Scan barcode
lastblossom's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
tl;dr
Loosely based on Arthurian legend and featuring an exceedingly pragmatic main character, this book takes a bit to get going, but doesn't let up once it does.
Thoughts
I stayed up way later than I expected finishing this (oops). The opening of this book was, for me, a bit slow. It took some time to get all the world building and the main plot moving, but just as I was getting used to the pace, it took off at a run and never stopped. And WOW! What a run. This tale is inspired by Arthurian legend, but it takes the pieces and creates its own story full of plot twists that kept me guessing the whole way through. Tamsin is a difficult main character. On the one hand, I appreciate not having an eternally hopeful ray of sunshine who always believes the best in people. Sometime a girl's gotta be pragmatic. But there were times when her jaded worldview got in her way, which I probably hate because it's a little too relatable. Thankfully some of the other characters balance out her (mostly) warranted cynicism, with Neve the energetic sorceress being a standout favorite. And speaking of other characters, there's the start of what might be an enemies to lovers romance, with a fade to black-style night spent together (how far they went is unclear). Emrys is as complicated as Tamsin, and I really like how their relationship has progressed so far, but his motives a very unclear, so now I must await book two for answers.
Thanks to NetGalley and Knopf Books for Young Readers for an advance copy. All thoughts here are my own.
Loosely based on Arthurian legend and featuring an exceedingly pragmatic main character, this book takes a bit to get going, but doesn't let up once it does.
Thoughts
I stayed up way later than I expected finishing this (oops). The opening of this book was, for me, a bit slow. It took some time to get all the world building and the main plot moving, but just as I was getting used to the pace, it took off at a run and never stopped. And WOW! What a run. This tale is inspired by Arthurian legend, but it takes the pieces and creates its own story full of plot twists that kept me guessing the whole way through. Tamsin is a difficult main character. On the one hand, I appreciate not having an eternally hopeful ray of sunshine who always believes the best in people. Sometime a girl's gotta be pragmatic. But there were times when her jaded worldview got in her way, which I probably hate because it's a little too relatable. Thankfully some of the other characters balance out her (mostly) warranted cynicism, with Neve the energetic sorceress being a standout favorite. And speaking of other characters, there's the start of what might be an enemies to lovers romance, with a fade to black-style night spent together (how far they went is unclear). Emrys is as complicated as Tamsin, and I really like how their relationship has progressed so far, but his motives a very unclear, so now I must await book two for answers.
Thanks to NetGalley and Knopf Books for Young Readers for an advance copy. All thoughts here are my own.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Death, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Murder, Classism, Blood, and Violence
Minor: Suicide
More...