You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Reads like a hunger games fanfic - makes me nostalgic for the wave of YA dystopian fantasy from high school.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Violence
Moderate: Child abuse
Minor: Sexual harassment
adventurous
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
I enjoyed this. It was a fun, easy read with characters that I felt invested in. The trials were kind of weak and the king didn’t have great development as a villain, but overall it was a fun time. Did i like it? Yes. Was it good? Not really.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Violence
Moderate: Child abuse
adventurous
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder
Moderate: Child abuse
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Loses points for feeling like a Hunger Games rip-off, gains points for being the slowest burn and the ending.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Child abuse, Torture
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
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
Good book, but took a while to finish. Otherwise, I'd reccomend!!
Adena, my baby :( I love her so much, of course the most innocent character has to die.
Kai got pissed when his abusive father died, but he lutteraly killed Paes? How tf does that make any sense!!
Kai got pissed when his abusive father died, but he lutteraly killed Paes? How tf does that make any sense!!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Hate crime, Torture, Violence
Moderate: Child abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Death of parent
Minor: Vomit, Sexual harassment
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
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
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child abuse, Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment, War, Injury/Injury detail
adventurous
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I honestly really enjoyed this book. I read Red Queen about 7 years ago and this book is basically a very obvious copy of that with some Hunger Games mixed in, but it's still enjoyable, in my opinion.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Classism
Minor: Child abuse, Torture
dark
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I should have DNFed this book. But it was our book club book so I listened to the end. There is not a single original element. Everything is stolen: mainly from the Hunger Games (kids going though death trials in an arena, heroine killing with a bow, protecting her younger sister who is everything for her, there is even the Seam - seriously Suzanne Collins should sue), also from Harry Potter (the moving labyrinth), with the most horrible writing for the love story (teenagers spooning in bed together but ZERO body reaction???).
Right after i was done i had to 1/ read a REAL romance novel to remind me of what a real love story was, and 2/ re-re-read the Hunger Games to remind me of what is good writing and worldbuilding.
There are so many plot holes i stopped trying to understand a quarter of the way through (for instance we don't know how or why the trial participants are chosen, or even what are the rules of the trials).
But also most of the characters are just ridiculous. They have no real feelings but the loooooove they feel for the other for no good reason and spend the whole book hating themselves. I don't remember a main male character I despised as much as Kai.
If I had a physical version of the book I would hurl it through the window or burn it - but thankfully it was an audiobook. Delete.
Right after i was done i had to 1/ read a REAL romance novel to remind me of what a real love story was, and 2/ re-re-read the Hunger Games to remind me of what is good writing and worldbuilding.
There are so many plot holes i stopped trying to understand a quarter of the way through (for instance we don't know how or why the trial participants are chosen, or even what are the rules of the trials).
But also most of the characters are just ridiculous. They have no real feelings but the loooooove they feel for the other for no good reason and spend the whole book hating themselves. I don't remember a main male character I despised as much as Kai.
If I had a physical version of the book I would hurl it through the window or burn it - but thankfully it was an audiobook. Delete.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Self harm, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, Classism
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
so, if you're the type of person who can read a book without ever once asking "but WHY?" whenever the rules of the world are introduced or characters decide they have a motivation, then you can probably tolerate this or enjoy it enough. even more-so if you enjoy hunger games fanfiction where the main concept of the games is to capture the flag. and also if all you need to enjoy a """romance""" is a snarky girl and a snarky guy having the same snarky conversation over and over again.
honestly, this book was highly frustrating to get through. not just because of the blatant hunger games first half (even down to kai being discovered at the start of the trials because of a fire he built to paedyn conveniently finding a bow and arrow), but because the trials themselves run on purge-movie rules. which is to say "all crime is legal but like... you don't HAVE to murder... you COULD just go rob a grocery store". every time the characters emphasize that something during the trials could be the difference between life and death, it's like... not really. it's not that serious. and then we have scattered balls between the trials themselves and there's almost never a sense of dread or the weight of the deaths that DID happen. we just move right on to gowns and more banter and other things. the trials, themselves, feel more like an afterthought, because the chapters we spend in them are short, vague, and hold little to no tension. we spend more time on contrived will they/won't they scenes between kai and paedyn--and even during the trials, that seems to be the main focus. with the similarities of the hunger games looming over so much of the first half of this book, it's EXTREMELY... i dunno, gross?, to never really acknowledge the deaths that do happen beyond stating that they happened and to shrug and move on just as the capital might have. we only really focus on the deaths when it's convenient for paedyn to be mad about something.
also, this book is so repetitive. the author either thinks you're going to forget something she told you a few sentences back, that you don't QUITE understand how striking a character's eyes are, or she has to spoon-feed you what's happening in the scene. again: if you can turn your brain off and just popcorn your way through something like this, more power (haha--*shot*) to you.
POSSIBLE SPOILERS
things i actually liked:
honestly, this book was highly frustrating to get through. not just because of the blatant hunger games first half (even down to kai being discovered at the start of the trials because of a fire he built to paedyn conveniently finding a bow and arrow), but because the trials themselves run on purge-movie rules. which is to say "all crime is legal but like... you don't HAVE to murder... you COULD just go rob a grocery store". every time the characters emphasize that something during the trials could be the difference between life and death, it's like... not really. it's not that serious. and then we have scattered balls between the trials themselves and there's almost never a sense of dread or the weight of the deaths that DID happen. we just move right on to gowns and more banter and other things. the trials, themselves, feel more like an afterthought, because the chapters we spend in them are short, vague, and hold little to no tension. we spend more time on contrived will they/won't they scenes between kai and paedyn--and even during the trials, that seems to be the main focus. with the similarities of the hunger games looming over so much of the first half of this book, it's EXTREMELY... i dunno, gross?, to never really acknowledge the deaths that do happen beyond stating that they happened and to shrug and move on just as the capital might have. we only really focus on the deaths when it's convenient for paedyn to be mad about something.
also, this book is so repetitive. the author either thinks you're going to forget something she told you a few sentences back, that you don't QUITE understand how striking a character's eyes are, or she has to spoon-feed you what's happening in the scene. again: if you can turn your brain off and just popcorn your way through something like this, more power (haha--*shot*) to you.
POSSIBLE SPOILERS
things i actually liked:
- the cover's nice to look at i guess; would catch my eye on a shelf
....yep! moving on
thanks, i hate it:
- to say i detest kai is putting it kindly. i'm not gonna harp on most things connected to his job as an enforcer, because i can understand/see how these could potentially be things for him to work through as a character. that being said.
the way he just kept touching paedyn really started giving me the ick. from taking her chin and turning her head to putting his hands all over her waist or grabbing her legs without so much as a warning--it really just. ugh. i know she "bit back" each time, but this was never framed as something he ever learned from or respected. more like an erosion effect where he gradually wore her down enough to just let it happen, and i hate that. also, his solution to her having a panic attack being to loosen her dress to the point it's hanging off of her? and then to smirk and be all coy about it? gross. extremely gross. i would simply stop trusting anyone around me if i felt myself slipping into a panic attack out of fear they'd try taking advantage of my now vulnerable state. there's also a point toward the end of the book where one of the guards interrupts him and paedyn because the KING gave him an order to go get kai, and kai is like "an imperial is going to lose his tongue for following the orders the king gave him", and like... you don't have to cut out the man's tongue, kai. ...you could just be normal about this. no one is twisting your arm to do this. the fuck is wrong with you. - paedyn is a terrible thief. she at one point remarks how a thief's worst fear is being recognized, only in the same sentence to then say she's made a reputation for herself. her methods of pick-pocketing aren't well thought out and, if anything, would actually draw more attention to her.
- like i hinted at above, kai and paedyn's relationship is so, so, so hollow.
they have a flirtatious moment when they meet on the streets, and that's about as believable as their relationship gets. as soon as the trials start, it's like the author flipped a switch in their heads and now not only are they madly attracted to each other, but suddenly we're just constantly hearing about how they'll be the end of each other and how emotionally tangled together they are and like??? WHY tho. this is extremely unearned. next to NOTHING has happened to warrant this. and it leads to all of their interactions feeling disingenuous, like i'm being gaslit, and their exchanges are almost copy-pasted the exact same beats every single time. the real trial in this story is trying not to zone out when these two are talking. - blair is only here to be the transparent mean girl and rival to paedyn, so the audience can see just how much cooler paedyn is, so they can cat-fight over the men, call each other bitches, and just generally be petty in the most bland ways possible.
"did growing up in a palace teach you how to be a bitch?" paedyn, shut up; you grew up on the streets, and you learned just fine. - the fact that The Plague and plague 2 the sequel don't have actual names really bothers me. couldn't even be bothered to give one or the other a name like the black death or something? the worldbuilding around the superpowers is weak enough, but this is just... wildly lazy.
- i don't know how i'm supposed to take the concept of Sights seriously (or how they keep contestants in the trials from accidentally killing Sights in a blind panic, especially when given ranged weapons like bows and arrows; you see a human-esque figure approaching in the woods, so you shoot it and... oops?). like, imagine you're being attacked by a bear and there's just someone stood off to the side watching like 0-0
- again, like i hinted at above, the trials are low-stakes and ...dumb as hell. the first two are basically just capture the flag. the last one is a maze. they're built up as these horrible, disgusting things that always result in death, but like... you don't have to kill each other. everyone here just defaults to that being the solution or the only way forward, which i think says more about THEM than the trials themselves.
the audience votes don't even matter by the end of the book (or at all tbh, this just seems like another thing taken from the hunger games). - i am AWARE this is a personal nit-pick but... i can't believe someone got bit by a snake, but it didn't matter in any way, shape or form. venom can seriously fuck you up in more ways than just almost killing you. people sometimes need speech/physical therapy after surviving a snake bite. but y'know, healers i guess. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
- everything surrounding adena was just... it left a bad taste in my mouth.
and after she died , for kai to lament on "all of the stories paedyn had told him about her" just felt insulting because, like... how did none of the dozens of times WE had to listen to you two talk include those stories? why didn't we, the audience, get to experience any of these? oh, it's because they don't exist. adena's just here for The Big Sad. that's all she is. - the big twist at the end: this is stupid. revealing that it was kai who killed her dad, and not the king. what's worse? is that people who can create illusions exist in this world--one even utilizes this power during the trials to trick kai into hurting jax. this. COULD. have been clever foreshadowing in a better book. perhaps if ...idk... paedyn had a decent relationship with someone before her father's death, then an illusionist makes it looks like that person killed her father but it was actually the king or kai or--i don't know, SOMETHING outside of "your memory's been tricking you this whole time!!!" because her memory has no REASON to "protect her" from the killer's true identity. this is just... incredibly stupid. and made stupider when you actually have an in-lore way of explaining a case of mistaken identity, but didn't use it.
i could keep going on dislikes (trust that i was facepalming for most of this book), but i just don't care enough to spend any more time writing this review lmao. absolutely not reaching for any of the sequels. godspeed, paedyn, i guess. kai? i hope my raptors find you before i do.
the real enemies-to-lovers endgame should have been blair/paedyn, but we can't have nice things.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Torture, Violence, Murder, Alcohol, Sexual harassment
Minor: Animal death, Classism
i included "sexual harassment" as a moderate warning due to how often kai touched paedyn without consent and how he kept doing it despite her clearly signalling she didn't want it (in the earlier section of the book, specifically), as well as his decision to 'help her' through her panic attack by loosening her corset during the ball so it was "hanging off of her", then acting coy about it when she voiced clear discomfort and shock about this.
I stopped reading it because it was too much romance. I was told this was for ages 13+ but in my personal opinion it was definitely 15+
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Slavery, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, War