Scan barcode
jane_underground's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Fire/Fire injury, Death of parent, Violence, Ableism, Xenophobia, War, and Grief
concretecorn's review against another edition
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
spoilers ahead & ALL personal opinion
let’s do the good first—
i love own voices stories, i am so glad to see representation in fantasy/scifi. this book is creative and not taken directly from indian lore so it’s cool to see it developed into a story that is inspired by my nation. i liked the depictions of kurtas and lehengas, i thought the kingdom politics had potential, and i liked the attempt to make the desert sort of its own character. i thought the internal lore was very well done, and though it took me a little bit to get it, the internal rules of the world ended up working out too.
i liked samson a lot. he’s the type of guy i’d hang out with. i thought yassen’s background story was shaping up nicely. liked the bits and pieces dangled for us to consume so we stay interested and invested in a trilogy since that’s what this is gonna be.
now the bad, and please remember this is just my opinion.
i legitimately was excited for this book, so it’s a shame how it turned out. at first, i thought i was just being harsh when i didn’t like the characters. i thought the point was that they’re flawed, and have bad relationships with one another. for example, i don’t understand king leo’s character at all. i mean, at all. his relationship to his daughter is so confusing because sometimes he’s mean, and other times his inner dialogue is filled with sweetness and love for her. elena was so uninteresting as a character that i didn’t learn her name until like, the 17th chapter. yassen was also similarly extremely boring, while spouting randomly “deep” one liners that make no sense. for example, at one point when he saves elena from an attack on her life, he is asked by king leo why he saved elena’s life. he says, “raveni or not, the desert does not claim me as it’s own. i am only what i am.” what does that mean?!?!?! he says things like this throughout the whole book. by the way, why was it supposed to be out of character for him to save elena? he is literally a part of her guard. they distrust him so much, yet give him unyielding access to the future queen, which literally sets them up to be betrayed in the worst possible way so easily. oh, also, there is no “slow burn” at all. the romance is injected randomly towards the end, and it really gives off “they are together because they are a male and female character traveling together.”
the world building is fine, the lore is fine. i mean, i think the writing could have more intricately woven elements of the story together. it didn’t escape me that the main conflict— the identity of the prophet— was missing from basically the last half of the book because king leo was driving that conflict and he dies. the twist about the gender of the prophet i saw coming from a mile away, and the eventual last twist was not big enough to counter for the unsurprising and mediocre middle.
elena learns to wield fire like, halfway through, and then that conflict becomes a background element in the overall story. the characters are fundamentally underdeveloped. the best characters were the yumi and samson, who disappear from the book halfway through. they’re not even main characters (though i assume samson will be in the next book).
also can we just talk about how yassen literally planned to betray elena from the very beginning, and sort of just became attached to her, and then was like “oh no! the princess! she’s broken!” and then randomly falls in love with her and she with him? and she just casually forgets that he was a) an assassin who was very good at what he did and b) participated in killing her father and betraying her at the highest magnitude? love how she’s like “i don’t trust yassen” at the beginning but then is like “oh he betrayed me in the worst way possible so now i love him.” i didn’t like the character’s actions, which would be fine, if i had understood why they were doing anything, ever. like, elena has a minor conflict moment when she remembers the jantari are, in fact, humans, but then decides to burn down their mines anyway.
the arohassin are not developed well. why are they doing what they do? i wish we got more of yassen’s time with them because i honestly think it would have been way more interesting.
the political commentary on how the kingdom doesn’t take care of its own is overshadowed by the way-to-long scenes with the king nonsensically obsessed with destroying the prophet.
and just as a point of personal conflict for me, the names were boring. elena and leo? i didn’t really care for the character names.
all in all, pretty disappointed.
let’s do the good first—
i love own voices stories, i am so glad to see representation in fantasy/scifi. this book is creative and not taken directly from indian lore so it’s cool to see it developed into a story that is inspired by my nation. i liked the depictions of kurtas and lehengas, i thought the kingdom politics had potential, and i liked the attempt to make the desert sort of its own character. i thought the internal lore was very well done, and though it took me a little bit to get it, the internal rules of the world ended up working out too.
i liked samson a lot. he’s the type of guy i’d hang out with. i thought yassen’s background story was shaping up nicely. liked the bits and pieces dangled for us to consume so we stay interested and invested in a trilogy since that’s what this is gonna be.
now the bad, and please remember this is just my opinion.
i legitimately was excited for this book, so it’s a shame how it turned out. at first, i thought i was just being harsh when i didn’t like the characters. i thought the point was that they’re flawed, and have bad relationships with one another. for example, i don’t understand king leo’s character at all. i mean, at all. his relationship to his daughter is so confusing because sometimes he’s mean, and other times his inner dialogue is filled with sweetness and love for her. elena was so uninteresting as a character that i didn’t learn her name until like, the 17th chapter. yassen was also similarly extremely boring, while spouting randomly “deep” one liners that make no sense. for example, at one point when he saves elena from an attack on her life, he is asked by king leo why he saved elena’s life. he says, “raveni or not, the desert does not claim me as it’s own. i am only what i am.” what does that mean?!?!?! he says things like this throughout the whole book. by the way, why was it supposed to be out of character for him to save elena? he is literally a part of her guard. they distrust him so much, yet give him unyielding access to the future queen, which literally sets them up to be betrayed in the worst possible way so easily. oh, also, there is no “slow burn” at all. the romance is injected randomly towards the end, and it really gives off “they are together because they are a male and female character traveling together.”
the world building is fine, the lore is fine. i mean, i think the writing could have more intricately woven elements of the story together. it didn’t escape me that the main conflict— the identity of the prophet— was missing from basically the last half of the book because king leo was driving that conflict and he dies. the twist about the gender of the prophet i saw coming from a mile away, and the eventual last twist was not big enough to counter for the unsurprising and mediocre middle.
elena learns to wield fire like, halfway through, and then that conflict becomes a background element in the overall story. the characters are fundamentally underdeveloped. the best characters were the yumi and samson, who disappear from the book halfway through. they’re not even main characters (though i assume samson will be in the next book).
also can we just talk about how yassen literally planned to betray elena from the very beginning, and sort of just became attached to her, and then was like “oh no! the princess! she’s broken!” and then randomly falls in love with her and she with him? and she just casually forgets that he was a) an assassin who was very good at what he did and b) participated in killing her father and betraying her at the highest magnitude? love how she’s like “i don’t trust yassen” at the beginning but then is like “oh he betrayed me in the worst way possible so now i love him.” i didn’t like the character’s actions, which would be fine, if i had understood why they were doing anything, ever. like, elena has a minor conflict moment when she remembers the jantari are, in fact, humans, but then decides to burn down their mines anyway.
the arohassin are not developed well. why are they doing what they do? i wish we got more of yassen’s time with them because i honestly think it would have been way more interesting.
the political commentary on how the kingdom doesn’t take care of its own is overshadowed by the way-to-long scenes with the king nonsensically obsessed with destroying the prophet.
and just as a point of personal conflict for me, the names were boring. elena and leo? i didn’t really care for the character names.
all in all, pretty disappointed.
Content Warnings
Minor: Death of parent, Gore, Grief, War, and Xenophobia
otiliasae's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
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
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Child death, Chronic illness, Death of parent, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, and War
lainiereads's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
THIS BOOK!! THIS BOOK! I am in so much pain.
The worldbuilding? The politics? The characters? The quotes? SO GOOD!
This book has a slower start, there's a lot of worldbuilding and character introductions that take up a bit of time in the beginning, but it was written so well that it was still interesting the whole time. Even while the story was being set up, I was intrigued and constantly trying to guess where the plot was going (surprise surprise, I guessed everything wrong every time!).
Speaking of the plot, THE TWISTS! THE TURNS! THE DRAMA! I went into this expecting lots of plot twists, which meant I was actively paying attention to details to try and figure out where it was going, but man I still got everything wrong! I also have no idea how the next book is going to go (mainly because I've learned I can't predict anything), and I think that's part of what made this book so intriguing. You just had to keep reading to see what was going to happen next!
Another major positive is the characters. There is so much depth to every character, so even when they do the wrong thing, they're still lovable. Which, yeah a lot of wrong things are done! If you are a fan of morally gray characters, or you like characters who want to do the right thing but life just doesn't let them, then these characters are for you! Every character is so great (especially Yassen, he has my heart) and Verma does a great job of showing the struggle that each person goes through internally and how they justify their decisions/actions. I really connected with the characters (even though they had me yelling at the book to "stop!" or "please don't do that!" at times). Each character also spends a lot of time reflecting on themself and what they've done, which creates powerful quotes that I will definitely be reflecting on the next time I have a mental crisis. I mean the first line alone is great: "To be forgiven, one must be burned".
If you like reading about characters with a lot of depth, the political conflicts that come with leading a kingdom, and being kept on your toes the WHOLE time, then you will love this book. Plus some things that I didn't cover in-depth, like a wonderful slowburn romance, a strong female lead, conversations about religion and the dangers of fanaticism, and beautiful worldbuilding.
Okay, I am going back to reflect some more on that ending.
<3 Aparna Verma, u are a queen.
The worldbuilding? The politics? The characters? The quotes? SO GOOD!
This book has a slower start, there's a lot of worldbuilding and character introductions that take up a bit of time in the beginning, but it was written so well that it was still interesting the whole time. Even while the story was being set up, I was intrigued and constantly trying to guess where the plot was going (surprise surprise, I guessed everything wrong every time!).
Speaking of the plot, THE TWISTS! THE TURNS! THE DRAMA! I went into this expecting lots of plot twists, which meant I was actively paying attention to details to try and figure out where it was going, but man I still got everything wrong! I also have no idea how the next book is going to go (mainly because I've learned I can't predict anything), and I think that's part of what made this book so intriguing. You just had to keep reading to see what was going to happen next!
Another major positive is the characters. There is so much depth to every character, so even when they do the wrong thing, they're still lovable. Which, yeah a lot of wrong things are done! If you are a fan of morally gray characters, or you like characters who want to do the right thing but life just doesn't let them, then these characters are for you! Every character is so great (especially Yassen, he has my heart) and Verma does a great job of showing the struggle that each person goes through internally and how they justify their decisions/actions. I really connected with the characters (even though they had me yelling at the book to "stop!" or "please don't do that!" at times). Each character also spends a lot of time reflecting on themself and what they've done, which creates powerful quotes that I will definitely be reflecting on the next time I have a mental crisis. I mean the first line alone is great: "To be forgiven, one must be burned".
If you like reading about characters with a lot of depth, the political conflicts that come with leading a kingdom, and being kept on your toes the WHOLE time, then you will love this book. Plus some things that I didn't cover in-depth, like a wonderful slowburn romance, a strong female lead, conversations about religion and the dangers of fanaticism, and beautiful worldbuilding.
Okay, I am going back to reflect some more on that ending.
<3 Aparna Verma, u are a queen.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Ableism, Blood, Racism, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Murder
Moderate: Xenophobia, War, and Suicide
Minor: Cursing
More...