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A review by sarahmreads
League of Liars by Astrid Scholte
dark
mysterious
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? Yes
3.25
Cayder wants to be a lawyer in a world where edem, a magical force tied to shadows, is outlawed. While being the assistant to a well standing lawyer in the kingdom's prison, he finds out that there is more at stake than just lives when his own sister is charged with murdering hundreds. Will he save her and others?
This book has such interesting world building. I've never read a book with a magic system quite like this before, where the source of magic is still mostly unknown but also we still get a good grasp of how it exactly works. I wish we got to see more of it but with what we saw in the story, I think it has some good buildup for the second book in the series. Yes you heard me, this is the first book in a new series.
However, I wasn't really hooked into this book until more than halfway through. The first half of the book was so fast paced that it sent me reeling. The first 10% of the book is the main character Cayder just throwing worldbuilding at you, to the point where it felt just primarily exposition and not really being introduced to the character himself. Furthermore, in the first half, Cayder and his boss get thrown client after client and while they all had a role to play at the end, it was too much in such a short period of time that I wasn't entirely sure if it was worth continuing.
I honestly forgot that this was a prison break story because of how everything proceeded in the beginning. As a result, I was concerned why exactly Leta's trial was so early in the story. But once it hit that point, I was entirely hooked in the story and finished it in two sittings.
In terms of characters, I'm very torn on some of them. First, I didn't really liked Cayder. He was too temperamental and headstrong for my liking, to the point where I felt like most of the time he was just angry. I did like Leta surprisingly, more because she's the studious type. Although Jey's father is important to the story, Jey himself felt kind of useless as a character. He's mentioned every once in a while, but only becomes a major player at the end. Elenora was... okay. I don't really have any major opinions on her. And some of the side characters I felt could have just been left out and the story wouldn't have changed much.
There was also a romance subplot in the story and it just felt so out of place in comparison to the rest of the story. When it got revealed, it was like a slap to the face with how shocked I was. It was too rushed and didn't really feel like it had much basis to back it up. I wish it had more time for build-up, maybe even more so in the second book. But for just this as a standalone for right now, the romance was extremely out of place and didn't feel like it belonged in the story at all.
League of Liars is a decent beginning to a series with a unique magic system and a prison break that will leave you on the edge of your seat.
I received a copy of this story from both NetGalley and Penguin Teen. Any and all thoughts and opinions are my own.
This book has such interesting world building. I've never read a book with a magic system quite like this before, where the source of magic is still mostly unknown but also we still get a good grasp of how it exactly works. I wish we got to see more of it but with what we saw in the story, I think it has some good buildup for the second book in the series. Yes you heard me, this is the first book in a new series.
However, I wasn't really hooked into this book until more than halfway through. The first half of the book was so fast paced that it sent me reeling. The first 10% of the book is the main character Cayder just throwing worldbuilding at you, to the point where it felt just primarily exposition and not really being introduced to the character himself. Furthermore, in the first half, Cayder and his boss get thrown client after client and while they all had a role to play at the end, it was too much in such a short period of time that I wasn't entirely sure if it was worth continuing.
I honestly forgot that this was a prison break story because of how everything proceeded in the beginning. As a result, I was concerned why exactly Leta's trial was so early in the story. But once it hit that point, I was entirely hooked in the story and finished it in two sittings.
In terms of characters, I'm very torn on some of them. First, I didn't really liked Cayder. He was too temperamental and headstrong for my liking, to the point where I felt like most of the time he was just angry. I did like Leta surprisingly, more because she's the studious type. Although Jey's father is important to the story, Jey himself felt kind of useless as a character. He's mentioned every once in a while, but only becomes a major player at the end. Elenora was... okay. I don't really have any major opinions on her. And some of the side characters I felt could have just been left out and the story wouldn't have changed much.
There was also a romance subplot in the story and it just felt so out of place in comparison to the rest of the story. When it got revealed, it was like a slap to the face with how shocked I was. It was too rushed and didn't really feel like it had much basis to back it up. I wish it had more time for build-up, maybe even more so in the second book. But for just this as a standalone for right now, the romance was extremely out of place and didn't feel like it belonged in the story at all.
League of Liars is a decent beginning to a series with a unique magic system and a prison break that will leave you on the edge of your seat.
I received a copy of this story from both NetGalley and Penguin Teen. Any and all thoughts and opinions are my own.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Forced institutionalization
Moderate: Death of parent
Minor: Violence