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aswords 's review for:
The Traitor's Kingdom
by Erin Beaty
Overall, I love this series. I think the matchmaker aspect is deeply intriguing, and it feels nicely original for Western YA. I also think that the emphasis on the complications of the diplomatic side of running a kingdom is AWESOME.
Like SUPER awesome.
I enjoyed how this installment kept the same small-cast feel, allowing readers to see the individuals develop and push the plot along. At the same time, however, because it needed to expand to show how the kingdom functions as part of a multi-kingdom, I didn't feel quite as connected to most of the middle-ground characters as I wanted.
Again, I deeply enjoyed the reading process and I feel it wrapped up the series very well, but as I've sat back further and spent more time thinking about it post-read, I am actually quite disappointed in how the whole crux of the plot revolves around the systematic underestimation of women, even by other women. That's just a boring plot twist at this point in time, despite the fact that the problem is still a prevalent issue in society.
I liked how the best friend characters has issues in their relationship, but it felt a little flip-floppy in a way that wasn't ever directly addressed... Like there were a few conversations about processing trauma and allowing individualized healing, but they were all self-realized revelations... like no one got advice from an older female about how brains do terrible things to people and it's not always their fault. If you're mature enough to recognize that your emotional reactions are inappropriate / disproportionate / or borderline irrational AND mature enough to self-explain why they're happening, you also should be mature enough to step back and pause. If you can't plausibly step back, it just doesn't feel viable that you'd be able to psycho-analyze yourself so precisely.
The lack of grown-ups also bothered me because the two main characters were the experts, literally. They were just teenagers thrown into a situation and thinking that they knew how to handle it, they were ACTUALLY the most qualified people in the room... and while the self-doubt they expressed was great and realistic, their qualifications didn't feel very impressive to a reader.
I did like the learning curve, and how each character had a subject expertise that they used to help inform the other characters in various teaching-moments.
Over all, it was an enjoyable story, a good wrap-up to the series, and a decently crafted narrative. I was left mildly disappointed, but not nearly enough to consider the idea of not recommending it. The first two books were fabulous enough to warrant promotion of the entire series.
It's wholly appropriate for audiences as young as 11, and I think that may be a part of what caused this third installment to be so unsatisfying. The target audience is just too young to make the subject material affect a grown-up with the rightly visceral impact.
Like SUPER awesome.
I enjoyed how this installment kept the same small-cast feel, allowing readers to see the individuals develop and push the plot along. At the same time, however, because it needed to expand to show how the kingdom functions as part of a multi-kingdom, I didn't feel quite as connected to most of the middle-ground characters as I wanted.
Again, I deeply enjoyed the reading process and I feel it wrapped up the series very well, but as I've sat back further and spent more time thinking about it post-read, I am actually quite disappointed in how the whole crux of the plot revolves around the systematic underestimation of women, even by other women. That's just a boring plot twist at this point in time, despite the fact that the problem is still a prevalent issue in society.
I liked how the best friend characters has issues in their relationship, but it felt a little flip-floppy in a way that wasn't ever directly addressed... Like there were a few conversations about processing trauma and allowing individualized healing, but they were all self-realized revelations... like no one got advice from an older female about how brains do terrible things to people and it's not always their fault. If you're mature enough to recognize that your emotional reactions are inappropriate / disproportionate / or borderline irrational AND mature enough to self-explain why they're happening, you also should be mature enough to step back and pause. If you can't plausibly step back, it just doesn't feel viable that you'd be able to psycho-analyze yourself so precisely.
The lack of grown-ups also bothered me because the two main characters were the experts, literally. They were just teenagers thrown into a situation and thinking that they knew how to handle it, they were ACTUALLY the most qualified people in the room... and while the self-doubt they expressed was great and realistic, their qualifications didn't feel very impressive to a reader.
I did like the learning curve, and how each character had a subject expertise that they used to help inform the other characters in various teaching-moments.
Over all, it was an enjoyable story, a good wrap-up to the series, and a decently crafted narrative. I was left mildly disappointed, but not nearly enough to consider the idea of not recommending it. The first two books were fabulous enough to warrant promotion of the entire series.
It's wholly appropriate for audiences as young as 11, and I think that may be a part of what caused this third installment to be so unsatisfying. The target audience is just too young to make the subject material affect a grown-up with the rightly visceral impact.