A review by kaiyakaiyo
For the Throne by Hannah Whitten

dark emotional mysterious slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.0

this fucking sucked! 

the first one was a drag towards the end, but I gave this a chance because I’d already purchased it & im too much of a perfectionist to DNF. what a huge mistake 

this book is even worse than the first:
  • abysmal “enemies” to lovers romance - two power hungry terrorists pretending not to like each other for 400 fawking pages bc the author couldn’t make their hate convincing and the ACTUAL enemies to lovers happened last book mostly off-page 
  • shitty, gross sex scene - why would they fuck in a bone jail where 4 evil shadow gods could see??????? why???????? soooo unnecessary when they were alone soooo many other times 
  • the magical universe got more detailed and somehow worse. the fucking apples. trees that are keys that are elevators? arick being thrown in there for the hell of it. no rhyme or reason to the magical system or this light/dark dichotomy or why Kayu was at all necessary… this author just threw darts at some magical/religious symbols & stuck em in the book 
  • Raffe was possibly the most one dimensional, repetitive char yet, and that’s a feat with how wooden Fife, Lyra, and every other char that isn’t Red or Neve is. We spent so much time in his head just to see him become a prop for not one but two love interests. Does he think of anything but women that are manipulating him?  
  • Red and Neve are supposed to be some bootleg Elsa & Anna “mirrored love” but Neve spends 1.5 books disregarding Reds feelings, calling her a literal creature, and generally fucking up both their lives. Neve fucks a magical terrorist bc he has nice muscles meanwhile Reds man is at least trying to hold back evil creatures from the rest of the planet… what about them was “mirrored”? Neve was selfish and naive, and nearly always chose the thing that made everyone else suffer more… she didn’t love Red anymore than she loved anyone in this book and it renders the “mirror” completely bogus. Neve loved power & herself, wanted dick from Solmir, and used everyone else to  get those things. Where does ~sisterly love wins all~ come in there? convos between the “sisters” felt like two strange girls chatting in a club bathroom. I don’t think the author knows what a sister is 
  • You expect me to believe several people born and raised as royalty are this fucking inept at political subterfuge? the queen is missing and they just have Some Guy make excuses, which lasts for about 3 days. Kayu being there for a reason was the most obvious thing in the world; Raffe not noticing was purely shoehorning the romance in bc no way he’s that stupid. Then they leave the throne unattended for days to go on a boat ride to a place inhabited but their most manipulative and cunning enemy.  Ocean-shaking earthquakes going on, but sure, no one is looking for the queen or her proxy! Nothing could go wrong, right??? then they are surprised Kiri has managed to convert the entire temple… as if she didn’t spend the whole last book converting the entire shrine AND neve… the entire cast walked into every single plot against them?????? eammon okay, he was born in the woods. but Neve is a queen in training. Kayu was born in what sounds like a cutthroat noble house next in line for the throne. Raffe is literally there STUDYING TRADE and diplomacy. how are they still that stupid??????
  • Don’t get me started on how Lyra is never called a race. Or Kayu. they are vaguely hinted at as having “dark straight hair” or “golden-brown skin with a halo of dark curls” but then the next char described is “a white man”. is the author afraid to say “Black” or “Asian”? I promise lightning won’t strike you if you actually name your attempt at diversity! it pissed me off because the author reused the same descriptions but found a million ways to describe a mousy brown white girl. if you think Black people don’t exist in your ye old poorly designed universe, maybe don’t include them as half-described characters for cool points


All in all a waste of my time. I wish there was a way to block anyone who recommended this to me. If there are any real sexy red riding hood retellings out there, please recommend me as a palate cleanse ! or books about human sacrifices turning into love interests. either of those tropes, but unlike this one I need the books to be good. tysm
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