I honestly don't know whether I should rate this a 4 stars or a 4.25/5 stars lol

I think this book is marketed as YA fantasy? But honestly, it was written more like New Adult. And because I was expecting something more YA, I was really surprised at some of the content in this book.

The writing and plot is pretty dense and complex. And while I know some people didn't like that about this book, I actually really enjoyed it. The chapters were long. Like really, really long. Something you definitely don't see in YA. And some of the paragraphs were almost the length of a page. But the way it was written, the way that the political and social aspects of this world were explained, was realistic, raw, and thought-provoking. It was the right amount of detail for me. And you could tell a lot of forethought went into the building and making of this story. Yes, there are aspects of the world that didn't make sense and were a bit confusing – like the reason for the Crossing, and the magic system – but I feel like more will be explained later. The writing was honestly a good 1/3 of the reason I thought this book read more like New Adult/Adult than YA.

The second reason this book caught me off guard was the swearing? It's not something I've seen a lot of in YA, so I was actually kind of surprised to see it in this book. Now I'm not against swearing lol. I feel like it's something we should see more of in YA, since that's more of a realistic part of everyday communication (at least for the majority of people), but I wasn't expecting it in this book.

But the biggest reason that kind of turned me off this book, and made me think it was more New Adult, was the sex, the rape, the pedophilia, and just the descriptions. Honestly, this book read like it was written by a man. And while I did enjoy the plot and a lot of the characters, this was a huge turn off. Yes, rape is a part of war and we can't pretend it doesn't happen. I just wasn't expecting it, considering I went into this thinking YA. But it's also just the unnecessary descriptions that are violent and kind of sadistic. Stories of rape are mentioned. At one point, some woman is having an orgasm while watching this one guy (almost) die from being poisoned? The author also seems kind of obsessed with nipples and just people being naked a lot? The pedophilia was super disturbing to read about, as well as the child sex slaves and sex slaves in general. I honestly don't feel comfortable recommending this book to younger readers. It's not content that would be easy to read, and there were times when I was like "what am I reading?" and "is this what Game of Thrones is like?"

Besides all of what I've said above, the story was engaging? I wanted to know what was going to happen, I wanted to see how Kelsea would handle all the politics that come with becoming Queen, and I wanted to just learn more about the world and especially about her necklaces.

The politics was probably my favourite part – seeing aspects of the Church, the Census, the Black Market, the nobility, and everything else all come together is just so fascinating. Everything plays a role in the overall running of a country, and I love when books focus on this. I'm excited to see what decisions Kelsea has to make in the following books.

The necklaces were honestly the coolest part of the book. I do want to know how all of it works and where they came from etc. But that final scene in the Argive Pass was just epic and I was rooting for Kelsea the entire time.

One other complaint I have about this book, is Kelsea. While she has some really good qualities, she does struggle with herself at the same time, especially regarding her weight and looks. I'm hoping this will be addressed more later, but it was kind of hard to read people dismissing Kelsea just because she's "plain" and not beautiful. And yes, I get that this was one of Kelsea's guardian's plans – to not make her so obsessed with beauty and her looks – it is kind of sad to see that someone can't accept themselves and their own natural beauty and still be a good, strong and just leader. Like it has to be one or the other, not both. I think Kelsea is beautiful, but she's been put down so much her whole life, that she can't see it anymore. And I hope she learns to accept herself in the next couple books.

Now speaking of the men...Mace is an interesting character. I'm definitely intrigued and a bit worried to see what happens in the future. The Queen's Guards accept Mace's leadership without question and that had me getting angry because Kelsea is Queen and they don't trust her opinion. I liked seeing Mace and the others proved wrong at the end.

Pen is interesting...I like him and I'm excited to see what role he'll have later on *hehe*

Also, the Fetch. First of all, you suck for saying Kelsea is too plain for you. Second of all, Kelsea's whole "I need to eat less in front of the Fetch so he likes me" was not a good message at all. He is a very unique character, and I don't exactly know what he has planned, but I want to know more about him so bad!

Overall, I think I'm going to rate this a solid 4 stars. This book was good plot-wise. I really want to see what happens next. Hopefully, I can somehow get through the more disturbing parts of this series though