there was so much potential but we got so much telling instead of showing regarding the characters, i feel like i didn’t really get to know any of them. Their friendship felt forced and Robin told us (the readers) quiet often how he felt about his cohort but i didn’t feel it. The text did not show how deep their connections run, it felt strange when

Robin decided to step up for Remi & Victoire

. The author also shares a lot of information in the footnotes but they did not show sources. In a mix of being a non-fiction and a fictional historical novel in an academic setting, we should have gotten an appendix with sources about what Kuang is saying when referring to real-life events. It would have improved the quality of the text in my opinion. 

Note: I read the first half up to part three in the paperback version & then switched to the audiobook. The Ausiobook was easier to follow and I liked that the footnotes were read to us by another voice than the narrators. 

a different kind of Ali Hazelwood, still has the same plot as always which lacks creativity.  But I enjoyed that these characters had issues & a deeper backstory than usual.

Read this in one sitting. Loved my autistic woman in Stem Rue - i get her. A lot of sex scenes so be aware!

maybe i was not in the right mood but this dragged on and it didn’t feel ya to me. It felt very middle grade - like very good vs. bad and very predictable which is per sé not a bad thing. I did enjoy some parts but i was also a bit glad when the book was finally over. Also i enjoyed that the trans rep was so casual but i feel like in the first book we got more trans-content.

Wow! Ich habe es an zwei Tagen duechgehört und es war wirklich wirklich gut und schmerzhaft und schön und dann wieder schmerzhaft. Gerade als ältestes Geschwisterkind tut es noch mehr weh - auf eine schöne Weise.