Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.82 AVERAGE
3.82 AVERAGE
While I enjoyed the story, I found it slow and I was easily distracted from it. It would be good for fans of medieval time period books.
adventurous
dark
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I hate giving low scores. This books is a 2.5 for me in all reality. Not the worst ever, but certainly not the best ever. In fact, I am not even sure what to say about it, except I am glad I opted to get it on kindle for considerably cheaper than the print version because I would have been upset to have paid $15.99 for it - I will not be reading it again.
I found the beginning to drag on and on and on. With an over emphasis on explaining how very ugly Lada is - I mean I get it. She was ugly, and in turn she was super vicious, but apparently later she developed a chest that got her noticed a lot more than she wanted to be noticed. While she was ugly her brother was beautiful in a feminine sort of way that in doubt set the stage for the character to have a crisis of gender identity in a religious and cultural setting where such was not acceptable behaviour.
Lada marries her best friend in secret at the age of 12 or 13 then he is removed from the story, but was it true love?
Radu struggles with sexual identity, and becoming a strong man. So - does it automatically mean that you're gay if you cry a lot, are beautiful? Just asking because this seems a bit stereotypical and maybe not entirely accurate. Maybe I feel a feminist urge to say that this boy could have been strong and still beautiful and still struggled with this issue. Although both seem to work themselves out in the end.
Mahmed - yeah, hmmmm, well not sure what to think of him.
Huma - have to admire a woman that is pointed in explaining there are more ways then might and strength to gain the power of an entire empire and control the throne. That thrones can be taken by sword and might but also by waiting and the use of feminine sexuality and persuasion. Rather a sneaky tactic that women have been employing to ensnare men for centuries - you'd think they'd learn to protect themselves. From the harem she can control a kingdom - interesting concept. Made me think of all the wives that influenced their husbands in the Biblical accounts of 1/2 Kings and 1/2 Chronicles, as well as other historical accounts.
I honestly don't know how to best review this book. It's so dry at times, reading like a dry, very long account of growing up. To me it does not become interesting until almost 2/3's of the way in and then I started actually having feelings for the characters and caring about how it ended. Believe me this almost ended up on my DNF shelf more than one time. Now the type A personality in me is debating on whether I should suck it up and finish the entire series rather than leave it undone and just cutting it loose.
I found the beginning to drag on and on and on. With an over emphasis on explaining how very ugly Lada is - I mean I get it. She was ugly, and in turn she was super vicious, but apparently later she developed a chest that got her noticed a lot more than she wanted to be noticed. While she was ugly her brother was beautiful in a feminine sort of way that in doubt set the stage for the character to have a crisis of gender identity in a religious and cultural setting where such was not acceptable behaviour.
Lada marries her best friend in secret at the age of 12 or 13 then he is removed from the story, but was it true love?
Radu struggles with sexual identity, and becoming a strong man. So - does it automatically mean that you're gay if you cry a lot, are beautiful? Just asking because this seems a bit stereotypical and maybe not entirely accurate. Maybe I feel a feminist urge to say that this boy could have been strong and still beautiful and still struggled with this issue. Although both seem to work themselves out in the end.
Mahmed - yeah, hmmmm, well not sure what to think of him.
Huma - have to admire a woman that is pointed in explaining there are more ways then might and strength to gain the power of an entire empire and control the throne. That thrones can be taken by sword and might but also by waiting and the use of feminine sexuality and persuasion. Rather a sneaky tactic that women have been employing to ensnare men for centuries - you'd think they'd learn to protect themselves. From the harem she can control a kingdom - interesting concept. Made me think of all the wives that influenced their husbands in the Biblical accounts of 1/2 Kings and 1/2 Chronicles, as well as other historical accounts.
I honestly don't know how to best review this book. It's so dry at times, reading like a dry, very long account of growing up. To me it does not become interesting until almost 2/3's of the way in and then I started actually having feelings for the characters and caring about how it ended. Believe me this almost ended up on my DNF shelf more than one time. Now the type A personality in me is debating on whether I should suck it up and finish the entire series rather than leave it undone and just cutting it loose.
I was a little disappointed because it says fantasy online, but it’s actually historical fiction. I absolutely loved the characters, but the plot was too slow for me. It just was kind of a mediocre read.
It started slow with fairly unlikeable characters but picked up at the end. Also I'm always annoyed by books with conflicts that can be resolved with one normal conversation..
adventurous
emotional
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
DNF. No fault of its own. Just a reading slump and now I just can't pick it up again!?
An interesting concept. Idid enjoy the twists and the character development!
I am deeply confused on how to feel about this book. For everyone calling this a fantasy...it's fits squarely into historical fiction, heavy on the fiction, but grounded in many historical details/characters.
First of all, for a young adult book, a good half of the story the characters aren't even teenagers. That didn't ruin the story for me, but it's bit irritating. Because of this there's a LOT of exposition. A half a book's worth. The things on the back cover aren't even relevant until around page 70 or so.
I never connected to the characters. Radu was pitiable, but annoying. Mehmed was alright, but never seemed deserving of Radu's worship or Lada's affection.
In terms of girl power, this book's doing okay. Though I'd argue an important part of girl power is being a girl. While this story was gender swapped, Lada clearly didn't want it to be. And I wish that instead of her always wanting to be a boy, and acting like a boy, she could she that embracing being a girl and kicking butt anyway might make you seem lesser to stupid minds, but makes you pretty alright to me. (See Daenerys stormborn, the first of her name, mother of dragons...yadda yadda).
I'm willing to believe it was just me. But this book falls solidly on okay to me and nothing more.
First of all, for a young adult book, a good half of the story the characters aren't even teenagers. That didn't ruin the story for me, but it's bit irritating. Because of this there's a LOT of exposition. A half a book's worth. The things on the back cover aren't even relevant until around page 70 or so.
I never connected to the characters. Radu was pitiable, but annoying. Mehmed was alright, but never seemed deserving of Radu's worship or Lada's affection.
In terms of girl power, this book's doing okay. Though I'd argue an important part of girl power is being a girl. While this story was gender swapped, Lada clearly didn't want it to be. And I wish that instead of her always wanting to be a boy, and acting like a boy, she could she that embracing being a girl and kicking butt anyway might make you seem lesser to stupid minds, but makes you pretty alright to me. (See Daenerys stormborn, the first of her name, mother of dragons...yadda yadda).
I'm willing to believe it was just me. But this book falls solidly on okay to me and nothing more.