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alexandraanna93 's review for:
The Veiled Kingdom
by Holly Renee
Well... this sure was a book!!!
One star for the fact that it exists as a book.
No world building whatsoever and the magic system is barely explained, so it's impossible to get invested in the world.
Oh and the characters are Fae? It's mentioned once and then the concept is completely abandoned. You may as well have just made them humans, for all the difference it made.
The characters aren't fleshed out and all have one note personalities. Dacre is an asshole with no redeeming qualities. I think the author was going for a Rhysand "bad for a good reason" vibe, but lacked the ability to write a multidimensional character and so he's literally just a dickhead with a god complex. That also doesn't work when you haven't bothered to actually explain the characters motivations AND you haven't bothered to explain why the opposing side is so bad?
Why is the king considered evil? He takes a magic tithe but.......................... why? What effect does that have on the people? What else does he do? I don't know, she didn't write it. What is the Rebellions plan? I don't know, she didn't write it. Apparently, they want to put Dacre on the throne. Why? What's his claim? Why is he the best person for the job? How did they come to the decision? I don't know, she didn't write it.
The FMC is literally just a shell of a person. She has no personality, no backbone, no plan. She runs from the castle to escape her abusive father (the king) only to just............. stay in the city outside the castle??? For over a year??? Like, girl..... run? It makes no sense that the king would have guards out looking for her for over a year and NO ONE RECOGNISED HER?! The girl never DOES anything. She literally just exists to be thrown around by the plot until she lands in bed Dacre.
The "love" story between Dacre and Nyra/Verena is...nothing. We're just told that they're into each other from the beginning. It's never explained why, they just are. It's like the author is just smashing two dolls together and saying "now kiss!" Their dialogue is stilted and contrived and all they ever talk about is how much they hate each other? There's no built up tension whatsoever, it's just hate fucking.
The sex scenes are criminal. There are multiple times were Nyra/Verena pretty clearly says no and he keeps going anyway. The worst example of this being their very last scene where she is literally PUSHING HIM AWAY and he keeps going?????????? Every time they hook up she spends pages afterwards telling the reader that she feels ASHAMED of what happened?! Like is that supposed to be hot?! The author literally deserves jail time for the "crawl to me and beg" bullshit omg I wanted to vomit. If I have to read Dacre say "you're so tight" one more time I'll off myself.
One star for the fact that it exists as a book.
No world building whatsoever and the magic system is barely explained, so it's impossible to get invested in the world.
Oh and the characters are Fae? It's mentioned once and then the concept is completely abandoned. You may as well have just made them humans, for all the difference it made.
The characters aren't fleshed out and all have one note personalities. Dacre is an asshole with no redeeming qualities. I think the author was going for a Rhysand "bad for a good reason" vibe, but lacked the ability to write a multidimensional character and so he's literally just a dickhead with a god complex. That also doesn't work when you haven't bothered to actually explain the characters motivations AND you haven't bothered to explain why the opposing side is so bad?
Why is the king considered evil? He takes a magic tithe but.......................... why? What effect does that have on the people? What else does he do? I don't know, she didn't write it. What is the Rebellions plan? I don't know, she didn't write it. Apparently, they want to put Dacre on the throne. Why? What's his claim? Why is he the best person for the job? How did they come to the decision? I don't know, she didn't write it.
The FMC is literally just a shell of a person. She has no personality, no backbone, no plan. She runs from the castle to escape her abusive father (the king) only to just............. stay in the city outside the castle??? For over a year??? Like, girl..... run? It makes no sense that the king would have guards out looking for her for over a year and NO ONE RECOGNISED HER?! The girl never DOES anything. She literally just exists to be thrown around by the plot until she lands in bed Dacre.
The "love" story between Dacre and Nyra/Verena is...nothing. We're just told that they're into each other from the beginning. It's never explained why, they just are. It's like the author is just smashing two dolls together and saying "now kiss!" Their dialogue is stilted and contrived and all they ever talk about is how much they hate each other? There's no built up tension whatsoever, it's just hate fucking.
The sex scenes are criminal. There are multiple times were Nyra/Verena pretty clearly says no and he keeps going anyway. The worst example of this being their very last scene where she is literally PUSHING HIM AWAY and he keeps going?????????? Every time they hook up she spends pages afterwards telling the reader that she feels ASHAMED of what happened?! Like is that supposed to be hot?! The author literally deserves jail time for the "crawl to me and beg" bullshit omg I wanted to vomit. If I have to read Dacre say "you're so tight" one more time I'll off myself.