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3.85 AVERAGE
3.85 AVERAGE
challenging
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
It started out strong, got a bit tedious in the middle…but the end was pretty good! Looking forward to reading the next book!
Yet another FMC that's more than she seems, and super impressive for being just a mere girl. Eyeroll.
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Incredible
Absolutely flew through this book, it was soooo good, I was gripped right from the beginning. I can’t wait to start book 2
Absolutely flew through this book, it was soooo good, I was gripped right from the beginning. I can’t wait to start book 2
slow-paced
500 pages of a whole lot of nothing happening
This book kicks off with a naked woman lying in a crater, surrounded by soldiers. Not a metaphor. That is literally how it begins. And somehow, it only gets more chaotic from there.
Medra has just murdered her maybe god grandfather, transported to a different world, (as you do) and is immediately kidnapped because, brace yourself, she has red hair. That’s it. That’s the threat. Red hair. You’d think she was carrying a live bomb the way people react. By page 39, I was actively pleading for the plot to move past her hair colour. But nope. They double down. Triple down. There are entire chapters where her hair gets more attention than the actual storyline.
She also has pointy ears and slightly odd toes, which in this world apparently screams “rider” like a neon sign. Everything here is about bloodlines, appearances, and titles so long I started skipping them out of sheer protest.
Enter Blake Drakharrow, who’s the crown prince and owner of every dramatic fantasy title under the sun. Somehow, he’s still likeable. He broods just the right amount, kicks people when necessary, and eventually tells his psycho consort Regan to get lost by invoking something called the Right of Dissolution. Honestly, iconic moment.
Regan, by the way, is your standard power hungry mean girl with no off switch. Her entire personality is sabotage and possessiveness. She dominates way too much of the book, and not in a good way. The love triangle is a mess (yes this still counts as a triangle to me). Drawn out, emotionally confusing, and full of scenes that made me audibly sigh in frustration.
Theo, is actually delightful. The ghost of Medra’s mother lives rent free in her head and is absolutely unhinged. And the dragon we’ve been waiting for? Shows up at the very end, takes one look at the drama, and essentially goes, no thanks.
And Medra herself? Look, she’s not a great protagonist. She makes every bad decision imaginable, acts first, thinks never, and somehow manages to be the least interesting part of her own story. She literally awakens an ancient dragon and still gets rejected. Even the mythical creatures have had enough of her.
There are some good bits. Decent banter, a few snappy lines, and Blake really does carry the whole book on his royal shoulders. But the pacing is off, the stakes feel all over the place, and way too much time is spent on schoolyard drama and people screaming about genetics and hair colour.
Will I read the sequel? Unfortunately, yes. I need to know if Medra develops a single functioning brain cell. If not, I’m DNFing faster than the dragon peaced out of the plot.
Medra has just murdered her maybe god grandfather, transported to a different world, (as you do) and is immediately kidnapped because, brace yourself, she has red hair. That’s it. That’s the threat. Red hair. You’d think she was carrying a live bomb the way people react. By page 39, I was actively pleading for the plot to move past her hair colour. But nope. They double down. Triple down. There are entire chapters where her hair gets more attention than the actual storyline.
She also has pointy ears and slightly odd toes, which in this world apparently screams “rider” like a neon sign. Everything here is about bloodlines, appearances, and titles so long I started skipping them out of sheer protest.
Enter Blake Drakharrow, who’s the crown prince and owner of every dramatic fantasy title under the sun. Somehow, he’s still likeable. He broods just the right amount, kicks people when necessary, and eventually tells his psycho consort Regan to get lost by invoking something called the Right of Dissolution. Honestly, iconic moment.
Regan, by the way, is your standard power hungry mean girl with no off switch. Her entire personality is sabotage and possessiveness. She dominates way too much of the book, and not in a good way. The love triangle is a mess (yes this still counts as a triangle to me). Drawn out, emotionally confusing, and full of scenes that made me audibly sigh in frustration.
Theo, is actually delightful. The ghost of Medra’s mother lives rent free in her head and is absolutely unhinged. And the dragon we’ve been waiting for? Shows up at the very end, takes one look at the drama, and essentially goes, no thanks.
And Medra herself? Look, she’s not a great protagonist. She makes every bad decision imaginable, acts first, thinks never, and somehow manages to be the least interesting part of her own story. She literally awakens an ancient dragon and still gets rejected. Even the mythical creatures have had enough of her.
There are some good bits. Decent banter, a few snappy lines, and Blake really does carry the whole book on his royal shoulders. But the pacing is off, the stakes feel all over the place, and way too much time is spent on schoolyard drama and people screaming about genetics and hair colour.
Will I read the sequel? Unfortunately, yes. I need to know if Medra develops a single functioning brain cell. If not, I’m DNFing faster than the dragon peaced out of the plot.
adventurous
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
medium-paced
I don’t know how to feel about this. There were parts I liked but other parts were weird and chaotic and just icky and hard to read. The ending made me hopeful that the next book would be entertaining, but there was almost no plot to this first book. The grammar was also horrendous which made it hard to read at times. Can’t decide if I should try the second book.