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A review by petrichor_pages
Dividing Eden by Joelle Charbonneau
3.0
Andreus and Carys are twins. When their father and older brother are killed, they must then fight each other for the right to inherit the throne because ANCIENT LAWS. Since they don't hate each other, they hatch a plan to work together to put Andreus on the throne.
Andreus has a chronic illness that incapacitates him. If anyone were to discover this, he would be killed because being ill is a sign of darkness? Also his sister and mother would be executed for concealing it. Also a seer predicted that there would be some darkness to come to the kingdom so clearly it must take the form of an reasonably-well managed chronic illness. Andreus is also an engineer, helping keep the lights on in the city to keep the monsters at bay.
Carys likes to use daggers, but is addicted to potions. Withdrawing from them gives her tremors and makes her unable to function. When she has too much, she grows very ill (When convenient for the plot). She tries to cover for her brothers' illness by distracting people and taking punishments for doing so.
I spent the first half of the book just thinking about what a giant tool Andreus is. He sleeps around and puts his own happiness above his sisters. He literally allows her to be whipped multiple times because he doesn't want anyone to know about his illness. After she is whipped, he spends the night with his brothers' fiancee, instead of checking in to make sure his sister was OK.
As the tournament progresses, his resentment builds and it leads him to the events of the last third of the book. Instead of trusting the ONE person he should, his sister, he listens to people with their own agendas, and has his perception clouded. I think I may hate him. A lot.
Andreus has a chronic illness that incapacitates him. If anyone were to discover this, he would be killed because being ill is a sign of darkness? Also his sister and mother would be executed for concealing it. Also a seer predicted that there would be some darkness to come to the kingdom so clearly it must take the form of an reasonably-well managed chronic illness. Andreus is also an engineer, helping keep the lights on in the city to keep the monsters at bay.
Carys likes to use daggers, but is addicted to potions. Withdrawing from them gives her tremors and makes her unable to function. When she has too much, she grows very ill (When convenient for the plot). She tries to cover for her brothers' illness by distracting people and taking punishments for doing so.
I spent the first half of the book just thinking about what a giant tool Andreus is. He sleeps around and puts his own happiness above his sisters. He literally allows her to be whipped multiple times because he doesn't want anyone to know about his illness. After she is whipped, he spends the night with his brothers' fiancee, instead of checking in to make sure his sister was OK.
As the tournament progresses, his resentment builds and it leads him to the events of the last third of the book. Instead of trusting the ONE person he should, his sister, he listens to people with their own agendas, and has his perception clouded. I think I may hate him. A lot.