“Face them all like a warrior, whether you are one or not.”

Stars (Out of 10): 5/10 Stars

Overall Thoughts: This book just gets a giant “meh” stamp from me, honestly. I never really got hooked. I read this with my book club, which meant reading it slower than usual, but I never even felt the need to read much faster than that. My 10ish chapters a week was more than enough. However, the middle (arenas + some of the abbey stuff), was the best part. The beginning 10 chapters were eh, and the last few just felt rushed, all over the place, and chaotic, and honestly, those parts are the most detrimental to a novel. Overall, I feel that this will join the pile Stealing Snow/Snow Like Ashes/Reign of Shadows currently rest in, of “it was decent, but not something that actually made a mark on me, and not something I'll necessarily remember.”

The Good: It was still decent? Felt somewhat interested in lore snippets we were given, and how it was gonna end.

The Bad: Almost everything had areas to improve. World building was weak and could've been given better than in random large chunks throughout the novel. Characters didn't always feel consistent, weren't always interesting. Plot could've been stronger and more memorable, although it did feel written well.

SPOILERS BEGIN HERE

The Characters: Shoulder shrug here. I never cared for Ruby, and Arcus felt hot and cold (ha). Also, developing on consistency, the characters seemed to lack it, from their personal relationships to their own ambitions regarding certain actions/events. For example, Ruby and Arcus “hated” each other until they suddenly didn't, which felt like more of flicking on a romance switch than feeling like it was a gradual warming up. Additionally, Ruby didn't always have qualms with killing and the idea of killing others, only when it suited the “being taking over by darkness plot.” And suddenly Arcus was in love with Ruby enough by the end to completely forget about the “little” rebellion he was leading. It was doesn’t help the the beginning chapters didn't really make me a fan of anyone besides Brother Gamut, making me less pliable to Ruby’s cause.

The Plot: This was probably the best part, if I'll be honest. It stayed semi interesting, and rather than stalling in her training, it took her to the arenas where she honed those powers further, and where she got experience through that. However, the beginning was too boring, and the ending too chaotic. While the beginning is more about not building a strong base for the characters to continue off of, the ending just felt like a short and rocky ride on a rollercoaster that didn't have the best oiled track. Suddenly Arcus was king, and suddenly Ruby was trying to get the Minax inside her, suddenly that Minax was inside her, suddenly Ruby was siding with the king, and then suddenly she had control over herself again. It was just kinda a tough blur.

The World Building: Eh? I mean, we get some stuff about tyranny and an example of that with the village we see, but in that same scene we're also thrown with the whole myth of the land, which seems to be the actual plot. We didn't get world info often, and when we did, it often felt very shoved together. But atleast we got it, and at least the plot seemed actually well woven into that!

The Favorite Character: Brother Gamut, I guess?

This review can also be found on my blog: https://paragraphsandpages.wordpress.com/