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3.93 AVERAGE
3.93 AVERAGE
This book definitely wasn't what I thought. I might have known more about this series at an earlier point in time, but as it's been a while since anyone's been talking about this series, I went in blind. I wanted a fantasy read so, in a way, I was a little disappointed to find out that this series has a relationship to America, that these people came from Americans from the 2070s or so, and we are now 300 or so years removed from that. However, it's still interesting.
There were some struggles with this book from the get-go. The introduction of all the guards, I think, is done as well as it can be, but it's a lot of similar characters to juggle, and hard to keep them straight for a while. But Kelsea is the main obstacle. It's hard to get totally on her side, because she isn't good at what she's doing. I'm not sure why the choice was made for her to be so undertrained in politics, but it makes it harder to stand with her, even with her strong moral compass making decisions that the reader can, in some way, get behind.
But it's a solid start. The pacing is good, we don't get terrible exposition dumps, the characters mostly have nuance. It's easy to get through and left me curious enough to pick up the next book straight away.
There were some struggles with this book from the get-go. The introduction of all the guards, I think, is done as well as it can be, but it's a lot of similar characters to juggle, and hard to keep them straight for a while. But Kelsea is the main obstacle. It's hard to get totally on her side, because she isn't good at what she's doing. I'm not sure why the choice was made for her to be so undertrained in politics, but it makes it harder to stand with her, even with her strong moral compass making decisions that the reader can, in some way, get behind.
But it's a solid start. The pacing is good, we don't get terrible exposition dumps, the characters mostly have nuance. It's easy to get through and left me curious enough to pick up the next book straight away.
Mild spoilers.
The refreshing:
I love a pragmatist, which Kelsea undeniably is. Despite her youth, it was really nice to not have the constant trope of "a young person doing something stupid just because she's young, naïve and full of hormones". Yes, she makes choices rashly, but in the end it turns out that they were the correct ones. I also fully appreciated Kelsea's rage at being female, finding herself cast out of her egalitarian childhood and into a world where she means nothing to nobody, and has to constantly prove herself. It's an apt way to think of womanhood, which she is thrust into without much ceremony.
It was also great to have exposure to a person who was... bigger? Plus sized? who just accepted it as part of their normal life. I appreciate that she was neither obsessed with her body, nor made to be the butt of fat jokes, or fat stereotypes. The same goes for her appearance, described as "plain", "round faced", and "red cheeked" in turns. Kelsea knows who she is and comes to understand how others perceive her, and does not fall down a well of self pity. For the most part, those loyal to her also do not consistently needle this point.
Lastly, I appreciated that there was no romance here. Kelsea is very female, she cares about her appearance, even while pragmatically knowing that there's nothing to do about it, and when a romantic person enters her life, she doesn't change her plans or her self to try and win them. Instead, she has a (so far) unrequited crush, which is probably the only youthful and whimsical thing about her.
My unfavorite parts:
Maybe we were meant to feel Kelsea's frustration towards the start of the book. She certainly did a bit of whining! I was finding myself impatient with the slow revelations of exposition regarding the last ruling monarchs and the "hidden baddie" in the stories. If that's the case, then I can certainly appreciate the Author's goal. I was frustrated, and if I were not on an airplane with nothing else to do, I might have put away the book and not picked it up again. Still, I'm decently glad I stuck with it.
There was one thing about the story that I didn't enjoy- the constant mention of pedophiles. It seemed constant. I'm not sure if the Author was using it as a plot device, or to make people feel outraged and sick and rooting for the good queen to do the right thing, but I found it a pretty cheap way to try and accomplish that.
Over all:
The story provided decent entertainment. I would be interested to hear what Kelsea does next, but I'm not in a big rush to do so.
The refreshing:
I love a pragmatist, which Kelsea undeniably is. Despite her youth, it was really nice to not have the constant trope of "a young person doing something stupid just because she's young, naïve and full of hormones". Yes, she makes choices rashly, but in the end it turns out that they were the correct ones. I also fully appreciated Kelsea's rage at being female, finding herself cast out of her egalitarian childhood and into a world where she means nothing to nobody, and has to constantly prove herself. It's an apt way to think of womanhood, which she is thrust into without much ceremony.
It was also great to have exposure to a person who was... bigger? Plus sized? who just accepted it as part of their normal life. I appreciate that she was neither obsessed with her body, nor made to be the butt of fat jokes, or fat stereotypes. The same goes for her appearance, described as "plain", "round faced", and "red cheeked" in turns. Kelsea knows who she is and comes to understand how others perceive her, and does not fall down a well of self pity. For the most part, those loyal to her also do not consistently needle this point.
Lastly, I appreciated that there was no romance here. Kelsea is very female, she cares about her appearance, even while pragmatically knowing that there's nothing to do about it, and when a romantic person enters her life, she doesn't change her plans or her self to try and win them. Instead, she has a (so far) unrequited crush, which is probably the only youthful and whimsical thing about her.
My unfavorite parts:
Maybe we were meant to feel Kelsea's frustration towards the start of the book. She certainly did a bit of whining! I was finding myself impatient with the slow revelations of exposition regarding the last ruling monarchs and the "hidden baddie" in the stories. If that's the case, then I can certainly appreciate the Author's goal. I was frustrated, and if I were not on an airplane with nothing else to do, I might have put away the book and not picked it up again. Still, I'm decently glad I stuck with it.
There was one thing about the story that I didn't enjoy- the constant mention of pedophiles. It seemed constant. I'm not sure if the Author was using it as a plot device, or to make people feel outraged and sick and rooting for the good queen to do the right thing, but I found it a pretty cheap way to try and accomplish that.
Over all:
The story provided decent entertainment. I would be interested to hear what Kelsea does next, but I'm not in a big rush to do so.
Eagerly waiting to see how the next book in the 'series' (??) plays out the rest of the story. I have so many questions and none were answered, but that's ok because our protagonist was quite the badass and took no shit from any of the men around her!
3,5⭐ - it was good
I did like it, but it's not really my taste of a story... So won't be continuing the series, I don't care enough
I did like it, but it's not really my taste of a story... So won't be continuing the series, I don't care enough
It only took me five years to get around to reading this... oops.
This book read like someone's first novel, but I found it to be quite engaging. The book takes you on a long journey, but I liked that something was constantly happening and that interpersonal development was never dropped on the wayside. It's not a work of art and does have some plot issues, but I plan to continue reading the series.
The premise of the fantasy setting within a dystopian future is interesting, and I'm especially excited to see where it leads in the further books since it's been established that history is going to be important. I was impressed with the world-building for the most part, although the setup was designed to be a blanket excuse to cover up some questionable parts of the protagonist's knowledge.
It took me a while to get accustomed to the mix of a very YA style of writing and some very alarming content. Some parts of the plot seemed like the author was trying to be dark without putting in the effort to achieve the effect -- it relied on descriptions of the most gruesome parts of humanity and the shock value of hideous violations of people's bodies. It was not well-executed for the most part, and I didn't appreciate the parts of world-building that relied on it.
This book read like someone's first novel, but I found it to be quite engaging. The book takes you on a long journey, but I liked that something was constantly happening and that interpersonal development was never dropped on the wayside. It's not a work of art and does have some plot issues, but I plan to continue reading the series.
The premise of the fantasy setting within a dystopian future is interesting, and I'm especially excited to see where it leads in the further books since it's been established that history is going to be important. I was impressed with the world-building for the most part, although the setup was designed to be a blanket excuse to cover up some questionable parts of the protagonist's knowledge.
It took me a while to get accustomed to the mix of a very YA style of writing and some very alarming content. Some parts of the plot seemed like the author was trying to be dark without putting in the effort to achieve the effect -- it relied on descriptions of the most gruesome parts of humanity and the shock value of hideous violations of people's bodies. It was not well-executed for the most part, and I didn't appreciate the parts of world-building that relied on it.
Darker than I expected, but a great story. Moved straight on to the second book. Thank you Ashley for the recommendation!
adventurous
dark
emotional
reflective
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
This book was so good. Fantasy, with a small mix of dystopian. Just
