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jassmine 's review for:
Thief Liar Lady
by D.L. Soria
Review this book completely spoiler-free is impossible for me. I will try to keep everything vague and non-specific, but you may come to some conclussions based on what I'll write. Consider yourself warned.
This book is pain in the ass to review, it started a bit slow but developed the intrigue really well and soon I was hooked and had theories. Then somewhere after a 2/3 point the author just decided to pack too much action in, snapped the tension and... wrote completely unsatisfactory ending, bringing this book to 3,5⭐ to me and made me crave [b:The Diabolic|26836910|The Diabolic (The Diabolic, #1)|S.J. Kincaid|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1594310765l/26836910._SY75_.jpg|46870277] re-read. (I still didn't read the second book, because I'm worried I will not like it...)
So what did I liked and can talk about? This book isn't a court intrigue per se, but... it's close enough. I loved the scheming and the politics even though they could have been better developed. I was a bit surprised that this book wasn't even a little bit anti-monarchy, but that's fine by me. I really liked the relationship between Ash and her stepsisters, even though... I wanted more from this. I love to read about damaged family relationships and... if i was writing this, I would up the angst. I felt like there could have been more love in the mix, especially where Seraphina is concerned. And I know that it sounds a bit fucked up, but... it would up the stakes a bit, made some decisions harder. Seraphina was obviously
Reading the blurb I thought this was going to be a story of women ganging up together and bringing down the power structures that hurt them, but that wasn't really the case... And that's fine, but also... I would have really liked it if the story had more from that. Even though, it would be quite a different story then.
But okay, what is the reason I ended up being a bit annoyed with the book? The romance and the love interest. First, I don't really mind insta-love, but... this has a sort of insta-love without a convincing explanation And second, I... hoped there was a certain trope regarding Rance which I love and... it kind of was here, but if felt short a bit? And I'm annoyed about that...
Overall, there were a lot of really small things that quite bothered me. This book had laid a great groundwork to have a conversation about consent and... then decided not to have it? It also included quite complex politics net and then... came up with ridiculously easy solution to every problem. This isn't a bad relaxing read (although there are horrible things happening in the book, don't let yourself be fooled by the pretty cover!), but if you start thinking about things too much, you might be disappointed. I am intrigued by some of the other books by the author, so I will be trying more of them. This book was a good time, but definitely disappointing.
Also, if just saying...
"And how, pray tell, do you intend to die?" I decided that keeping him talking was the best strategy, since that at least meant he was conscious.
"There are a few front-runners, but I'm leaning toward being devoured by a potential mate after a failed courtship. It seems like a wonderful way to go."
This book is pain in the ass to review, it started a bit slow but developed the intrigue really well and soon I was hooked and had theories. Then somewhere after a 2/3 point the author just decided to pack too much action in, snapped the tension and... wrote completely unsatisfactory ending, bringing this book to 3,5⭐ to me and made me crave [b:The Diabolic|26836910|The Diabolic (The Diabolic, #1)|S.J. Kincaid|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1594310765l/26836910._SY75_.jpg|46870277] re-read. (I still didn't read the second book, because I'm worried I will not like it...)
So what did I liked and can talk about? This book isn't a court intrigue per se, but... it's close enough. I loved the scheming and the politics even though they could have been better developed. I was a bit surprised that this book wasn't even a little bit anti-monarchy, but that's fine by me. I really liked the relationship between Ash and her stepsisters, even though... I wanted more from this. I love to read about damaged family relationships and... if i was writing this, I would up the angst. I felt like there could have been more love in the mix, especially where Seraphina is concerned. And I know that it sounds a bit fucked up, but... it would up the stakes a bit, made some decisions harder. Seraphina was obviously
Spoiler
a bad person and there needed to be consequences for her actions, but she was still their mother and there seemed to be suspiciously little feelings over sending her to gallows.Reading the blurb I thought this was going to be a story of women ganging up together and bringing down the power structures that hurt them, but that wasn't really the case... And that's fine, but also... I would have really liked it if the story had more from that. Even though, it would be quite a different story then.
But okay, what is the reason I ended up being a bit annoyed with the book? The romance and the love interest. First, I don't really mind insta-love, but... this has a sort of insta-love without a convincing explanation
Spoiler
from Rance's side at least. He loves her immediately and while I don't dislike the fact there isn't enough from him mediating this experience to us.Spoiler
It's the [b:I, Claudius|18765|I, Claudius (Claudius, #1)|Robert Graves|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1657550972l/18765._SY75_.jpg|4232388] trope of using a disability to make everyone underestimate you. This was never going to be that exactly, because Rance isn't disabled nor does he pretends to be, but he invents a persona to survive in the court that makes people underestimate him. But... he doesn't really use it to achieve something. He is spying on people but he does NOTHING with the information he gains. This was honestly such a bummer.Overall, there were a lot of really small things that quite bothered me. This book had laid a great groundwork to have a conversation about consent and... then decided not to have it? It also included quite complex politics net and then... came up with ridiculously easy solution to every problem. This isn't a bad relaxing read (although there are horrible things happening in the book, don't let yourself be fooled by the pretty cover!), but if you start thinking about things too much, you might be disappointed. I am intrigued by some of the other books by the author, so I will be trying more of them. This book was a good time, but definitely disappointing.
Also, if