Summary:He’s almost apologetic, but still I can feel my heart pounding against my rib cage. “I wouldn’t lie to you. Why would I?”
“I don’t know,” he says quietly. He catches my gaze, and doesn’t let go. “Why would you?”
When Zivah falls prey to the deadly rose plague, she knows it’s a matter of time before she succumbs to death. Meanwhile, Dineas thirsts for revenge against the Amparan rule, and these two must work together to infiltrate the empire and carry out a covert mission for the sake of their respective peoples.
***Note: This is a first person, multi-perspective narrative shared between Zivah and Dineas. Genres include young adult, fantasy, romance.
Huh, this book is surprisingly good! For a YA book, it really takes time marrying characters into its world, and although the slow burn was rather intense at times, the author fleshed things out in a thorough and immersive manner.
For instance, characters motivations are comprehensively realized in this book, so the shift in Zivah and Dineas’ personalities was really engaging to see; Zivah grows from someone who is self-sufficient and detached to someone who’s willing to rely on others, whereas Dineas’ arc was perplexing as certain parts of himself must emerge for the greater good, and I felt very strongly for the things they were forced to do as a result.
In a similar vein, this clash of ideals led to a surprisingly nuanced romance. These characters are so fully aware of the fact that as much as they’d like to focus on themselves and their angst, there’s no time to be petty or immature about such things, and I loved that as it really contributed to the urgency and realism of their plight.
In that, while this book isn’t mind-blowing, there were literally no cardinal sins that it committed; I usually find one or two major tropes that annoy me in most YA books, yet I was pleasantly surprised to see that there were no insta-love tropes, no Mary Sues, no rushing or pacing issues, or anything of the like! This book is comprehensively realized, and it left a very strong foundation for a sequel to ride on.
Recommended? Yes!Now this might be a strange thing to say, but I do recommend putting this book off until its sequel comes out. I mean, there are quite a few details to remember about this world, and the plot largely ends up where it started (it’s a cliffhanger at that!), so I think most people might be disappointed if there’s no exciting follow-up right after.
Otherwise, I recommend for all ages. This book lacks that “guilty pleasure” element most YA books are known for, but it compensated with a slow, pyschological burn, and that kind of subtle, immersive read is exactly my type of read.
Bottom line: A slow but engaging burn!This book was very consistent. It never rushed, nor was there ever a hitch in logic or motivation just for the heck of it. In that, I had the pleasure of sinking slowly into this world, and many complexities started to emerge by the end of it all. This book is a solidly immersive read, and I give it a solid 4 to 4.5 stars for that.
My rating: 4 to 4.5/5 frogs
***Thank you to the publishers for sending an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions stated here are solely my own and have not been influenced in any way.
***UPDATES: I’m currently reading The Song of Achilles and enjoying it thus far. As for reviews to come, I’m working on The Daughter of Smoke and Bone, as well as A Court of Thorns and Roses. It’s taking a while to release the latter because I’m finding it difficult to stay…tactful. Haha we’ll see how that goes:) Until next time!
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