A formidable outlaw family that claims to be the first among nations.
A son destined to lead, thrust suddenly into power.
Three fierce young women of the Rahtan, the queen's premier guard.
A legendary street thief leading a mission, determined to prove herself.
A dark secret that is a threat to the entire continent.
When outlaw leader meets reformed thief, a cat-and-mouse game of false moves ensues, bringing them intimately together in a battle that may cost them their lives―and their hearts.
This was the surprise I needed before 2019 is over.
Mary E.Pearson is a very good writer and although this is not a five stars book it is still a good and entertaining read. But here is the problem it is too superficial.
Steamy foe-to-friend romance mixed together with an inspired mafia family setting with a dash of kings and queens and wars politics, this book does not let you stop reading. It is fast-paced and full of world-building / description.
This author writing style is definitely a hard one to get into for the first ten pages. This is because the story is not started rather you, as the reader, are thrown in the pages and have to learn how to navigate the story itself learning about the world as you go.
I have to say that this book suffers from the exposition factor.
The technique that Mary E.Pearson adopted to distract us from this fact is that the main character loves to hear stories about his families past but even so I have to admit that I was overwhelmed by the downfall of information that we got about the past and the world. and it made me be very eerie about it because I just could not figure out if any of that information was actually important.
On the flip side of things I think that the characters needed a bit more depth. Weirdly enough I only got that feeling at times in this book. Some parts of the characters inner dialogue were brilliant and very individualistic but other were just a blur between the two point-of-view and leaned heavily on the romance side of things to smooth that over.
And this is also a very weak point for this novel, in my opinion. It is too fast on romance and after the first kiss these character almost transform into love zombies. Their only thought is their love for each other.
Mate, you have met her for like five days. Calm down. And you are enemies, everybody knows this is not a good idea. So why the love-love "What is this" question?
Yes, I am sorry but fast romance with no chemistry is probably my biggest pet-peeve. There is only one moment that I felt that they had quite the chemistry and that is in the start of the novel when they met. I believe if the author had dragged that initial conflict between the two it would've made them way more appealing as a couple.
With all of this said I still liked this book somehow.
The writing style was very detailed at first but after a period for adjustment I found it immensely beautiful. I loved how the author talked about the world around them and the creatures that are part of the story. There were some places described that I even wished that we could had lingered on for a bit more.
Truth be told there was a lot of it that was surfaced. Mythology and phenomenons that were not quite explained. Even creatures that I had some trouble getting my mind wrapped around.
But the scenery was amazing.
I also loved the dialogue that erupted. I think it was flowy and casual but also very calculated when it needed to be. Note that we are following two character that are very good at lying and that, for some absurd reason, are in love with each other. We are dealing with deception and treason.
But my favourite aspect of this book was the family that the readers investigates. It is a very big family where a big unexpected death just occurred and where everyone is out to get them. I love how well done this was. "The protecting the family" guideline and how the family system and interactions worked and evolved.
I honestly think that I will complete this duology/ trilogy just because I want to learn more about this world and this specific family. The romance is bound to get better either way and so I gave this novel three and half stars with the hope for a better continuation.
IF YOU HAVE NOT READ THIS BOOK DO NOT CONTINUE READING. THIS IS THE SPOILERY SECTION.
sPOILERS AHEAD!
I want to discuss Jace and Kazi and the queen and their backstory and the relationship between Mason and Synové how the world is not enough because of the connection to other series that I have not read!
First of all Jace and Kazi were such an expected couple that it became so cringy that I could not stop thinking about it. I mean YA is past my reading tastes at this point merely for the fact that I am no longer a raging hormonal romantic teenager and cannot relate or understand why in the hell would someone fall in love with someone else in a week.
Maybe this is a bit of rant so be warned but why is this kind of novels always around teenagers? Could we not get some slow romance with some hot twenties thieves? It would still be cringy but at least I could relate a bit. No?
AND why was Jase deemed a thief by Kazi? I am still so confused about that one.
The other relationships on the go with the other Rathan just made my skin crawl even more. I am sorry but none of these so called amazing official soldiers could keep their hands to themselves? None? Really?
And the end was just weird. Is everyone in this ruthless world bad or good? There was not a single grey character. The queen was a possibility but no ,turns out she is just a sucker for a good love story between her soldier and her enemy. what? I am confusion.
I only can say that I truly felt some chemistry between the two main characters in the first kiss scene and that is probably because I forgot they were chained and forced on each other and because Jase was cute. I do think that before that scene they were interesting together but then they just became like an old married couple out of the blue.
And so many things fell flat due to the lack of warning about the connection between this and other series by the same author. I didn't even realise this until finalising this book. It seems as story occurs in the universe of the author's previous series called Remnant Chronicles. And nobody though to give us a warning to read that first?
In conclusion I can say that I enjoyed myself while experiencing this book but a lot was incomplete or overwhelming. The romance was too much and the rest too little. For a book with more than five hundred pages I am expecting a bit more out it. Also some side-characters were completely unnecessary to move the story forward.
For me it was like getting my hands on a second draft of a very well written book.
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