I started this book way back in April. I heard so much about this book. My friends were raving about how good it was, how it was better than The Hunger Games. So I read it (or well, started it). I got to page 108. Ironically, I stopped after I had completed the boring part of the story. Then, yesterday night, I restarted from page 1. This time, I made it to the end (I finished it this afternoon). I have to say, due to my high expectations, they fell kind of short.

Saba is your stubborn, pain-in-the-butt female lead who does not trust anyone who isn’t her twin brother Lugh. She hates her younger sister, and doesn’t like to accept help. The book started out and I was instantly like “I hate Lugh and Emmi, Saba’s cool” then came the middle “Saba’s alright, Emmi’s not too bad either… I like Jack” then came the end “HOLY HELL SABA YOU’RE SUCH A WASTE OF TIME! LISTEN TO YOUR SISTER AND JACK FUUU–” But then, at the very end I liked her again… though I also liked Emmi too. And loved Jack~ haha. I don’t know if Young wanted me to feel so at a loss with her characters once I finished the book, but that sums ‘em up, pretty well. The change in the characters throughout the novel was astounding. It was interesting to see, and I like that I ended up liking most of her character.

Honestly, the action doesn’t start until she meets Jack… Well, actually, it doesn’t start until a little bit after.

The thing about this book is that everyone has varying opinions. I personally liked everything after page 160 something. Comically, that’s when I started hating Saba a little bit more each turn of the page, but then Jack kept getting better so it kind of evened out. On the other hand, my sister liked the beginning to when they meet up with the Free Hawks. Then she got bored until the climax of the novel (like page 340 something). It depends on the person, of course. But doesn’t it always?

Although Saba drove me insane, I liked this novel. The language of it… well that was hard to get past ’cause it was relatively irritating. Unique, but mildly irritating. (You’ll see in the quotes). Conversely, Young managed to still create this world that captivated me. She invented machines and creatures that added to her plot. She made a world in which no one was really safe, not even the crazy King. So even though this book was absolutely maddening, there was something about it that kept me reading (the second time around).

Plot: 5/5
Characters: 4/5
World Building: 5/5
Writing: 4/5
Cover: 4.5/5
Overall: 4/5
GoodReads Rating: 4.04/5

-review by Between Printed Pages