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4.07 AVERAGE
4.07 AVERAGE
fast-paced
adventurous
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
sad
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
adventurous
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
medium-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:
Yes
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
fast-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
medium-paced
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
fast-paced
I’ve rarely felt so conflicted after reading a book. At no point during this read did I feel a strong desire to DNF it and yet… I can’t, with any certainty, say that I enjoyed it either. All I can say is that while I felt compelled enough to keep turning the pages, it never completely hooked me. It was a book that had all the right ingredients and flavours, but still felt undercooked.
—
🙌 What I Liked
I’ll be perfectly honest—Merrick. Merrick is the one thing I definitively liked about this book. He was compelling. His quiet intensity and air of mystery gave him far more depth than anyone else on the page. Every time he appeared, the story felt more interesting, and I often wished his role was larger in this book. Needless to say, I am Team Merrick.
What I appreciated more than liked was that this book was easy to read—though the writing wasn’t great—and so it made for a quick, no-brainer kind of read, which I think is what I was after. The world-building is soft, so there wasn’t a lot I needed to wrap my head around.
The plot twistof Lessia’s parentage was also interesting and not something I guessed. So I can appreciate that the author tried to weave in some unpredictability to hold the reader’s attention.
❌ What Didn’t Hit
I found myself confused by the trials-based election subplot.IMO, it was merely a convenient device to bring Lessia and Loche together rather than a believable political process. As the current regent, Loche could have been brought into Lessia’s orbit in a dozen other ways that would have felt more organic and less suspicious. Plus, the trials themselves—isolation without food, staged debates, torture, and impossible moral choices—seemed totally disconnected from the idea of governing. The whole setup felt contrived—particularly because there was no real detail or depth to the trials, and each seemed to be over in a couple of pages.
The romance also left me unconvinced. I didn’t buy into their relationship. While I guess you would consider it a slow burn, I didn’t feel any of the tension or yearning I would expect in a slow burn. Again, I felt confused by it.Loche was so hot and cold, being flirty and calling Lessia “darling” one minute and ignoring her the next. There was so much back and forth between them, and then the next thing I knew, he was basically declaring his love and they were having sex. And in all honesty, my opinion of Lessia lessened because she gave into him far too easily. Have enough respect for yourself to know when you’re being treated like crap!
Outside of that central relationship, other characters faded into the background. Lessia’s friends, for example, were forgettable and I felt nothing for them. I was told that they were important to Lessia, but nothing in the writing or characterisation made me feel it.
Other Specific Gripes:
—
🙌 What I Liked
I’ll be perfectly honest—Merrick. Merrick is the one thing I definitively liked about this book. He was compelling. His quiet intensity and air of mystery gave him far more depth than anyone else on the page. Every time he appeared, the story felt more interesting, and I often wished his role was larger in this book. Needless to say, I am Team Merrick.
What I appreciated more than liked was that this book was easy to read—though the writing wasn’t great—and so it made for a quick, no-brainer kind of read, which I think is what I was after. The world-building is soft, so there wasn’t a lot I needed to wrap my head around.
The plot twist
❌ What Didn’t Hit
I found myself confused by the trials-based election subplot.
The romance also left me unconvinced. I didn’t buy into their relationship. While I guess you would consider it a slow burn, I didn’t feel any of the tension or yearning I would expect in a slow burn. Again, I felt confused by it.
Outside of that central relationship, other characters faded into the background. Lessia’s friends, for example, were forgettable and I felt nothing for them. I was told that they were important to Lessia, but nothing in the writing or characterisation made me feel it.
Other Specific Gripes:
- Lessia has three names: Elessia is her full name, Lessia is a shortened version of it that she goes by the most, and Lia is a nickname that only her close friends call her. We learn that she prefers to go by Lessia because there’s too much familial trauma associated with her full name. Lessia and Elessia ARE THE EXACT SAME NAME. ARE YOU KIDDING ME. If she truly wanted to disconnect from her real name, she’d go by Lia 100% of the time; not a version of her real name that’s just short one letter.
- The author is a BIG fan of one-sentence paragraphs and it honestly drove me nuts. I get that it’s a writing style and maybe a popular one, but not every sentence needs to be its own paragraph.
- You could play a drinking game with this book—take a shot every time Loche enters or is in a scene and he’s leaning against something. I bet you’d get drunk pretty quickly.
👀 Do I Recommend It?
Maybe. Look, my thoughts aside, I can see how this might appeal to people or a certain kind of reader. So if the premise truly intrigues you, I say give it a go. For me, it was flawed but strangely compelling enough that I might still pick up the sequel—though I’m not rushing and my expectations are firmly in check.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual content, Torture, Violence