2.5 stars

I’m definitely in the minority here.

I wanted to like this, I really did. I enjoyed the DOSAB trilogy when I read it a couple of years ago, and I was so excited for this book. It was one of the most hyped fantasy releases last year, though unfortunately it didn’t live up to that hype.

I’m familiar with Laini’s flowery writing style, and I thought I’d like it. But this time around, it felt like too much, and it overwhelmed the story. I think the prose made this longer than it needed to be.

Ironically, I didn’t find the world-building all that great. We’re told about some parts of history, but not that much about Weep itself. Yeah, it’s the lost city, its name was erased from memory, and they need help from outsiders to fix their mysterious problem. But where are the details? The culture, the customs? There was so much description, particularly regarding the myths and the dreamscapes, but what about the real city? Is there a reason the gods and godspawn are blue?

I liked Lazlo and I liked Sarai, but I didn’t really care about either one of them. They had personality but not depth, if that makes sense. I knew them without actually knowing them. It felt like Laini only scratched the surface of their characters.

I could say the same about the side characters. There were a lot of them, but they didn’t seem to really be important. They were introduced and then tossed aside until they could help further the story. I liked Calixte and Tzara and their relationship, but it was mentioned two or three times before it was forgotten about. Lazlo essentially forgot about Calixte, who had so much potential, once he met Sarai. Thyon also had potential, as an alchemist that seemed to have a change of heart, but in the end all he did was continue Lazlo’s story. The same goes for Feral, Ruby, and Sparrow, the other godspawn in the citadel. They stood to the side and did nothing so many times, when they could’ve been amazing and influential.

The story was slow and meandering, with a focus on myth and magic rather than action. In some cases that doesn’t bother me, but the first 300-350 pages had nothing really significant. Only after that did things start to pick up, and by then it would’ve taken a miracle for me to truly care. I thought about dnfing this a few times, but held out because the ending was supposed to be amazing.

It wasn’t. I can’t even say it really shocked me, because I practically guessed the twist after Thyon and Lazlo’s midnight interaction. A few small details were unexpected, but that was really it. The ending itself would’ve been devastating if I was invested in the story and the characters, but I wasn’t. To be quite honest, I don’t think Lazlo made the right choice in the end.

I like fantasy books with romance, and I liked Lazlo and Sarai together until it took over the story. I might be a hopeless romantic, but I like romance to accompany a good plot, not become the plot. After a couple of dreams together, they spent days thinking of only the other person. Their emotions got in the way of their logic. No thanks.

The one thing I can say for sure that I liked is the dreams Lazlo and Sarai shared. They were sweet, vivid, and magical. They ate cake, created wings in order to fly, and explored Lazlo’s old library. Those scenes were nice to read, and worth an extra half star.

I think I covered everything. I wanted to love this book, but the writing was a bit too flowery, the romance a bit too overpowering, and everything else fell flat. It’s unlikely that I’ll read the sequel, or any of Laini’s other books. However, if you want to read this, go for it! There’s a good chance you’ll like it, because like I said, I’m in the minority here.