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A review by looseleafellie
League of Liars by Astrid Scholte
adventurous
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
After his mother gets killed by dangerous magic, eighteen-year-old Cayder Broduck is determined to become a prosecutor and hold people accountable for magic-related crimes. But when he meets three other teens being tried for magical crimes they didn’t commit, he must help them stage a prison break to ensure justice gets done!
This is the third of Astrid Scholte’s books that I’ve read, and I continue to adore her genre-bending, unique premises. This book is part fantasy, part thriller, and I thoroughly enjoyed the blending of the magic system with political intrigue, courtroom drama, and daring escape plans.
The main character, Cayder, is the complete opposite of Kaz Brekker in that he’s a rich goody two-shoes whose love of the legal system is kind of annoying at the start. Luckily, his experiences in the rest of the book, and his interactions with some of the more morally gray cast members, soon fixes that 😁
My favorite character was Jey, a charming murder suspect who seems weirdly insistent that he killed his father despite evidence to the contrary, but I loved how all the characters’ stories intertwined even though they seem unrelated at first. I also loved the betrayals and twists toward the end!
The big thing that took me out of the story was the large amounts of exposition, especially toward the beginning. I prefer books that dribble backstory throughout the narrative, and I would have preferred some more subtlety from the characters.
The ending was a cliffhanger, but I found it satisfying even though there’s no sequel coming at the moment. I felt like I can speculate on where the characters go from here.
Thanks to Penguin Teen for the ebook ARC!
CWs: Incarceration, unjust conviction, grief, parental neglect, violence, blood, brief body horror, parent and sibling death.
This is the third of Astrid Scholte’s books that I’ve read, and I continue to adore her genre-bending, unique premises. This book is part fantasy, part thriller, and I thoroughly enjoyed the blending of the magic system with political intrigue, courtroom drama, and daring escape plans.
The main character, Cayder, is the complete opposite of Kaz Brekker in that he’s a rich goody two-shoes whose love of the legal system is kind of annoying at the start. Luckily, his experiences in the rest of the book, and his interactions with some of the more morally gray cast members, soon fixes that 😁
My favorite character was Jey, a charming murder suspect who seems weirdly insistent that he killed his father despite evidence to the contrary, but I loved how all the characters’ stories intertwined even though they seem unrelated at first. I also loved the betrayals and twists toward the end!
The big thing that took me out of the story was the large amounts of exposition, especially toward the beginning. I prefer books that dribble backstory throughout the narrative, and I would have preferred some more subtlety from the characters.
The ending was a cliffhanger, but I found it satisfying even though there’s no sequel coming at the moment. I felt like I can speculate on where the characters go from here.
Thanks to Penguin Teen for the ebook ARC!
CWs: Incarceration, unjust conviction, grief, parental neglect, violence, blood, brief body horror, parent and sibling death.