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books4susie's review against another edition
5.0
I loved the beginning of this duology. Mystery, action, and betrayal are throughout the story. Twins Andreus and Carys’ lives are turned upside down when their father the king and their older brother, the Crown Prince are murdered. To make matters worse, their mother is unable to take over the throw since she went mad over the deaths of her husband and oldest son. Both of the twins are hiding secrets from everyone that threatened to be revealed when they are pitted against each other in a competition to see which one will be the next ruler of Eden. As the competition moves forward, the twins are pulled apart.
A few questions are answered but plenty of mysteries are still left to be revealed.
A few questions are answered but plenty of mysteries are still left to be revealed.
antivancrowe's review against another edition
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.75
Character 2| Setting 3| Plot 3| Writing 3| Enjoyability 3
Overall Rating: 2.8
I have never read a book that has made a character so insufferable. I hated Andrius, he is the dumbest character I've ever read about. I wish it was endearing. It was just frustrating. He has never had to play the game of politics like his sister or his brother the crown prince.
It shows so much he gets played so easily. He ignores his princely duties to play engineer for the wind turbines, because he is physically weak. His sister Carys protects him from it, she understands the game a lot more. And is honestly the redeeming quality from this book. I didn't feel much growth from Carys she felt pretty static and that's not terrible, Andrius changed but like for the worse.
I honestly just didn't care who ruled through most of the book or really care about what was going on the book felt rather boring to me? A lot happened, but it didn't feel like a lot happened. I only started to care when Andrius started to be a shit to Carys because all his life Carys has protected him and it feels like Andrius just doesn't really understand. He is a dumb-ass. I wish he wasn't so stupid.
I don't have any desire to read more about andrius being stupid, so I won't be continuing the series, this kind of bummed me out because I saw this on a list of queer books...wheres the queer?
Overall Rating: 2.8
I have never read a book that has made a character so insufferable. I hated Andrius, he is the dumbest character I've ever read about. I wish it was endearing. It was just frustrating. He has never had to play the game of politics like his sister or his brother the crown prince.
It shows so much he gets played so easily. He ignores his princely duties to play engineer for the wind turbines, because he is physically weak. His sister Carys protects him from it, she understands the game a lot more. And is honestly the redeeming quality from this book. I didn't feel much growth from Carys she felt pretty static and that's not terrible, Andrius changed but like for the worse.
I honestly just didn't care who ruled through most of the book or really care about what was going on the book felt rather boring to me? A lot happened, but it didn't feel like a lot happened. I only started to care when Andrius started to be a shit to Carys because all his life Carys has protected him and it feels like Andrius just doesn't really understand. He is a dumb-ass. I wish he wasn't so stupid.
I don't have any desire to read more about andrius being stupid, so I won't be continuing the series, this kind of bummed me out because I saw this on a list of queer books...wheres the queer?
beccam22's review against another edition
The idea of this book sounded interesting and I wanted to like it. The actual plot points mentioned in the summary don’t actually start until about 30-40% in to the book and I don’t think we really needed to spend so much time leading up to it as we did. I didn’t care about any of the characters
sel21's review against another edition
1.0
Actual rating: 1.5⭐️
I skimmed this book more than I actually read it, in attempt to avoid adding it to my DNF shelf. But as much as I love The Testing trilogy, this was absolutely awful.
I skimmed this book more than I actually read it, in attempt to avoid adding it to my DNF shelf. But as much as I love The Testing trilogy, this was absolutely awful.
apersons's review against another edition
4.0
slow at first, but i came to love it. the sibling connection between carys and andreus in this book is unreal.
aislinnoc's review against another edition
3.0
Not sure anyone in this book is actually likeable. Larkin for monarch?
read2menow's review against another edition
2.0
The book was confusing when I started it. I did not gain interest as I finished the book. This book is example of switching perspectives, but not done well in my opinion.
zanybibliophile's review against another edition
3.0
I am going to start by saying that I want to read the second book before I make any final judgements on this book but, for now, all I have is this book. It was odd. Good, but odd. It took reading half of the book before I got a somewhat clear idea of what was going on and that only revieled how crazy the situation was. Assassinations, druggings, the need for disguises to talk to friends - all of it seemed crazy yet essential to the plot.
Clarys and Andreus are odd little characters and they seem to be surrounded by weird, manipulative characters that wish to only use the royal twins as pawns in a game. I feel like I was lied to for 318 pages by both the prince and princess as nothing seems to add up. I am hoping this will be cleared up in the second book and I am interested to see where the story goes.
Clarys and Andreus are odd little characters and they seem to be surrounded by weird, manipulative characters that wish to only use the royal twins as pawns in a game. I feel like I was lied to for 318 pages by both the prince and princess as nothing seems to add up. I am hoping this will be cleared up in the second book and I am interested to see where the story goes.