4.5 stars

Oh damn. You know, in the beginning I thought this was going to be a 3.5 star book. I was told this was super addictive, but the first 50% didn't really convince me. Not that I disliked it! I definitely enjoyed it! But I just didn't love it. I wasn't the biggest fan of the main character, and while I was enjoying it, I just wasn't into it.

But oh, that definitely changed.

After reaching the 50% I got really into it. I still wasn't 'addicted', but I did end up loving this. In the end I started loving Alessandra, the plot, and her relationship with Kallias. I constantly started suspecting characters of being the one planning to kill the king. And oh wow, the plottwists!! I definitely recommend this book!

I even grabbed my laptop to write this review. I never use my laptop to write reviews, I'm just too lazy. Yet here I am. Writing like this just feels more satisfying (I think I'm going to do it more often)

There is only one other 'complaint', it was a bit disappointing that there was barely any world building in this book. World building is usually one of my favorite parts of books, but there were barely any details about this world, and it was difficult to imagine what the world was like. Was it our world but magical? Are there more people with magical abilities or just the kings? If it is our world, what time period was it? Things like that.

"I think that when you care enough for someone, you reach a point where it's far more painful not to have him at all than to have him and risk losing him.

So, my opinion in short, I guess you could call this a 'TL;DR'

+ Loved the characters
+ Loved the relationship between Alessandra and Kallias
+ The plot was great
+ The plottwist *chef's kiss*

- The fist half didn't catch my attention as people told me it would (but it is still great)
- Took me some time to warm up to the main character
- There was barely any world building

I've seen this book will get a companion novel, I have no idea what it'll be about but I'm already excited!

2.5☆

I saw the sequel in a physical store and it immediately spoke to me. Maybe it was because I just finished my end project/essay at school about mythology. I was sad they didn't have the first book in the series, so when I got home I bought it online.

And I was so excited to read it. A beautiful cover + a mythology retelling? I couldn't wait to get started.

Then I started reading, and the first 80 pages I had hope. I couldn't get into it, but I had hope, cause sometimes it just takes a bit longer. U started forcing myself to continue, 'it's only 337 pages' I told myself.

It might he only 337 pages, but wow this book felt like a 600+ pages book, it was so slow.

At page 130- something I debated whether I should continue. I just couldn't get into it. The pacing is painfully slow. The characters not really interesting, neither was the magic elements. The only thing I didn't hate was the world building, it has potential. And the time it takes place in, while I've read historical fiction before, that was 1800 or later, the Arthurian legend takes place in I think the 5th or 6th century? But even that didn't want to make me continue.

Then why did I continue reading? I've read many reviews, and both the positive and negative ones say that at the end, some say the last 20% some say the last 100 pages, it gets better. Some say it's worth it. So I wanted to find out for myself, even if that meant pushing myself to read. I kept saying to myself 'if I read at least 60 pages a day, I'll eventually get there'.

At around page 200 it started to get easier to read, and eventually I enjoyed it a little bit. I get what people say that the ending was worth it, the last 100 pages were indeed better.

I am not sure whether I want to continue this series. While I am curious what will happen next, I'm also afraid the beginning of the second book will be just like the beginning of this book. And while I pushed through with this book, I don't know if I'll be able to do that again.

Tl;dr:

+ World building has potential
+ Fun to read about this time period
+ the last 100-130 pages were better

- Characters weren't interesting
- It was so incredibly slow
- Hard to get into
- Wasn't interested in the magic
- Struggled to finish reading this
- Had high expectations so I'm very disappointed
- Not sure if I'll continue this series


UPDATE: added a few minutes later

I looked at the reviews of the second book and I see multiple people call it a filler book, and say that not much happens until the end. Sounds like this first book, so I made the decision not to continue this series.

4.5☆

Oh wow, my emotions at the last 40 pages!

Even though I can't name something I disliked, it doesn't feel like a 5 star rating, so I'm giving it 4.5 with rounding it down to 4 for goodreads. But anyways this was an amazing ending, I felt so many things.

Also, except for the first 50 pages, I read the whole book in one day. It was fast and easy and wow.

I really enjoyed this. Just like the first book it was an easy and fast read. The only reason I'm giving this 4 stars instead of 5 is the love triangle.

From the beginning I've hated America with Aspen, but in the first book I could stand scenes between them. But in this one... it just got frustrating. The love triangle drags on a little too long for my taste. Every scene with her and Aspen I couldn't wait until it was over.

I see people call America annoying and while I definitely hated some choices she made, I do like her. But the fact that seeing what happened to Marlee didn't stop her from sneaking around with Aspen made me angry.

While I don't love Maxon as much as in book 1, I still want America to end up with him.

Besides the love triangle I really like this series (so far). It's kinda a feel good series? I don't know how to explain it. It's nowhere near perfect yet still so fun to read. It's easy to read, and it goes by so fast. I read half of this book only in a few hours, and I could have finished it in one day if I didn't spend the first half doing something else.

I keep being surprised by this author. At first I was hesitant because Roman mythology is my least favorite mythology, and I saw that the PJO characters were barely in this. So yeah, I thought this would just be a series to get through so I could read the other series in the Riordanverse.

But man, I was wrong. I love being proven wrong like this.

I absolutely LOVED it. I loved how the author included Roman mythology in this. Me liking Roman mythology - well, never thought that would happen. I loved every twist and I really liked the three main characters.

One thing I also liked, you don't immediately know who their parents are. With some it's obvious, but you still get time to figure it out yourself before it's confirmed.

Another thing I loved: the point of view chapters were equally divided. If there is one thing I hate, it's when a book with multiple POVs is not equally divided. When 60% of the POVs is one character, and the other 40% is shared by the other characters. Because then it feels like you get to know one character and their story more than the others. But this book has a nice pattern (maybe it's my autism, but I also love patterns). 2 chapters about Jason, 2 chapters about Piper, 2 chapters about Leo.

And yeah, the thing with multiple POVs is that there is almost always one POV you like more than the other, and yeah I got the most excited when we were back at the Jason chapters, but that didn't matter. All 3 characters were interesting to read about.

Normally I don't immediately continue with a series. I need one book in between so I don't get too much of the same story (I know, sounds weird, but I've always had that, when jt takes too long, I get bored) but I'm definitely thinking about immediately continuing this series. I'm not sure yet, cause damn these books are big, but I'm thinking about it.

3.5☆

Keeping this short because I can't look at my screen too long. Yay headaches.

Ah mixed feelings. Overall I enjoyed listening to the audiobook, but I think if I read this physically I would've gotten bored. The book os pretty slow and not a lot happens, it's mostly angst and sadness. It felt so different than the first book.

I didn't really like Conrad anymore, but I still don't like Belly with Jeremiah.

Sometimes the timeline got a bit confusing, but that's probably because I was listening to the audiobook.

I actually like Belly. Yeah she's childish but HELLO SHE IS A CHILD! I get so annoyed at people complaining about teens in fiction acting like teens. Also I love that she is flawed, she isn't good in a lot of situations, she doesn't always know what to say. It makes her more relatable.

And what the f*ck was that ending??? Now I need to continue this series after allI guess. What the hell...