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3.59 AVERAGE
3.59 AVERAGE
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Linsey Miller knows suspense.
I merely enjoyed the first ½ of the book, but the the second ½ really picked up and had me on the edge of my seat. And I think this may be my first book with a gender-fluid protagonist.
Is there more? I'd read a trilogy! Because the story could keep going.
Thanks to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Fire for a copy in return for an honest review.
I merely enjoyed the first ½ of the book, but the the second ½ really picked up and had me on the edge of my seat. And I think this may be my first book with a gender-fluid protagonist.
Is there more? I'd read a trilogy! Because the story could keep going.
Thanks to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Fire for a copy in return for an honest review.
I don't usually enjoy YA, but I'm pleasantly surprised! Miller writes very well, especially for a debut novel, and the characters and their relationships are developed organically throughout (especially Maud! I love Maud :D). Though this seems to be a point of contention for other reviewers, I enjoyed how Sal's gender fluidity was portrayed in a very nonchalant manner and wasn't made a huge plot point. The book does get a little melodramatic and hard to follow at times, which is why I deducted a star, but that's by and by the norm with very intrigue-y books like this one.
(BTW: Wayyyyy better than Sarah J. Maas, not in the least because of the lack of excessive em-dashes.)
(BTW: Wayyyyy better than Sarah J. Maas, not in the least because of the lack of excessive em-dashes.)
adventurous
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
If you liked the Grishaverse but thought it was just not queer enough, this Book is a must read in my opinion. Compelling, emotional, tense, you’re always waiting for the next twist and turn and fearing for Sal.
There’s few books where I’d say that the main character is one of my favorites, but this one is definitely one of them. I started on the second one as soon as I could and I can’t wait to see how the story continues.
There’s few books where I’d say that the main character is one of my favorites, but this one is definitely one of them. I started on the second one as soon as I could and I can’t wait to see how the story continues.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Torture, Violence, Blood, Murder, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Alcohol
I liked the book, but I definitely didn't love it. I waffled back and forth on how I'd rate this one, because personally I'd give it 3.5 stars, but ultimately I definitively decided to go with 3 stars for Goodreads purposes.
The first thing I will say is that I found this very easy to read. I read this whole book in one evening, pretty much in one sitting, and had no trouble with it at all. Sometimes, you know, you read a book and no matter how much you wanted to like it, you just can't read as many pages in a sitting as you hoped because it just doesn't carry your attention. Fortunately, I did not have a problem with this book in that respect.
Continuing with the positives, I thought it was great that Sal, our lovely main character is gender fluid. Though I didn't adore how it was handled, most authors don't even make the attempt. Additionally, another character proves to be a bisexual love interest for the main character. Yay inclusion!
I also loved Maud, Sal's personal maid/attendant during the trials to become the Queen's Left Hand agent, Opal. Maud was loyal and friendly and generally just seemed to give more of a damn than the rest of the characters. 10/10 would protect Maud from all harm that would come to her. Maud doesn't appear to be a love interest either, which is great! I'm a girl who loves platonic friendship characters in books. So often, characters like that get skipped or glossed over in order to further the plot. It always makes me sad. I have read way too many books where the best friend is only briefly mentioned but never seen being the best friend. Anyway, Maud was great. If I continue reading the book series, it will pretty much be for her and her alone.
However, all positive things aside, I did have some complaints about the book. I'm not going to harp on any of them too long, but they are things I felt dragged the book's quality down.
For one thing, I felt that Sal was a very weak main character. Sal, from the beginning to the end, does not grow one bit. Now, granted, this is the first book in a series. There's time yet for Sal to develop in the course of the story. Unfortunately, you just don't see that in this book. Sal is Sal the whole way through. Sal also has very few qualities that I would admire in them as a main character. Actually, sometimes you kind of questioned how mentally healthy Sal could possibly be. This kid is obviously traumatized, underfed, obviously seems to suffer from PTSD, and is obviously neglected, and you decide to put them in a fight to the death with 22 other people to help you run the government? I have many questions on that front. All in all, I just didn't like Sal.
The gender fluidity didn't bother me at all as a concept for the character, but I felt it was odd that Sal depended on their clothes to tell others what genders they were. Now, for one, Sal was a street thief who had no good clothes aside from thief clothes prior to becoming a part of the battle royale for Opal. Chances are, Sal didn't own a bunch of frilly dresses and suit jackets to indicate what they felt like when robbing coaches. Sal probably had one filthy outfit and used it until they had to steal a new one. So how Sal managed this system before the trials, I don't really know. And secondly, it reinforces this connotation that certain clothes belong only to one gender or the other. I don't really love that. I understand the system, but I don't love it.
Naming your characters with numbers for 90% of the book is also never a good idea. It was very difficult to get a grasp on the side characters for this reason. I had a similar issue with this in the Hunger Games, which I felt was quite similar in feel to this book. I honestly have no strong picture in my head of any of the characters in this book - including the main character Sal. The author spends more time describing the clothes on the character than the actual characters themselves. Granted, you may be able to blame this one on every single character wearing a mask with a number on it for 90% of the book.
I also felt that much of the training felt redundant and, to be honest with you, it didn't feel like Sal actually seemed to have learned much from the courses that would have kept them alive throughout the course of the story. Personally, I felt that all the learning descriptions were a bit much and could have been handled better. Just tell us that Ruby wore Sal out again by doing push ups for hours - we'll get it. Your audience is smart - they can fill in the blanks.
My other complaint was that I felt like I'd read this book before in another setting. It really did feel like reading other YA novels with fights to the death with other people their age. A bunch of people have mentioned this in regards to the book. I definitely feel that Hunger Games is probably the closest parallel, although there doesn't appear to be a love triangle so far. (Thank goodness.)
All in all, it's a decent read. If you enjoy books like the Hunger Games series, this definitely has that vibe going. I will probably continue reading it when the next book comes out, but it won't be high on my list of priorities.
The first thing I will say is that I found this very easy to read. I read this whole book in one evening, pretty much in one sitting, and had no trouble with it at all. Sometimes, you know, you read a book and no matter how much you wanted to like it, you just can't read as many pages in a sitting as you hoped because it just doesn't carry your attention. Fortunately, I did not have a problem with this book in that respect.
Continuing with the positives, I thought it was great that Sal, our lovely main character is gender fluid. Though I didn't adore how it was handled, most authors don't even make the attempt. Additionally, another character proves to be a bisexual love interest for the main character. Yay inclusion!
I also loved Maud, Sal's personal maid/attendant during the trials to become the Queen's Left Hand agent, Opal. Maud was loyal and friendly and generally just seemed to give more of a damn than the rest of the characters. 10/10 would protect Maud from all harm that would come to her. Maud doesn't appear to be a love interest either, which is great! I'm a girl who loves platonic friendship characters in books. So often, characters like that get skipped or glossed over in order to further the plot. It always makes me sad. I have read way too many books where the best friend is only briefly mentioned but never seen being the best friend. Anyway, Maud was great. If I continue reading the book series, it will pretty much be for her and her alone.
However, all positive things aside, I did have some complaints about the book. I'm not going to harp on any of them too long, but they are things I felt dragged the book's quality down.
For one thing, I felt that Sal was a very weak main character. Sal, from the beginning to the end, does not grow one bit. Now, granted, this is the first book in a series. There's time yet for Sal to develop in the course of the story. Unfortunately, you just don't see that in this book. Sal is Sal the whole way through. Sal also has very few qualities that I would admire in them as a main character. Actually, sometimes you kind of questioned how mentally healthy Sal could possibly be. This kid is obviously traumatized, underfed, obviously seems to suffer from PTSD, and is obviously neglected, and you decide to put them in a fight to the death with 22 other people to help you run the government? I have many questions on that front. All in all, I just didn't like Sal.
The gender fluidity didn't bother me at all as a concept for the character, but I felt it was odd that Sal depended on their clothes to tell others what genders they were. Now, for one, Sal was a street thief who had no good clothes aside from thief clothes prior to becoming a part of the battle royale for Opal. Chances are, Sal didn't own a bunch of frilly dresses and suit jackets to indicate what they felt like when robbing coaches. Sal probably had one filthy outfit and used it until they had to steal a new one. So how Sal managed this system before the trials, I don't really know. And secondly, it reinforces this connotation that certain clothes belong only to one gender or the other. I don't really love that. I understand the system, but I don't love it.
Naming your characters with numbers for 90% of the book is also never a good idea. It was very difficult to get a grasp on the side characters for this reason. I had a similar issue with this in the Hunger Games, which I felt was quite similar in feel to this book. I honestly have no strong picture in my head of any of the characters in this book - including the main character Sal. The author spends more time describing the clothes on the character than the actual characters themselves. Granted, you may be able to blame this one on every single character wearing a mask with a number on it for 90% of the book.
I also felt that much of the training felt redundant and, to be honest with you, it didn't feel like Sal actually seemed to have learned much from the courses that would have kept them alive throughout the course of the story. Personally, I felt that all the learning descriptions were a bit much and could have been handled better. Just tell us that Ruby wore Sal out again by doing push ups for hours - we'll get it. Your audience is smart - they can fill in the blanks.
My other complaint was that I felt like I'd read this book before in another setting. It really did feel like reading other YA novels with fights to the death with other people their age. A bunch of people have mentioned this in regards to the book. I definitely feel that Hunger Games is probably the closest parallel, although there doesn't appear to be a love triangle so far. (Thank goodness.)
All in all, it's a decent read. If you enjoy books like the Hunger Games series, this definitely has that vibe going. I will probably continue reading it when the next book comes out, but it won't be high on my list of priorities.
adventurous
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Loved this one!
There are various reviews roaming the internet about this book. I don’t think any had an issue with representation though, so I decided to give this book a try. The first chapter was amazing! Then it took a step back and did character introductions and a bit of world building, but then we were thrown right into the competition. Non-stop action, revelations, and exploring genderfluid as an accepted form of identification. While this story may not be new territory (think Hunger Games and Throne of Glass), I enjoyed the author’s writing style and the characters presented.
I’ve already started passing this around to friends because I need someone to talk to about this book! I also went ahead and pre-ordered a final copy to have another one to loan out.
So, this has nothing to do with how I feel about the story contained within, but I do want to mention that Sourcebooks Fire outdid themselves with a really fun promotion that involved social media outreach, prizes, and great emails to the “auditioners” who participated throughout. I did win a random prize for an arc, signed bookplate, and stickers (which in no way affected my honest review), and the creative mask challenge was a neat addition. Here’s my entry! Thanks for putting all that together Sourcebooks Fire!!
There are various reviews roaming the internet about this book. I don’t think any had an issue with representation though, so I decided to give this book a try. The first chapter was amazing! Then it took a step back and did character introductions and a bit of world building, but then we were thrown right into the competition. Non-stop action, revelations, and exploring genderfluid as an accepted form of identification. While this story may not be new territory (think Hunger Games and Throne of Glass), I enjoyed the author’s writing style and the characters presented.
I’ve already started passing this around to friends because I need someone to talk to about this book! I also went ahead and pre-ordered a final copy to have another one to loan out.
So, this has nothing to do with how I feel about the story contained within, but I do want to mention that Sourcebooks Fire outdid themselves with a really fun promotion that involved social media outreach, prizes, and great emails to the “auditioners” who participated throughout. I did win a random prize for an arc, signed bookplate, and stickers (which in no way affected my honest review), and the creative mask challenge was a neat addition. Here’s my entry! Thanks for putting all that together Sourcebooks Fire!!
Dnf.
I received this in a giveaway on instagram thanks to sourcebooksfire!
Unfortunately, I did have to dnf this one. It could have been a very good book, but it was driving me crazy. The Sarah J. Maas/Leigh Bardugo comparisons are very accurate which should have made me love the book. However, there are just a few things that were driving me nuts and I had to DNF because they were keeping me from getting into the story.
I received this in a giveaway on instagram thanks to sourcebooksfire!
Unfortunately, I did have to dnf this one. It could have been a very good book, but it was driving me crazy. The Sarah J. Maas/Leigh Bardugo comparisons are very accurate which should have made me love the book. However, there are just a few things that were driving me nuts and I had to DNF because they were keeping me from getting into the story.
3.5* I found myself very confused at multiple parts in the book though I'm not sure if it was the writing's fault or my own. Still absolutely lived the book though!