2.5 stars

Ack. This book had so much potential. ACK. Where do I even start?

I think first off, this book is really important. It has a very diverse cast, which makes it valuable in way that a lot of classic YA Fantasy novels aren't. But it did read like a YA Fantasy novel, and the plot was all over the place. There never was a plan, which would be fine if the cards were played right, but the lack of plan caused lack of direction, unbelievability, and plot holes. So many plot holes. This book had so much potential and was such an amazing concept, but there were no surprises (okay, I'll admit I didn't see one thing coming but even then, it wasn't entirely what it at first appeared to be. that was so vague but spoilers). And when you have a four hundred page book, readers need to be asking questions and getting answers. In this, the same questions were being asked from the moment Sophia escaped the ball, and no answers were given until the end, when they didn't really matter anyway. What little they did do seemed so pointless, and they learned either nothing, or just affirmations of things they already knew. So overall, it was just a really unsatisfying book to read. If it had had some major macro edits, it could have been a really phenomenal read, but ... alas.

The core idea was really interesting and cool, and the spin on the classic Cinderella tale was really neat. (Also ... critique of organized religion much? That was a really cool parallel to analyze.) It was kind of a melting pot of a bunch of neat, unique, and intriguing concepts that needed some sorting.