edition was running late on arriving, so by the time I got it, and finished it, it took me almost a month to read the whole thing. In all honesty, it was a very easy and fun read. The trail trope got me has gotten a little boring in my opinion but Murray found a way, like Roberts, to make it interesting. Though, one of my biggest qualms with the book was the characters names. I personally felt like there were a little too on the nose for me. Also, Balen at the end was getting on my nerves to be honest, how he kept using a weird nickname to call the fmc in every sentence he spoke. Now, look, I swear I enjoyed this book. The world building was so much fun and I really enjoyed the lore, though at times it was a little complicated to follow. I really can’t wait to see what happens next