★★★★☆
Okay, I’m going to keep this spoiler-free, but its gonna be damn hard. This is a very tentative 4 stars, because honestly, I had more issues with this than I was anticipating. But I will start by saying that I listened to the audiobook, and the narrator did such a good job! I would definitely recommend listening to this book!
That brings me to my first issue with this book, the writing. It started with this enormous info dump which I am going to assume takes up the first two-three pages. This was not a good experience when listening to the audiobook, especially because I couldn’t easily re-read it/ review it later when terms and people were mentioned. It was so bland to listen to and also just way way wayyyy too much information. Like, honestly. Build the world please. This book had so much potential, and I literally couldn’t tell you any noteworthy part of the world building?? There’s a big wall called ‘the rise’ (real original lol), and of course there’s small houses in the poor district, and the fancy big castle thing. That’s all I got. With the writing, there was so much repetition. SO MUCH. I found myself thinking, ‘we just heard this like 2 minutes ago, we don’t need to hear it again.’ So yeah, there was a few issues with the writing which put me off. The world grew later in the book, like, the last 30%, but before that, it was very two-dimensional and bland.
However, the book was a slow burn, and to be honest with you, I vibe with that. Obviously, I would have preferred that the world was built, and dimensions were added in that time, but also just getting to know the characters, the relationship dynamics and history of the people we’re reading about is something I enjoy.
What a great segway into the characters. We are in the POV of Poppy for the entire book (and in first person too which shook me at the beginning), and oh my god. Poppy is so stupid. Sorry, she is not some amazing heroine, she is dumb. Yes, she took the initiative to learn how to defend herself (bless Viktor), but you’d think being forced to be ‘The Maiden,’ and literally not allowed to talk to anyone would mean that she would be a good observer?? That she would use her inability to talk to people to observe, and actually SEE what was going on around her. But no, she literally didn’t see anything that was right in front of her the whole time, and would be absolutely bamboozled when explained to her. I understand why she feels how she does, she’s kept isolated and alone for her whole life – but she doesn’t act like it? And!! She doesn’t use it to her advantage? I dunno, her POV was mostly enjoyable, but damn she could be slow.
Then we get to Hawke. I’m not going to say a lot about him, because I don’t want to spoil anything, but I am disappointed. He is not the sexy, brooding but actually soft and sweet bad boy that we live for. The ending was really interesting, like the last 5 or 6 chapters were just wild, and it’s really set up the potential for an exciting sequel, but the VERY LAST SENTENCE literally left me with goosebumps, but not the good kind. Yes I was surprised with one or two aspects of the wild final 30% of the book, parts of it were SO obvious that honestly, I picked them up pretty damn early.
I love morally grey characters, I LIVE for a villain that is complex, but by the end of this book, I was just angry, frustrated, and frankly, incredibly uncomfortable. This book was a binge-read for me. It was interesting, and I wanted to keep reading and the last 30% of it kept me on my toes, but it wasn’t a 5 star read. I am SO conflicted. Honestly, it’s hard to review this without spoiling it, and it’s hard to give it a star review. I have probably contradicted myself a few times during this, and I can’t help it. I would LOVE to know your thoughts about this book! Please leave a comment, or message me on insta (especially if it’s about spoilers!) This was a wild mess, I’m sorry, but welcome to my brain!