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drgnlv's Reviews (823)
adventurous
inspiring
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
This book was very good up until about halfway through. At that point the story shifted from being about a young woman subverting the social structure of Victorian England by rising to the most powerful position in the country based on her OWN SKILLS, to focusing on her self-loathing for not telling the male authorities in her life that other males think she is not what the male authorities told her she was. Add to that brain-twister the fact that the center of the book is basically a series of young men parading past the protagonist for the reader to pick which one they would like her to pair up with.
I cannot believe how far this book fell. The only reason I am not giving it 1 star is because the beginning was very good. We need more YA books with female protagonists who rise in society because of their own strength, abilities, and will (rather than because they are "destined" or gain the attention of a guy). This book had a lot of potential, but failed to follow through with that strong message. It's almost as if the author chickened out halfway through or was forced by the publisher to tone things down and make the protagonist more "realistic" to expected gender norms of weak, self-hating women. Hey, if it happens every day to young women in high school, why shouldn't it happen in the escapist books they read as well?
I cannot believe how far this book fell. The only reason I am not giving it 1 star is because the beginning was very good. We need more YA books with female protagonists who rise in society because of their own strength, abilities, and will (rather than because they are "destined" or gain the attention of a guy). This book had a lot of potential, but failed to follow through with that strong message. It's almost as if the author chickened out halfway through or was forced by the publisher to tone things down and make the protagonist more "realistic" to expected gender norms of weak, self-hating women. Hey, if it happens every day to young women in high school, why shouldn't it happen in the escapist books they read as well?
This book is like a combination of [b:Wicked Lovely|305234|Wicked Lovely (Wicked Lovely, #1)|Melissa Marr|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1327814035s/305234.jpg|296240], [b:Curtsies & Conspiracies|15723286|Curtsies & Conspiracies (Finishing School, #2)|Gail Carriger|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1359660588s/15723286.jpg|21398040], [b:A Great and Terrible Beauty|3682|A Great and Terrible Beauty (Gemma Doyle, #1)|Libba Bray|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1284558475s/3682.jpg|2113193], and the movie Brave! Yet where each of those stories fell short, this one delivers; as if by combining all these different things, instead of being a mash of competing parts, it all goes together in a beautiful, wonderful cacophony of fun, wit, and beauty!
