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4.06 AVERAGE
4.06 AVERAGE
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
adventurous
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Strong 2 star/ very weak 3 star book, unfortunately.
While book one started slow and became increasingly better in the last half, this book started strong and became slower and weaker with every page. In my opinion, a weak finish is much worse than a slow start!
Lia: was fine in this book. In the beginning it seemed that her character had developed from book one and that she had learned to be quiet and calculating when it is necessary, which I was so happy about. But throughout the book she was constantly developing backwards and started having random and stupid outbursts again. Also, a character dies at the end and it was 100% her fault and really stupid imo. It just really annoyed me.
This book did ao little for her character development which was so frustrating after the well laid out arc of the first book in the series.
Kaden: I was soo excited to see Kaden's character develope further in book two, but he was just stuck tbh. It felt like Pearson was afraid the reader would favor Kaden over Rafe if he was given the character arc he needed so desperately. Somehow, this led to him having basically no arc at all and the decision that everyone was waiting for him to make - Lia or the Komizar - never truly happened. This left his arc feeling uncompleted and me, the reader incredibly disappointed. It felt like I had spent so much time learning to care and root for this character throughout the first book, only for the author to say 'but he is not the love interest. See, Rafe is sooo much better. Care for him more'. That is not how it works Pearson. You have to actually *make* me care for Rafe, not make me not care for Kaden.
Rafe: Annoying. I said what I said. His character is bland and boring and if he wasn't in love with Lia, he would literally not be in this story at all!!!!! Like, he has zero purpose. He doesn't do anything, at least nothing helpful. Him handing himself over with Lia at the end of book one does nothing but cause immense problems for Lia. Like, it *literally does not help her*!?
Also, he has no character traits, really. It's so weird, because it is obvious that Pearson *wants* me to like him, but she doesn't bother giving him anything?
He doesn't have a real backstory, aside from some mentions of him being similar to Lia in wanting to prove himself as a soldier blablabla. It is never even explained why he wants to prove himself so desperately.
He has no character arc, he is exactly the same person as he was in book one - aka a handsome guy whose only character trait is that he is in love with Lia. And that is not a character trait?!?
He can't change because there is no space in the story for him to do so. I was hoping throughout the book that he would turn out to be the Gale (Hunger Games) type who turns corrupt and bitter or that he would trade Lias life for his comrades/ his country in some turn of events, so that his arc is that he loves his country before anything or idk *anything* to make this character interesting. I was ready for him to turn evil if that meant he would do something other than love Lia. He was so annoying and I was wishing for him to die, honestly.
Love triangle: Look, would I have preferred Kaden to become an Anti-Hero type and fir ger to choose him, yes.
But I would have been just as fine with Kaden not being a lobe interest at all. His character is not as dependent on Lia as Rafe's is and he can be a character within the series on his own.
He could have saved Lia in book one to save his own humanity, the last shred of good in him that he is still clinging on to, without any mention if him loving Lia.
And then, maybe, Pearson would have given him a decent arc and storyline in the second book If she hadn't been so afraid that this - much more interesting and thought-through - character would turn the reader away from the most boring love interest of all time.
Rafe and Lia are instant love and uninteresting and cringe and I just simply don't believe their love. It feels like they are both teenagers who think the other is handsome and that's it. There is literally nothing that draws these two together? Their love story is so rushed and stupid, i fucking hate it.
Side-Characters: There were so many and I cared very little for them. Their stories felt rushed and it was painful to watch Pearson sideline all the characters we had met in book one, like Eben, Griz, Finch and even Malich. Why make us care about them for 200 pages in book one, If they serve little to no purpose in book two?
It felt like she had too many ideas for characters and just smashed them all into one book.
I can't care for 30+ characters. There were just so many and they got so little time dedicated to them in the second book that I couldn't bring myself to care for them.
It also ruined the plot twist at the end where one of them dies for me, cause I quite literally didn't give a damn.
Plot: The plot felt both dragged and rushed somehow? It felt like I, the reader needed more time in Venda to truly care about it and understand why Lia starts to care. At the same time, her being imprisonment for the entire book made the story so slow and dragging.
I believe the book should have been split in two and then there could have been an entire third book dedicated to Lia (not as a prisoner, maybe on the run) convincing the Countrypeople in Venda that she is the chosen Jezelia from that song after succeeding in book 3 to master her gift.
Half of Venda loving her after she said a couple words felt rushed and unrealistic to me.
Overall, I was left incredibly disappointed after the really strong finish of book one.
While book one started slow and became increasingly better in the last half, this book started strong and became slower and weaker with every page. In my opinion, a weak finish is much worse than a slow start!
Lia: was fine in this book. In the beginning it seemed that her character had developed from book one and that she had learned to be quiet and calculating when it is necessary, which I was so happy about. But throughout the book she was constantly developing backwards and started having random and stupid outbursts again. Also, a character dies at the end and it was 100% her fault and really stupid imo. It just really annoyed me.
This book did ao little for her character development which was so frustrating after the well laid out arc of the first book in the series.
Kaden: I was soo excited to see Kaden's character develope further in book two, but he was just stuck tbh. It felt like Pearson was afraid the reader would favor Kaden over Rafe if he was given the character arc he needed so desperately. Somehow, this led to him having basically no arc at all and the decision that everyone was waiting for him to make - Lia or the Komizar - never truly happened. This left his arc feeling uncompleted and me, the reader incredibly disappointed. It felt like I had spent so much time learning to care and root for this character throughout the first book, only for the author to say 'but he is not the love interest. See, Rafe is sooo much better. Care for him more'. That is not how it works Pearson. You have to actually *make* me care for Rafe, not make me not care for Kaden.
Rafe: Annoying. I said what I said. His character is bland and boring and if he wasn't in love with Lia, he would literally not be in this story at all!!!!! Like, he has zero purpose. He doesn't do anything, at least nothing helpful. Him handing himself over with Lia at the end of book one does nothing but cause immense problems for Lia. Like, it *literally does not help her*!?
Also, he has no character traits, really. It's so weird, because it is obvious that Pearson *wants* me to like him, but she doesn't bother giving him anything?
He doesn't have a real backstory, aside from some mentions of him being similar to Lia in wanting to prove himself as a soldier blablabla. It is never even explained why he wants to prove himself so desperately.
He has no character arc, he is exactly the same person as he was in book one - aka a handsome guy whose only character trait is that he is in love with Lia. And that is not a character trait?!?
He can't change because there is no space in the story for him to do so. I was hoping throughout the book that he would turn out to be the Gale (Hunger Games) type who turns corrupt and bitter or that he would trade Lias life for his comrades/ his country in some turn of events, so that his arc is that he loves his country before anything or idk *anything* to make this character interesting. I was ready for him to turn evil if that meant he would do something other than love Lia. He was so annoying and I was wishing for him to die, honestly.
Love triangle: Look, would I have preferred Kaden to become an Anti-Hero type and fir ger to choose him, yes.
But I would have been just as fine with Kaden not being a lobe interest at all. His character is not as dependent on Lia as Rafe's is and he can be a character within the series on his own.
He could have saved Lia in book one to save his own humanity, the last shred of good in him that he is still clinging on to, without any mention if him loving Lia.
And then, maybe, Pearson would have given him a decent arc and storyline in the second book If she hadn't been so afraid that this - much more interesting and thought-through - character would turn the reader away from the most boring love interest of all time.
Rafe and Lia are instant love and uninteresting and cringe and I just simply don't believe their love. It feels like they are both teenagers who think the other is handsome and that's it. There is literally nothing that draws these two together? Their love story is so rushed and stupid, i fucking hate it.
Side-Characters: There were so many and I cared very little for them. Their stories felt rushed and it was painful to watch Pearson sideline all the characters we had met in book one, like Eben, Griz, Finch and even Malich. Why make us care about them for 200 pages in book one, If they serve little to no purpose in book two?
It felt like she had too many ideas for characters and just smashed them all into one book.
I can't care for 30+ characters. There were just so many and they got so little time dedicated to them in the second book that I couldn't bring myself to care for them.
It also ruined the plot twist at the end where one of them dies for me, cause I quite literally didn't give a damn.
Plot: The plot felt both dragged and rushed somehow? It felt like I, the reader needed more time in Venda to truly care about it and understand why Lia starts to care. At the same time, her being imprisonment for the entire book made the story so slow and dragging.
I believe the book should have been split in two and then there could have been an entire third book dedicated to Lia (not as a prisoner, maybe on the run) convincing the Countrypeople in Venda that she is the chosen Jezelia from that song after succeeding in book 3 to master her gift.
Half of Venda loving her after she said a couple words felt rushed and unrealistic to me.
Overall, I was left incredibly disappointed after the really strong finish of book one.
adventurous
challenging
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
challenging
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
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:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No