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4.01 AVERAGE
4.01 AVERAGE
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
I enjoyed this book bc 1. Azazel was sometimes giving baddie whenever she overpowered Cyrus in his own games and 2. i like the end where she chooses her kingdom over him and 3. i like how tormented he was over her. Tehe.
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Team Cyrus better be end game or else .... we gon' be team CRYus :'(
HOW CAN HE NOT BE ENDGAME< I LOVE KAMRAN BUT PLEASE C Y R U S is everything.
HOW CAN HE NOT BE ENDGAME< I LOVE KAMRAN BUT PLEASE C Y R U S is everything.
I fucking despise Kamran. Like a pure fucking hatred.
“Never again would he allow a woman to own his emotions; never again would he be made weak by such base temptations.”
He’s a misogynist at heart, I can fucking sense it with the way he talks about women.
“Never in his life had a palace snoda dared speak aloud in his presence, much less act as a mouthpiece on behalf of the others—whose opinions should not have mattered to him. Any other royal of Kamran’s caliber would’ve had the servant hung for his audacity alone, but the prince could not quell a certain measure of curiosity.”
So he doesn’t have him hanged because he’s curious? A loyal servant dedicating his entire life to him while being dismissed and treated cruelly, with even Kamran admitting he doesn’t even care enough as to enquire about their lives or treatment (unless it’s a girl he’s attracted to)? A servant who’s currently looking out for him and aiding him?
I despise him I despise him I despise him so fucking much. Oh my god. I thought he was getting some kind of redemption arc but no, not compassion or empathy, just out of touch privilege as he complains about his birthright, literal kingship, while admitting he’s always been well fed and looked after and spoilt fucking rotten, never wanting for anything in his pathetic fucking life. How awful.
Now he’s talking about getting revenge for his grandfather, getting angry on his behalf that people betrayed him, like he wasn’t eating children!!!! But only the poor street urchins so I guess he doesn’t care too much. AAAAAAAHHHHHHH.
And the way he treats practically everyone else around him, particularly Omid and Miss Huda, it just reeks of underlying misogyny and classism. He’s also just a prick.
Once again, nothing happened in this book. In fact, I think less happened in the book than the first. I just don’t understand how I was so engaged when there was no plot whatsoever. The events in this could have easily been merged with the first book and half of the unnecessary chapters, mostly Kamran’s where nothing is actually being accomplished, and inner ramblings that lasted pages could’ve been cut while not being detrimental to the character’s development.
I liked Alizeh and Cyrus’s relationship for the first 60% or so, despite the fact that it was contradictory. One minute it was pure hatred, with him physically harming her despite saying ‘he would never hurt her’, and the next they’re joking and somewhat allies despite all of that happening? I can see the change to allies and joking over time, but it was too sudden, and often out of place I felt, for them.
And then she’s crying over him and caring for him like she’s his mother or something despite him being unreasonably cruel to her.
And then after the 60% mark it just got weird for me. The whole delusional state he was in felt so strange and out of place and I just felt weirded out by the whole situation. And then the happenings with her book and the cabinet I actually despised.
Everything this man does is a contradiction and I hate it. Again, he physically harms her with his sword, despite saying he never would, and at every chance he appears threatening and domineering and hateful, to the point where she feels genuine fear for her safety, before then confessing his love for her??
And then he just rambles and rambles about how she’s ’torturing him’, blaming her for every one of his feelings and desires for which she then apologises for.
He’s beyond selfish, only thinking about his own wants and putting her in an awful position despite knowing her duties, and then acting as if she’s being intentionally cruel by rejecting him, once again making her apologise and feel guilty and placing the blame on her when she’s in no way responsible for his own feelings. It’s giving pick me.
It’s just this sad, pitiful act that reeks of desperation and not in a hot or endearing way, just this messy, toxic sense of entitlement he seems to have for her. Like he feels he deserves her because he’s been ‘tortured’ for months by dreams of her (“In my mind you’re already mine” 🤢), again which she’s not responsible for. He gives her every suggestion- marry him, then kill him, then take his throne and kingdom- and then condemns her for them, despite her agreeing to none, acting as if she’s intentionally causing him harm despite her showing him unbelievable kindness and tenderness when he didn't deserve it.
I’m probably reading into all this too much, I don’t know. It just came across so icky to me and in one scene I suddenly hated him.
Despite nothing happening in these books, and my hatred for half of the characters (not you Alizeh<3), I was very engaged and read them quickly (though I started to skim Kamran’s chapters out of pure bordering of nothing happening). And also despite this, I don’t think I’ll be reading the next book
I’ll class this as a soft DNF, and I might come back to it, but for now I just get angry when reading these books so I’ll put them down.
～4 stars
「i look at you and i can't breathe. in my mind, you are already
「i look at you and i can't breathe. in my mind, you are already
adventurous
emotional
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
tense
fast-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:
Complicated
CYRUS I LOVE U UGH I LOVE YEARNING MEN
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
inspiring
mysterious
tense
fast-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:
Yes
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death of parent
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️✨
Um..wow. I am so shook. This is definitely giving me Shatter Me vibes with the love triangle that was thrown in. Kamran is giving Adam vibes and Cyrus is for sure Warner. #TeamCyrus The book felt like a filler book but wow I am so in love with Cyrus
Um..wow. I am so shook. This is definitely giving me Shatter Me vibes with the love triangle that was thrown in. Kamran is giving Adam vibes and Cyrus is for sure Warner. #TeamCyrus The book felt like a filler book but wow I am so in love with Cyrus
adventurous
medium-paced
adventurous
emotional
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated