it’s a good fantasy novel.

i liked the characters well enough and i enjoyed where the plot went.

i also liked the magic (if that’s what we call it?) system with the gems and how the two different people used them differently and could access their powers.

i liked the characters well enough but thought they were a bit too fitted into a specific plot point.
for example the princess/queen is meek and not trying to escape at all until all of a sudden she is to have the plot of this book.
we have the best friend until that’s no longer what’s needed.
we have a prince that wants to help and be different than his horrible father but doesn’t really stand up until something happens that makes it necessary.
and so on…

it’s just a bit too easy how it’s all build up and could have been done a little less convenient.

also can someone please explain to me how you make a crown rain down ash on the wearer the entire time it’s worn? how does that work? especially in the amounts described? that would have been an explanation i would have wanted but never got.

i also was very confused with the language choices made. we have some german words - kaiser, prinz, maskenball- but we have names that are a mixture of north european -swedish maybe- and some that reminded me of greek names.
which was just a strange mix? and it also wasn’t explained why people where called as they were -why prinz instead of prince?

i also didn’t enjoy that at the beginning the author found it necessary to keep repeating things - he could read my thoughts as if they were written on paper, for example was an interesting choice to describe something, especially since it’s in moments where it’s actually completely unimportant if the thoughts are seen/read on ones face.

i also wasn’t a fan of getting told the same not very important info more than once.

thankfully that stoped mostly after the first 50-70 pages.


all in all it’s a good book and i do want to see where this is going but it certainly had a lot of things that older readers -aka not 14 year olds will notice and not able to overlook.
which doesn’t mean it’s a bad book it’s just the type of ya fantasy that isn’t anything super unique or special but still an enjoyable read if you’re in the mood for it.