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3.59 AVERAGE
3.59 AVERAGE
Warnings
Drugs: no
Sex: no
Language: no
Violence: yes
Other: n/a
Drugs: no
Sex: no
Language: no
Violence: yes
Other: n/a
It was fine. It wasn’t really mind blowing or anything. I’m not a huge fan of enemies to lovers, especially when they’re executed where each person expects the other to give up their decisions and life to be with them. It bothers me.
Also, I didn’t like how Simon was so convinced that he had to protect Kestra. I’m glad it was anymore than it was, because I don’t think Kestra really needs to be as protected as he thinks she does. She can handle herself.
Plus, the fact that Simon expected that Kestra should trust him really annoys me and ends up surprised when he gets fooled by her. Like, really? You REALLY didn’t think that she wouldn’t pull a fast one? At least be ready for it or SOMETHING. Don’t stand there like a blubbering idiot, please. Use your head and know that she doesn’t trust you, especially after everything that your forced her into.
Trina also made me so mad which is a good thing because I think she’s meant to, but I find that Trina is entitled and kind of just insensitive and not sympathetic toward Kestra whatsoever. I would’ve liked a deeper background on Trina, but that’s just me. She was fine if she was meant to annoy, but if we were supposed to sympathize with her, it missed the mark.
So, overall, not super mad with the book. Just slightly annoyed. I probably won’t read the second one since I wasn’t super sucked into the story nor am I really that interested.
Also, I didn’t like how Simon was so convinced that he had to protect Kestra. I’m glad it was anymore than it was, because I don’t think Kestra really needs to be as protected as he thinks she does. She can handle herself.
Plus, the fact that Simon expected that Kestra should trust him really annoys me and ends up surprised when he gets fooled by her. Like, really? You REALLY didn’t think that she wouldn’t pull a fast one? At least be ready for it or SOMETHING. Don’t stand there like a blubbering idiot, please. Use your head and know that she doesn’t trust you, especially after everything that your forced her into.
Trina also made me so mad which is a good thing because I think she’s meant to, but I find that Trina is entitled and kind of just insensitive and not sympathetic toward Kestra whatsoever. I would’ve liked a deeper background on Trina, but that’s just me. She was fine if she was meant to annoy, but if we were supposed to sympathize with her, it missed the mark.
So, overall, not super mad with the book. Just slightly annoyed. I probably won’t read the second one since I wasn’t super sucked into the story nor am I really that interested.
REREAD #2:
BRUH. THIS BOOK.
That's it that's all I've got.
I love Simon.
I love Trina.
I love Kestra.
I hate Gabe and I hate Tenger and I hate Endrick and I hate Sir Henry and just *insert angry emojis here*
ON TO BOOK TWO AND THEN BOOK THREEEEEEEE
REREAD #1: February 2019
I thought it was agonizing to wait for The Deceiver's Heart BEFORE now. But now! Having reread this one!!!!! I may well die long before I get that book (never mind that I've preordered it and it should be here within a couple of weeks xD)
I'm having trouble writing a coherent review at the moment, so let's start off by saying:
KESTRA is a girl I would love to be friends with. She's so strong, so willing to throw herself into harm's way if it saves others. I love her character growth, as she goes from being a girl who only cares about a couple of people to wanting to save the whole country. Her sass is impeccable; her arc is beautiful. She does what must be done. Somehow, she feels different from most other YA protagonists. I Love her wholeheartedly.
SIMON is the MVP. He didn't need to be as dedicated as he was, but HE WAS. He fought in places he could have run; he was always the first one rushing headlong into danger; he even stood in the hallway, knowing full well that he was a spy and could be in HUGE trouble, and casually said "Good morning" to Lord Freaking Endrick himself. I mean....WHAT. This guy. He has a heart of gold and nerves of steel. Can I marry him please.
TRINA is such a complex, well-written, deep character. I don't have a ton to say about her, just that I really hope there's more about her in book 2 and we get to hear more about her. She and Kestra are sort of woven together now and will be forever....mwahahahaha.
THE SETTING too is perfect. One thing I admire about Jennifer Nielsen's writing is that she doesn't shy away from making ridiculously vast worlds that would confuse most readers--and yet she manages to keep track of everything and make lots and lots of factions that all have their own goals and yet are all still memorable. I think I've observed growth here between this book and the Ascendance trilogy, too--in the latter, I occasionally found myself confused by the sheer number of countries involved, but here I was never confused. Coracks, Halderians, Endrians, Dallisors, the Dominion, and the Scarlet Throne are all players here, and somehow it still manages to make sense. I love this world and I can't wait to see more of it ^_^
THE PLOT TWISTS are still just as great a second time through. I barely remembered half of what happened, which was marvelous, because I was pleasantly surprised.
EVERYTHING ELSE????
I need book 2, NOW. Most anticipated book of the year. Gimme.
(Also...is the blurb of that one saying that Endrick is going to make Kestra an Ironheart? Because...if he does I will beat him. With all the fury of an offended fangirl. This has been a PSA.)
Original Review: May 2018
OH WOW. I picked up this book on a whim at the library because it was on the new books shelf and because I had heard of the author from a lot of my friends. I meant to get the False Prince first...whoops. Excuse me whilst I go and preorder both book 2 of this series AND Resistance, the WWII Holocaust novel that Nielsen has coming out.
Ahem. Now that that is out of the way...
I LOVED THIS BOOK. I know I had it at four stars when I had first finished it, but the more I think about it....the more I think it deserves five. SO GOOD.
The characters, for starters. I think the one downside to the characters (and this is genuinely the only downside!) was that Kestra's name was very similar to that of Kestrel, the heroine of the Winner's Curse trilogy. I loved Kestra WAAAAAY more than I did Kestrel, but since they were sort of similar stories, that was a little distracting. :P Other than that....I ADORED THEM ALLLLLL. Kestra and Simon were both wonderful little snarky cinnamon rolls, and their romance....ooh I loved it. And Trina was beautifully complicated and conflicted and I LOVED HER TOO. I think the only character I didn't like was Henry Dallisor....he and Lord Endrick (UGH to both of them, but in a horrible villain sort of way, not a bad-character sort of way.)
The plot was mind-bending....I saw a couple of the twists coming, but not all of them. And I'm not usually crazy about the whole long-lost family thing, but this time I adored it (no spoilers if you haven't read the book, but it was executed really, really well.)
The romance too. Argh I loved it. It didn't feel like instalove, somehow, even with the fact that the story is like four days....and I love childhood friends to enemies to lovers for some reason. (And enemies to lovers is always going to be one of my favorite tropes...) SO SO GOOD.
I also loved that this book is a comp title for one of mine (I won't say which because that might be spoilers for MY book....but it is the comp for one of them ^_^) Which is SO COOL!!!!!!
And let me just say: WHERE IS THE SEQUEL. Having read the synopsis for book 2 here on goodreads....NO NO NO NO NO NO. GIVE ME BOOK 2. PLEASE. I BEG YOU.
5 stars. 5 glorious stars. I love this book, and I need to get me some more Jennifer Nielsen ASAP.
BRUH. THIS BOOK.
That's it that's all I've got.
I love Simon.
I love Trina.
I love Kestra.
I hate Gabe and I hate Tenger and I hate Endrick and I hate Sir Henry and just *insert angry emojis here*
ON TO BOOK TWO AND THEN BOOK THREEEEEEEE
REREAD #1: February 2019
I thought it was agonizing to wait for The Deceiver's Heart BEFORE now. But now! Having reread this one!!!!! I may well die long before I get that book (never mind that I've preordered it and it should be here within a couple of weeks xD)
I'm having trouble writing a coherent review at the moment, so let's start off by saying:
KESTRA is a girl I would love to be friends with. She's so strong, so willing to throw herself into harm's way if it saves others. I love her character growth, as she goes from being a girl who only cares about a couple of people to wanting to save the whole country. Her sass is impeccable; her arc is beautiful. She does what must be done. Somehow, she feels different from most other YA protagonists. I Love her wholeheartedly.
SIMON is the MVP. He didn't need to be as dedicated as he was, but HE WAS. He fought in places he could have run; he was always the first one rushing headlong into danger; he even stood in the hallway, knowing full well that he was a spy and could be in HUGE trouble, and casually said "Good morning" to Lord Freaking Endrick himself. I mean....WHAT. This guy. He has a heart of gold and nerves of steel. Can I marry him please.
TRINA is such a complex, well-written, deep character. I don't have a ton to say about her, just that I really hope there's more about her in book 2 and we get to hear more about her. She and Kestra are sort of woven together now and will be forever....mwahahahaha.
THE SETTING too is perfect. One thing I admire about Jennifer Nielsen's writing is that she doesn't shy away from making ridiculously vast worlds that would confuse most readers--and yet she manages to keep track of everything and make lots and lots of factions that all have their own goals and yet are all still memorable. I think I've observed growth here between this book and the Ascendance trilogy, too--in the latter, I occasionally found myself confused by the sheer number of countries involved, but here I was never confused. Coracks, Halderians, Endrians, Dallisors, the Dominion, and the Scarlet Throne are all players here, and somehow it still manages to make sense. I love this world and I can't wait to see more of it ^_^
THE PLOT TWISTS are still just as great a second time through. I barely remembered half of what happened, which was marvelous, because I was pleasantly surprised.
EVERYTHING ELSE????
I need book 2, NOW. Most anticipated book of the year. Gimme.
(Also...is the blurb of that one saying that Endrick is going to make Kestra an Ironheart? Because...if he does I will beat him. With all the fury of an offended fangirl. This has been a PSA.)
Original Review: May 2018
OH WOW. I picked up this book on a whim at the library because it was on the new books shelf and because I had heard of the author from a lot of my friends. I meant to get the False Prince first...whoops. Excuse me whilst I go and preorder both book 2 of this series AND Resistance, the WWII Holocaust novel that Nielsen has coming out.
Ahem. Now that that is out of the way...
I LOVED THIS BOOK. I know I had it at four stars when I had first finished it, but the more I think about it....the more I think it deserves five. SO GOOD.
The characters, for starters. I think the one downside to the characters (and this is genuinely the only downside!) was that Kestra's name was very similar to that of Kestrel, the heroine of the Winner's Curse trilogy. I loved Kestra WAAAAAY more than I did Kestrel, but since they were sort of similar stories, that was a little distracting. :P Other than that....I ADORED THEM ALLLLLL. Kestra and Simon were both wonderful little snarky cinnamon rolls, and their romance....ooh I loved it. And Trina was beautifully complicated and conflicted and I LOVED HER TOO. I think the only character I didn't like was Henry Dallisor....he and Lord Endrick (UGH to both of them, but in a horrible villain sort of way, not a bad-character sort of way.)
The plot was mind-bending....I saw a couple of the twists coming, but not all of them. And I'm not usually crazy about the whole long-lost family thing, but this time I adored it (no spoilers if you haven't read the book, but it was executed really, really well.)
The romance too. Argh I loved it. It didn't feel like instalove, somehow, even with the fact that the story is like four days....and I love childhood friends to enemies to lovers for some reason. (And enemies to lovers is always going to be one of my favorite tropes...) SO SO GOOD.
I also loved that this book is a comp title for one of mine (I won't say which because that might be spoilers for MY book....but it is the comp for one of them ^_^) Which is SO COOL!!!!!!
And let me just say: WHERE IS THE SEQUEL. Having read the synopsis for book 2 here on goodreads....NO NO NO NO NO NO. GIVE ME BOOK 2. PLEASE. I BEG YOU.
5 stars. 5 glorious stars. I love this book, and I need to get me some more Jennifer Nielsen ASAP.
Fantastic! I did struggle to begin, as I usually do with books that start out describing a wasteland. However, it didn't take long for me be drawn in by the characters of Kestra and Simon. I stayed up all night reading it one night because I just couldn't put it down. I had to know what happened next! Nielsen does an amazing job at interweaving so many intricate plots and subplots. Secrets are revealed a little at a time. She kept me guessing, which I thoroughly enjoy in a book. I was dismayed at the end because I felt as though it ended abruptly, but I did find that this is only the first book in a series, so I'm alright with how it ended.
This book is written primarily from the point of view of Kestra, but with some chapters from the point of view of Simon. I really liked this approach because, so often when I read books, I find myself wondering what the other characters think or feel about a particular thing. I didn't have to wonder here. Interestingly, I found myself looking forward to those chapters that were written from Simon's point of view because it added pieces to the puzzle, another way of seeing things.
I highly recommend this to fans of books such as Watersmeet, Eragon, and The Hunger Games.
This book is written primarily from the point of view of Kestra, but with some chapters from the point of view of Simon. I really liked this approach because, so often when I read books, I find myself wondering what the other characters think or feel about a particular thing. I didn't have to wonder here. Interestingly, I found myself looking forward to those chapters that were written from Simon's point of view because it added pieces to the puzzle, another way of seeing things.
I highly recommend this to fans of books such as Watersmeet, Eragon, and The Hunger Games.
Absolutely loved this book. Can’t wait for the next one to be released.
I rather enjoyed this book (even with the some of the predictable plot lines)
3.5 stars. Took a little too long in the beginning to grab my attention—there was just way too much bickering and it was irritating. But, it did end up grabbing my attention and I enjoyed the story. Still not entirely sure why or how Simon changed his opinion of her so soon, but...*shrugs* I’ll pick up the second book when it’s released.
Pretty good book; I enjoyed it. The two characters who narrate have the same narration voice, though. Also, the story takes place over the course of just a few days, which makes the romance a bit unrealistic.
I truly enjoyed this book, it wasn't the most original if plots but I loved Kestra and it was entertaining.