Pages: 307
Publisher: Scholastic
Released: May 29, 2018
Received: ARC from publisher
Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars
Goodreads
So, technically this is book 2 in a duology and I have not read book 1. I don't think that really matters, and it's not the reason why I ended up dropping so many stars.
Up until about two thirds of the way through this was a solid 3.5 star read. Nothing amazing, but it had that something special with the characters that made me care about seeing what happened to them. The romance had all the right sparks (hate turned love) and there was enough treachery and menace to the world to keep my heart pounding.
Until it didn't. The final third of the book saw the characters leaving the slow-build safety of their castle and venturing out on a quest. Should be awesome, right? Except, no. It felt like the first two thirds were fully fleshed out and, if not well-written, at least written in a way that was engaging and fun. I felt nostalgic for the good old days of YA paranormal/fantasy romance.
That final third, though. It felt like the author ran up against a deadline and needed to wrap things up STAT. Everything went off the rails ridiculous, which I could have even tolerated, but it was all so thin. I felt like I was reading a framework of a story instead of the actual published book.
Bottom line
I would have enjoyed this so much more had the ending not rushed everything and fallen apart in the process. What a shame.
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Yet another book with a crown on the cover that I won't be reading!
ReplyDeletehaha hm, now you have me trying to think of good books with crowns on their cover...
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