Reviews

I enjoyed this book more than the last when it came to the romance. The romance in the first book with Kamran felt underdeveloped, insta-lovey and I was also uninterested in his character. In this book, Alizeh spent all of her time with Cyrus as mostly enemies. I much prefer Cyrus as a love interest than Kamran.

I think the choice to dedicate every other chapter to Kamran's POV when he spent the entire time in his kingdom feeling sorry for himself brought the overall rating down. I found myself skim-reading and even at some points just skipping his POV. The fact that half the book was in his POV also meant that the romance between Cyrus and Alizeh was not fully developed either - from his side, I understand as he has known her a lot longer than she has known him, but I wish we got to see her feelings slowly change over time. It felt jarring at times, the way she was hating him one minute and the next caring for him when he was in pain.

Though literally nothing happened plot-wise, I really loved seeing into Cyrus' life, so I didn't mind. He's a complex character, far more interesting than Kamran.

I honestly just wish that the whole book was from Alizeh's POV and we got to see a full book of the enemies-to-lovers plot developing between Alizeh and Cyrus because I really like them together, despite the slightly rushed nature of their relationship arc (I'm just holding on to the fact that they aren't lovers yet and Tahereh Mafi can spend more time developing their relationship in the next book.)
Kamran is the equivalent to Adam from shatter me in my eyes. He's not reallyyy done anything wrong but I don't wish to read his name ever again. I kind of hate him.

That said, I love how Cyrus is quite clearly desperately in love with Alizeh and she still doesn't really like him. It's giving Aaron Warner getting shot by Juliette and convincing himself that it meant she felt something meaningful for him, even if her feelings were of pure hatred xx

kimmyclaire's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

aishafanky's review

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adventurous medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

xdarlene's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional sad 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? Yes

4.0

livia610's review against another edition

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adventurous lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

okay so it’s good, i’m going to read the next one, but omg how can a book be 400 pages and have barely anything happen?? like it wasn’t boring but so little happened in the span of 400 pages. i enjoy the characters but if im being honest none of them really have very distinct characterization still. i enjoyed it but at what cost 😭

applejb's review against another edition

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emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character

3.75

minielk's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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