A review by liafiles
Counterpart by Ella Pyne

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

3.5

counterpart has certainly helped me get out of my reading slump, the premise of it is quite intriguing and kept me on my toes. leda, the main character, is strong-willed to have the freedom she deserves til the end. the familial relationship between everyone was quite… something indeed (of course in a good way). azaria as an example, i never understood her properly. she’s aloof and never, ever showed her emotions, other than rage. although the worldbuilding, at least to me, is still in the works as the entire setting of which where the story is placed in, is in a palace. hopefully in future books it will be explored even more.

with how many characters there were, i only cared for only three of them: leda, azaria, and pyrrhus. i didn’t have any attachments to the other characters, only because they didn’t have much time in the story. i almost had an attachment to eber, but his dialogue with leda towards the end made me skeptical of him. i do admire elina though. for ambrose… no comment.

overall, the book is something i would definitely recommend. praise to the author for the well-written book, i’ll be waiting for the second installment.