Scan barcode
A review by majesdane
Castle of Lies by Kiersi Burkhart
2.0
I received a free arc of this from NetGalley.
It sounded very intriguing, but ultimately I was very disappointed with the directions this book went. And it just ... wasn’t really that great in general either. Honestly I would probably rate this 1.5/5 stars if I could.
The plot synopsis sounds so intriguing. But don't expect any legitimate court intrigue. Nope, in this story, the plot is ham-fisted romance with some half-hearted, pedestrian level political scheming and a dash of basic fantasy tropes.
Let's just get into some of the basics:
+ The Characters: They're just not well-developed; it's only been a few days and I can barely remember most of their names. And there's too many of them (and too many POVs) to have enough time to dig into all of them. Some of the characters are hardly developed at all. The four POVs we see are Thelia (cousin to the princess, Corene), Parsifal (Thelia's cousin, not related to Corene), Bayled (Corene's love interest-ish), and Sapphire (a non-binary elf). Thelia is scheming (but secretly has a ~good heart~), Parsifal is a mouthy cad, Bayled is Basic Bland Male Love Interest (tm), and Sapphire is warrior conflicted between their feelings for duty and the humans they meet. And that's it. They're never developed beyond that. Forget about Corene -- she ends up being possibly the worst person, but we never see her POV and her actions are just never explained at all. There's some minor characters like the King, Thelia's brother, Nul (Corene's other LI), but they're completely forgettable. They don't contribute anything.
+ The Representation: So you're got Parsifal, who's bisexual (and runs afoul of the Depraved Bisexual trope because sure, why not). And then you've got Sapphire, who is non-binary. Their gender identity is explored a tiny bit in the beginning, but that's all. Maybe possibly Thelia is bi/pan, but that's never touched upon at all in any regard.
+ The Relationships: Oh, boy. Corene/Bayled is as boring as you can get. Corene/Nul is never explained, never expanded upon, and I honestly don't know why this relationship exists other than to show how good and pure Bayled is and how Corene is just a ~bitch for playing with his feelings. And then there's Thelia/Parsifal+Sapphire. Look, I don't like poly relationships in fiction. I just don't. I can't relate and I've only ever seen it done once in a way that didn't seem forced. Parsifal has been in love with Thelia since forever, but Thelia isn't interested at all -- until 2/3 of the way through the book she decides Parsifal is her true love (and of course they have fantastic chemistry and everything is magical). Plus there's the factor of Sapphire, who has insta-love with Parsifal (though the author did set up the feelings between Sapphire and Thelia). Don't worry though, Thelia/Parsifal+Sapphire is all handwaved with the explanation that it's "all the magic" that's making them attracted to each other. Nevermind that no one else is affected by all of this ... we're just supposed to expect that feelings can be changed/turned on with the flip of a switch.
+ The Writing: It's fine from a technical standpoint. I felt like seeing medieval-ish characters saying "mom" and "dad/daddy" sounded weird, especially since the characters aren't children. It just felt out of place.
+ The Overall Plot: I mean ... nothing really happens. Thelia wants to rule the kingdom, so she tries her darndest to make it happen. But her plans are spoiled by the elves attacking because ... there's too much magic in the human world. The how or why of this is never explained. So the King decides to send Bayled and future-son-in-law Nul to go fight the elves. But of course, Nul wants to kill Bayled (because ... I don't know why? It's never explained). The elves successfully attack, they capture the kingdom and take everyone prisoner ... yeah, we've seen this all before.
The final verdict: There's nothing here in this book that's new or groundbreaking. The LGBTQ representation is questionable. Characters aren't fleshed out (or particularly likeable), motives are never developed in any natural way (if at all), and the plot is just such standard paint-by-the-numbers high fantasy fare. It's a shame, because I do think some of the concepts introduced are interesting (like the goddess and her priestess), but of course none of that is ever expanded upon or explained at all. This sounded like an interesting story, but nothing interesting ever happens.
It sounded very intriguing, but ultimately I was very disappointed with the directions this book went. And it just ... wasn’t really that great in general either. Honestly I would probably rate this 1.5/5 stars if I could.
The plot synopsis sounds so intriguing. But don't expect any legitimate court intrigue. Nope, in this story, the plot is ham-fisted romance with some half-hearted, pedestrian level political scheming and a dash of basic fantasy tropes.
Let's just get into some of the basics:
+ The Characters: They're just not well-developed; it's only been a few days and I can barely remember most of their names. And there's too many of them (and too many POVs) to have enough time to dig into all of them. Some of the characters are hardly developed at all. The four POVs we see are Thelia (cousin to the princess, Corene), Parsifal (Thelia's cousin, not related to Corene), Bayled (Corene's love interest-ish), and Sapphire (a non-binary elf). Thelia is scheming (but secretly has a ~good heart~), Parsifal is a mouthy cad, Bayled is Basic Bland Male Love Interest (tm), and Sapphire is warrior conflicted between their feelings for duty and the humans they meet. And that's it. They're never developed beyond that. Forget about Corene -- she ends up being possibly the worst person, but we never see her POV and her actions are just never explained at all. There's some minor characters like the King, Thelia's brother, Nul (Corene's other LI), but they're completely forgettable. They don't contribute anything.
+ The Representation: So you're got Parsifal, who's bisexual (and runs afoul of the Depraved Bisexual trope because sure, why not). And then you've got Sapphire, who is non-binary. Their gender identity is explored a tiny bit in the beginning, but that's all. Maybe possibly Thelia is bi/pan, but that's never touched upon at all in any regard.
+ The Relationships: Oh, boy. Corene/Bayled is as boring as you can get. Corene/Nul is never explained, never expanded upon, and I honestly don't know why this relationship exists other than to show how good and pure Bayled is and how Corene is just a ~bitch for playing with his feelings. And then there's Thelia/Parsifal+Sapphire. Look, I don't like poly relationships in fiction. I just don't. I can't relate and I've only ever seen it done once in a way that didn't seem forced. Parsifal has been in love with Thelia since forever, but Thelia isn't interested at all -- until 2/3 of the way through the book she decides Parsifal is her true love (and of course they have fantastic chemistry and everything is magical). Plus there's the factor of Sapphire, who has insta-love with Parsifal (though the author did set up the feelings between Sapphire and Thelia). Don't worry though, Thelia/Parsifal+Sapphire is all handwaved with the explanation that it's "all the magic" that's making them attracted to each other. Nevermind that no one else is affected by all of this ... we're just supposed to expect that feelings can be changed/turned on with the flip of a switch.
+ The Writing: It's fine from a technical standpoint. I felt like seeing medieval-ish characters saying "mom" and "dad/daddy" sounded weird, especially since the characters aren't children. It just felt out of place.
+ The Overall Plot: I mean ... nothing really happens. Thelia wants to rule the kingdom, so she tries her darndest to make it happen. But her plans are spoiled by the elves attacking because ... there's too much magic in the human world. The how or why of this is never explained. So the King decides to send Bayled and future-son-in-law Nul to go fight the elves. But of course, Nul wants to kill Bayled (because ... I don't know why? It's never explained). The elves successfully attack, they capture the kingdom and take everyone prisoner ... yeah, we've seen this all before.
The final verdict: There's nothing here in this book that's new or groundbreaking. The LGBTQ representation is questionable. Characters aren't fleshed out (or particularly likeable), motives are never developed in any natural way (if at all), and the plot is just such standard paint-by-the-numbers high fantasy fare. It's a shame, because I do think some of the concepts introduced are interesting (like the goddess and her priestess), but of course none of that is ever expanded upon or explained at all. This sounded like an interesting story, but nothing interesting ever happens.