4.5/5

I went into this book with no expectations because I didn't want to be unfair in my assessment of this book. There were a lot of people on booktube that were very critical of this book and tried to compare it to the The Night Circus. I'm honestly not sure why, possibly because of the way this book was marketed, but I don't usually like to listen to the way books are marketed because marketing of books can often be misleading. I think that going into this book without comparing it to other works contributed to how much I enjoyed it for what it was. Just thought I should put that out there for anyone that is going into this book expecting The Night Circus. That's not what this is. Despite that, it was an enjoyable ride and kept me guessing the entire time I was reading it.

Scarlett is an interesting female lead that really embodies the protective older sister that cares deeply for her sister and seeks freedom from an abusive father for both of them. She wants to do this even at the expense of her personal freedom shown by her acceptance of an arranged marriage to leave her home. She also serves as the narrator and voices a lot of the doubts and questions I had as I was reading the story and experiencing it with her. Her decisions are driven by her love for her sister and her concern for Donatella's safety. She stays consistent in her motivations and values throughout the plot, which I can definitely appreciate, and also remains relatable. Her decisions are often made under duress, yet she makes decisions that make sense for her character and are still relatively logical under her circumstances.

Julian was one of my favorite characters and he had a super charming and magnetic personality even when he was getting on Scarlett's nerves. He's also a pirate, and I have a soft spot for pirates, so that probably contributed to my liking of him. It's hard to tell where he stands morally throughout the story, but I think that also makes it that much more interesting. He stands in a strange moral grey coming off as a mysterious, possibly dangerous figure, yet showing some semblance of good in him. He was super likeable throughout even when I was trying to decide if he was an ally or an enemy in disguise to Scarlett.

Overall, this book was a fun ride and kept me guessing how all the pieces of the puzzle that was the game fit together until the end. This was different from anything else I read this year. I just bought the entire series on Kindle, so I'll probably be done with the series by this year. I'll post my thoughts on them as I read them. If you're looking for something different to read that will keep you guessing what's going to happen next, I highly recommend this.