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3.99 AVERAGE
3.99 AVERAGE
adventurous
emotional
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Oh my fucking god this was so fucking stupid. I'm so sorry but lord okay where do i even begin with this.
1) The book starts in a very weird place, narratively. At the opening of the book, Vasilie, our MC, despite being entirely self-taught, is the best dancer for the palace, and, as such, gets promoted to King's Official Sugar Baby. He longs for her A LOT, but refuses to touch her for any reason. Their tension builds, and she thinks he may ask her to officially be boyfriend-girlfriend, but then he frames her for murder and locks her in a dungeon. The book actually starts off two years later, when she's in the dungeon, and wants to die. It's so weird. This feels like it should be book 2. There are such rich intricacies that should exist between these characters and it just falls SO flat! While I think the idea of starting a book in the middle of the character's arc is interesting in theory, it really falls flat here. Especially because the events that occur before the book begins are SO integral to the ending of the book.
The book also does a HUGE time skip from when she is originally recruited by the king to when she's on her first job, and, like...it feels so weird? This would be a great place to have her thoughts (bc this is in the first person) as begins to come to term with her newfound disabilities...maybe dreading upcoming events...anything that would lead to the development of her character.
2) The FMC is the definition of a Mary Sue. She has virtually no personality, is defined by her trauma and how the male characters perceive her, and, btw, every male character who isn't gay is in love with her. And the lesbian female characters also want her btw. Insane.
3) Speaking of the MC, this book has gotten praised a lot for it's portrayal of disability, and, like, not that I speak for everyone who has a disability, but I really don't think this is good representation. Like, she has chronic pain, and it's mentioned that she throws flour around to disguise that she's not as good a dancer anymore as she used to be, but, like...she can still go from not being able to stand to doing elaborate choreography in 5 weeks? She kind of just says "I gotta mentally not let my disability hold me back xoxoxo" which...her disability is her heart not working properly. So I feel like it's not the best?
4) The author is SO convinced that you might miss something, so everything is repeated SO many times. There aren't too many times when she lets the audience actually come to their own conclusions; anytime anything that the reader may have to think about for 2 seconds or interpret on their own is immediately clarified. It genuinely took so much fun out of the reading experience because I couldn't engage my brain.
5) Because everything is said, rather than shown, you don't really feel anything for the romantic relationships? I personally didn't feel like Vasilie had chemistry with either one of her love interests. Like, the plot says she does, but it seemed so forced and stilted.
6) The exposition is either delivered in the most ham-fisted ways and beats the reader over the head with it, or it is barely there. There's something about a prophecy? There's kind of magic, kind of not? I didn't quite understand it all.
7) Every major plot point is ripped off from ACOTAR. Like, the basic setup is more closely aligned with the basic premise of the first Throne of Glass book, but after that? It is literally. Just. ACOTAR. But where (the original series of) ACOTAR was a trilogy of 500+ page books that took time to invest in small details and relationships between characters for larger payoffs over long periods of time, this book crams every plot point of the 3 books in less than 450.
Overall, while there were some interesting things about it, it just made me so genuinely mad by the end, which sucks, because I feel like there was so much potential!
1) The book starts in a very weird place, narratively. At the opening of the book, Vasilie, our MC, despite being entirely self-taught, is the best dancer for the palace, and, as such, gets promoted to King's Official Sugar Baby. He longs for her A LOT, but refuses to touch her for any reason. Their tension builds, and she thinks he may ask her to officially be boyfriend-girlfriend, but then he frames her for murder and locks her in a dungeon. The book actually starts off two years later, when she's in the dungeon, and wants to die. It's so weird. This feels like it should be book 2. There are such rich intricacies that should exist between these characters and it just falls SO flat! While I think the idea of starting a book in the middle of the character's arc is interesting in theory, it really falls flat here. Especially because the events that occur before the book begins are SO integral to the ending of the book.
The book also does a HUGE time skip from when she is originally recruited by the king to when she's on her first job, and, like...it feels so weird? This would be a great place to have her thoughts (bc this is in the first person) as begins to come to term with her newfound disabilities...maybe dreading upcoming events...anything that would lead to the development of her character.
2) The FMC is the definition of a Mary Sue. She has virtually no personality, is defined by her trauma and how the male characters perceive her, and, btw, every male character who isn't gay is in love with her. And the lesbian female characters also want her btw. Insane.
3) Speaking of the MC, this book has gotten praised a lot for it's portrayal of disability, and, like, not that I speak for everyone who has a disability, but I really don't think this is good representation. Like, she has chronic pain, and it's mentioned that she throws flour around to disguise that she's not as good a dancer anymore as she used to be, but, like...she can still go from not being able to stand to doing elaborate choreography in 5 weeks? She kind of just says "I gotta mentally not let my disability hold me back xoxoxo" which...her disability is her heart not working properly. So I feel like it's not the best?
4) The author is SO convinced that you might miss something, so everything is repeated SO many times. There aren't too many times when she lets the audience actually come to their own conclusions; anytime anything that the reader may have to think about for 2 seconds or interpret on their own is immediately clarified. It genuinely took so much fun out of the reading experience because I couldn't engage my brain.
5) Because everything is said, rather than shown, you don't really feel anything for the romantic relationships? I personally didn't feel like Vasilie had chemistry with either one of her love interests. Like, the plot says she does, but it seemed so forced and stilted.
6) The exposition is either delivered in the most ham-fisted ways and beats the reader over the head with it, or it is barely there. There's something about a prophecy? There's kind of magic, kind of not? I didn't quite understand it all.
7) Every major plot point is ripped off from ACOTAR. Like, the basic setup is more closely aligned with the basic premise of the first Throne of Glass book, but after that? It is literally. Just. ACOTAR. But where (the original series of) ACOTAR was a trilogy of 500+ page books that took time to invest in small details and relationships between characters for larger payoffs over long periods of time, this book crams every plot point of the 3 books in less than 450.
Overall, while there were some interesting things about it, it just made me so genuinely mad by the end, which sucks, because I feel like there was so much potential!
adventurous
hopeful
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:
N/A
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-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
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
This book twisted me so much that I ended up rooting for Illian toward the end. He’s just so brilliant and cunning, carefully weaving his plans until everything fell perfectly into place. I genuinely felt triumphant when his schemes unfolded exactly as he intended, it was so satisfying when he revealed his plan and had everyone dancing in the palm of his hand. It must’ve been so hard for Illian, carrying this whole book on his back 🙂↔️
For once, I regret not spoiling myself who will be the ML, because I ended up feeling bitter about the couple. Guess I’m just tired of seeing royalty always get the girl
By the time I got halfway through, I couldn’t care less about Vasalie, Anton, or their romance, I just wanted to know what Illian had up his sleeve. And well, he delivered… but only for a short while, because of course Anton had to be the one to stand out.
For once, I regret not spoiling myself who will be the ML, because I ended up feeling bitter about the couple. Guess I’m just tired of seeing royalty always get the girl
By the time I got halfway through, I couldn’t care less about Vasalie, Anton, or their romance, I just wanted to know what Illian had up his sleeve. And well, he delivered… but only for a short while, because of course Anton had to be the one to stand out.
adventurous
dark
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
hopeful
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes