Reviews

EDIT: CHANGED MY RATING AGAIN. I JUST CAN'T MAKE UP MY MIND ABOUT THIS BOOK. RATED IT 4 STARS, THEN CHANGED IT TO 3, NOW CHANGED IT BACK TO 4 AGAIN.
When I think about the positive things, I feel like giving it 4 stars, then I think about what I didn't like and feel like I can't bear to rate it that highly...
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There were elements that were interesting and it got gradually better toward the end, but there were also some things that annoyed the Heck. Outta. Me.

What I liked

- Elias Don't we all? Apart from the name (I know this is an individual thing, for me it just isn't a very manly name) I really grew on his character. He's definitely the strong, dark hero type that we all like so much, but his POV was surprisingly quippy and at times funny. He definitley has some hormone overload going on (seriously), but that's okay

- Helene : She's not a character that is 100% likeable, but she's smart and strong and has a lot of complexity. She's a rigorous rule follower and as the story progressed, the rift between her and Elias widened more and more, and even though I felt like shaking her out of her blind devotion at times, her character (and the problems that this character struggles this) was a refreshing element in the book and felt very needed for the plot.

- The Commandant: Deliciously vicious and sadistic. This woman is spitting evil. I hope we see more of her backstory and what turned her into the monster she is now.

- Supporting characters Cook and Izzy were great characters. Cook is actually one of my favorite characters from this book and I want to know what's her story and what happened between her and the Resistance that she can't even speak about them without stuttering.

-The Fantasy elements: Contrary to most popular books, the people in this book don't believe in fantastic creatures themselves and view them as myths just as we do. It was interesting to see the fantasy element gradually pick up and reveal itself one by one to the characters. Other than being thrown head-first into a full fantasy world with an existing magic system or something like that, the characters discover the existence of different creatures along with the plot.

What I didn't like

- Laia: Ugh, just... no! I don't understand how anyone can like her. Her POV was mostly her whining and angsting about anything and everything, her whining about how she's such a coward, her whining about how she fails her mission with the Resistance. She doesn't seem like the most intelligent character, she's weak, she's bitchy and she certainly has no trait that makes her "special", yet plot conveniency keeps her alive and makes her end up right where she needs to be. Everything about her character threw me off. It felt all very constructed, very written and not like an organic character with a life of its own. The book also gave her this aura of being a "chosen" one, a trope that I'm not only tired of reading about, but am especially annoyed with when said character has zero talents to make her stand out.
My biggest issue with her, though, was Sabaa Tahir's CONSTANT need to write how goddamn, unbelievably, impossibly, heartstoppingly beautiful she is. I mean, I don't mind beautiful main characters and I don't mind it being mentioned once or twice, but come ON. She and Elias spoke two sentences with each other and Elias spends a whole page musing about how unbelievably beautiful she is and how he would like to run his hand through her black silky hair and blablabla. She's a slave. She cannot clean up. She cannot brush her teeth. She cannot brush her hair. She wears ugly, missfitting slave clothes. But still, she's SO beautiful, that every character who encounters her can't help but notice and say so.

- Rape, rape, rape : Now, I don't mind violent books. I don't mind dark books. I am a big high fantasy fan and in that genre, you gotta put up with a little bit of blood and gore. Or maybe a lot. That's fine with me. It can seriously build atmosphere and tension and is very much needed in a lot of stories, but in this book I developed the suspicion that the author was trying to build a reputation for herself (maybe following the enormous hype around A Song Of Ice And Fire and it's reputation of being extra violent and rapey). Is there a chapter in this book where it ISN'T mentioned that girls get raped at Blackcliff? A few pages on which it isn't repeated that Laia is SO beautiful, surely everyone will want to rape her (but, plot conveniently, no one does, because, hey - she's the main character!)? Well, not really. I don't see the point in repeating the same things over and over again. We get it. Being a girl at Blackcliff sucks. But that doesn't mean that you need to put it on every second page. For almost the entire book, Marcus' character hardly spoke about ANYTHING else but raping Helene, whenever he encountered Elias. It was so frustrating. I wish she would've cut down the whole "rape" crap a little, it felt like a pathetic attempt to prove that she could write just as shocking scenarios as George R.R. Martin (and shocking through violence is certainly the easiest way to do so. You're not impressing me with that sh*t).

- DO I SENSE A LOVE QUARTETT?
It's not even a love triangle anymore. Laia likes Keenan. Keenan loves Laia (of course, she's our special snowflake of the year), despite them never connecting on any level outside the Resistance mission. Hell, they never even talked about anything personal, and yet he "can't stop thinking about her". Laia likes Elias. Elias likes Laia (because she's so beautiful). Helene loves Elias. Elias likes Helene? What the hell is even going on? Ugh, I hate it when the romance is a hot mess and all over the place. Why does EVERY main male character have to be in love with Laia? Because Tahir wrote herself into the role? Why, why, why? How old are we? I thought we were finally over that trope, but nope, here we go again.

Harsh words at the end there, but I just had to get that off my chest. The book could've been a five star rating for me, setting and plot wise, but these issues just annoyed me SO MUCH, that I couldn't even focus on the plot sometimes. It threw me off. And sadly, it made it impossible for me to love this book. I feel like it's a wasted opportunity and it makes me MAD. I will definitely give the second book a try and maybe then I'll be as smitten by this book as everyone else is.

amandamarieger's review against another edition

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adventurous hopeful tense medium-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? It's complicated

5.0

WOW. I’d had this series on my shelf for years and finally got the encouragement to start it. This first book was SO GOOD. Highly highly highly recommend.