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3.76 AVERAGE
3.76 AVERAGE
3.5 ☆ | I’m so happy to announce that this was so much better than The Betrothed! It wasn’t perfect by any means (it’s about 100 pages longer than it needs to be and a certain reveal at the end didn’t really make sense to me) and even though it didn’t top The Selection, I’m really glad that I’m once again enjoying Kiera Cass’s books
adventurous
emotional
inspiring
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Pros: Solid book. With a very good plot. I was INVESTED in the politics happening in this book. For a stand alone I think the characters were well developed, but their romance was a bit too fast paced for me. The friendships in the books were well written and had their own arcs.
Cons: I think this book is geared towards a younger audience . The dialogue between some of the characters felt a little immature at times. I found the hurricane scene to be a bit unbelievable, and I wish she would have chosen a different plot device.
Cons: I think this book is geared towards a younger audience . The dialogue between some of the characters felt a little immature at times. I found the hurricane scene to be a bit unbelievable, and I wish she would have chosen a different plot device.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Violence, War
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
sad
tense
Since reading the Selection series, I've always at least been interested in Ms. Cass's stuff. Even if I ended up not liking it, I'm always ready to give her a chance. I was excited to see she had a new book and while parts of the opening went very slowly and nearly made me stop reading, once I got to the halfway point it got more and more interesting. I'm averaging out my rating to three stars.
I don't want to pick on the writing style too much but the one thing that I couldn't help noticing was how ellipses were treated. Many times they were used and the next word felt like the start of a new sentence, or were used when a period would have sufficed. It's a nitpicky thing, but like I said I couldn't help noticing it.
A lot of the first part of the book felt like filler to me. There were entire chapters that, after I turned the page, I thought could have been cut out with nothing lost. I realize a lot of it is setting up the characters and their worlds, but some of the chapters were just too short and didn't really feel like they added anything meaningful. The plot didn't even feel like it kicked in until maybe page 200 or something. I admit I almost stopped reading at that point. I'm glad I kept going but those early chapters were a little boring and nothing much was really happening.
This is going to sound like a weird complaint, but I wish this didn't take place on pseudo-Earth. Nothing in the story would change if the author left out references to Earth constellations or that myth about Ursa Major. In fact, it would've been a neat bit of world-building to have these completely foreign constellations and a myth about one of them.
I don't have any strong feelings about the romance, though it did win me over a little the farther along I read. The bit where Lennox taught Annika to dance was pretty cute, and I couldn't help liking Lennox a little for his constant "can I kill him now" thing. The did end up having some nice chemistry between them, even if the initial set-up was off-putting. Annika falls in love with the guy who murdered her mother. Yeah, okay. I would have honestly liked more of the romance between the brother and the maid.
One thing that is both good and kind of frustrating about Cass is that she does touch upon interesting subjects. In this book, there's a good examination of erasing history/putting a different spin on events. There's also a bit about how much responsibility one might have to things done by their country/people, and a nice bit about child soldiers and all the abuse and mental stress that can go into it. But it's all very surface level. Even with how thick this book is, things are wrapped up a bit too neatly and easily.
I'm already considering reading this book again sometime, but taking my time a lot more with it. And if Ms. Cass ever publishes anything else, I'll be ready to take the chance on her again.
I don't want to pick on the writing style too much but the one thing that I couldn't help noticing was how ellipses were treated. Many times they were used and the next word felt like the start of a new sentence, or were used when a period would have sufficed. It's a nitpicky thing, but like I said I couldn't help noticing it.
A lot of the first part of the book felt like filler to me. There were entire chapters that, after I turned the page, I thought could have been cut out with nothing lost. I realize a lot of it is setting up the characters and their worlds, but some of the chapters were just too short and didn't really feel like they added anything meaningful. The plot didn't even feel like it kicked in until maybe page 200 or something. I admit I almost stopped reading at that point. I'm glad I kept going but those early chapters were a little boring and nothing much was really happening.
This is going to sound like a weird complaint, but I wish this didn't take place on pseudo-Earth. Nothing in the story would change if the author left out references to Earth constellations or that myth about Ursa Major. In fact, it would've been a neat bit of world-building to have these completely foreign constellations and a myth about one of them.
I don't have any strong feelings about the romance, though it did win me over a little the farther along I read. The bit where Lennox taught Annika to dance was pretty cute, and I couldn't help liking Lennox a little for his constant "can I kill him now" thing. The did end up having some nice chemistry between them, even if the initial set-up was off-putting. Annika falls in love with the guy who murdered her mother. Yeah, okay. I would have honestly liked more of the romance between the brother and the maid.
One thing that is both good and kind of frustrating about Cass is that she does touch upon interesting subjects. In this book, there's a good examination of erasing history/putting a different spin on events. There's also a bit about how much responsibility one might have to things done by their country/people, and a nice bit about child soldiers and all the abuse and mental stress that can go into it. But it's all very surface level. Even with how thick this book is, things are wrapped up a bit too neatly and easily.
I'm already considering reading this book again sometime, but taking my time a lot more with it. And if Ms. Cass ever publishes anything else, I'll be ready to take the chance on her again.
adventurous
lighthearted
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:
No
medium-paced
adventurous
emotional
tense
medium-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:
Yes
Eh. I loved The Selection series so was excited to read this book, but honestly, I was a bit disappointed. The love story is a bit of a stretch for me, how it was presented. It’s like an enemies to lovers that goes to star crossed (but we all know they get together right) and this happens in one night. I find that hard to believe. I didn’t buy the star crossed drama either when you can see the solution to their predicament way before they can see it. So overall, disappointing.