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grace_yin's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Blood, Child abuse, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, and Physical abuse
Moderate: Vomit, Kidnapping, and Torture
Minor: Sexual violence
ghostlyprince's review
adventurous
dark
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Trafficking, Classism, Injury/Injury detail, Slavery, Blood, Child death, Child abuse, Grief, Hate crime, and Torture
Moderate: Abandonment and Kidnapping
Minor: Sexual violence and Confinement
booknerdbetty's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Trafficking, Violence, Torture, Slavery, Death of parent, Child abuse, and Blood
ashlightgrayson's review against another edition
adventurous
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
This story feels like an Anastasia retelling within a fantasy world. Princess Anastacya Mikhailov is on the run as she has been framed for her father's murder. The story has a pretty fast pace as we start off with her going in disguise to a prison. She is there to question Ramson, a convicted criminal who may have information about the potential culprit of her father's murder. To say that Ramson and Ana don't like each other is an understatement. However, they end up having to work together to escape the prison and make a deal that is mutually beneficial for them. The beginning of their relationship like this gave an easy way to kickstart the plot. You are given the information you need to understand what's going on and left to learn the rest as you go along with the story. I sometimes appreciate this form of storytelling more than having an info-dump, especially in young adult fiction. However, that is just up to preference.
There are different kinds of magic in this world called Affinities and those who have these abilities are often trafficked illegally for profit. This aspect of the world is supposed to be analogous to human trafficking in China according to the author (the author is Chinese). Her familiarity with the topic shows through the world-building. I felt like it was reasonably well done.
The main weakness I found in the story was Ana's character development. Her worldview often felt naive and sheltered. She has had a very privileged life and has not been exposed to the corruption present in the empire, but I feel that for her age she should be more self-aware of the political system her family was overseeing. There are women in positions of political power in the story, so her lack of access to this information secondary to her gender isn't really at play here. Her awareness of human trafficking within the empire also makes it harder for me to believe that she is surprised by other forms of corruption within the empire. This wasn't a detail terrible enough to ruin the story for me, but it did suspend my disbelief a bit.
Overall, I feel like this story has a lot of potential to be developed more in the second book. I'm looking forward to seeing the relationship between Ransom and Ana change as their priorities have changed after this first book.
There are different kinds of magic in this world called Affinities and those who have these abilities are often trafficked illegally for profit. This aspect of the world is supposed to be analogous to human trafficking in China according to the author (the author is Chinese). Her familiarity with the topic shows through the world-building. I felt like it was reasonably well done.
The main weakness I found in the story was Ana's character development. Her worldview often felt naive and sheltered. She has had a very privileged life and has not been exposed to the corruption present in the empire, but I feel that for her age she should be more self-aware of the political system her family was overseeing. There are women in positions of political power in the story, so her lack of access to this information secondary to her gender isn't really at play here. Her awareness of human trafficking within the empire also makes it harder for me to believe that she is surprised by other forms of corruption within the empire. This wasn't a detail terrible enough to ruin the story for me, but it did suspend my disbelief a bit.
Overall, I feel like this story has a lot of potential to be developed more in the second book. I'm looking forward to seeing the relationship between Ransom and Ana change as their priorities have changed after this first book.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Slavery, Trafficking, Child abuse, Torture, Murder, Genocide, and Child death
Minor: Sexual violence
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