A review by libraryofflo
Rose in Chains by Julie Soto

4.0

This was really unexpected for me, this is the first book I’ve read from Julie Soto, and I’m definitely intrigued now! I kind of wish this had ended on more of a cliffhanger though, because I think that would have made me more eager to pick up the next book when it releases. 

Where to start? This book is very dark for everyone involved except for our FMC, at least directly, you should check the trigger warnings because this is packed full of sexual assault, slavery and a whole load of other triggering subjects. The magic system is very linked to this assault so I’m curious to see how this develops going forward with this series. The secondary characters are definitely having a much worse time than Briony is, so that made her complaints a little harder to empathise with, because yes she’s being held against her will, but compared to her friends she’s practically pampered. 

The relationship between Briony and Toven is definitely a slow burn, in almost 500 pages we have only had a kiss (and some weird mind projections of some more intimate ’kissing’ but it didn’t actually happen) so I’m interested to see how this progresses. They aren’t communicating very well, which is to be expected, but Briony seems to think he should tell her everything, even if she still thinks he’s acting against her, so we will see. Toven and the rest of the Hearsts definitely have some ulterior motives surrounding their relationship so I am curious as to what they are because we haven’t had too much revealed around this. 

What you can’t avoid in this book is the fact that it’s fanfic based on an IP that should not be promoted considering everything that surrounds it. I will also say that this definitely didn’t need to be marketed as fanfic inspired, Soto is an established author (though this is her first fantasy) and while there are similarities between the works, I think I only noticed them because I was aware they were there.