Reading this book is like when your friend doesn't want to re-watch a series with you so you watch S2 with her and she pauses every few minutes to fill you in on the relevant parts of S1. 

Basically a print-out of Wikipedia at the time

This book is a great mix of Six of Crows and The Bear and the Nightingale,  taking my favourite elements from each book and weaving them together masterfully. This book has a strong plot filled with a variety of characters who have to work together despite their differences with the wintery, fable-esque vibes of The Bear and the Nightingale. I didn't clue in this was a inspired by The Goose Girl until the end of the book where the execution happens, which to me means that Owen was able to create her own unique world unreliant on her inspiration for success. 

I loved how the main threat to the MC was herself. As soon as she got cursed I knew I was going to be finishing this book, and I'm so happy with the way it resolved. Part of the plot hinges on her development as a character, or she literally dies. Perfection! 

I can't wait to dive into more books from this series.

Much like The Falconer, this is a very good introductory to fanatasy book. It has many common tropes that are not poorly executed, but I wouldn't say they do anything to break the mold or be interesting.

The plot was predictable; I knew the twist about Brie's father from the prologue and the book did nothing to subvert this expectation, nor did it do anything to dramaticise and lead up to the reveal. Brie felt very inactive in the plot. She was being lead around by a large cast of characters with little motivation of her own, doing as they ask as she had no reason not to go along with them. This book manages to hit all the beats of a good fantasy novel plot wise, but the execution is a bit lacking.

Many of the characters serve similar roles in the story, making it hard to differentiate between them. And many characters have upwards of four different names that they are referred to throughout the novel, making it even harder to keep track of same-y individuals. Some characters are built up never to be heard of again like the MC's peer at the Passion school while others could have used a lot more development to make their significance to Brie more impactful to the reader.

After reading Ross's author blurb, the book makes sense. She studied English, that shows in the plot and the tropes picked etc, but she needs to write more and develop world-building and characterization skills as well.

In all I can't call this book bad, but there are many books out there that have done everything this book tries to do better. It is something I am going to recommend to beginner fanatsy readers to help ease them into the genre as it proves a thorough overview of things to expect from a fanatsy work without being too overwhelming with large-scale worldbuilding, complex politics, and multiple POVs.

I am SO glad I did not buy this book when I saw it on Book of the Month and almost subscribed to get it. I was so excited to read this book. I wanted to love this book. I was left disappointed.

I've read a lot of older books that are now considered "Romantasy" and absolutely adored them like The Kiss of Deception by Mary E. Pearson and The Winner's Curse by Marie Rutkoski. This is the first time I've read a book that was written as a Romance first, not as a Fantasy book. Calling this Romantasy feels misleading because other than this being a vague post-Arthurian version of medieval England with mentions of magic, there is no Fantasy in this book.

This book is so anachronistic I'm surprised they weren't using cell phones by accident.

The characters are flat and unlikeable. The author *tries* to give motivations for their actions, but there is no more development than "I thought you were bratty as children and I don't like you because of that". The one story we get where the characters try to explain their actions still left me with many questions because the "why?" part is left unanswered. Arthur is trying to explain why he put a frog in Gwen's bed when they were toddlers. He said it was because his dad thought he was a disappointment. Thus frog. That's it. Was he trying to be MORE of a disappointment? Did he think Gwen would genuinely enjoy a frog because he liked frogs? Who knows, the only reason we get for that is Arthur's dad thought he was a disappointment, hence the frog that showed up in Gwen's bed.

As for the world-building... I'll try to keep it brief. Which is exactly why the author did, despite the fact that the political tensions between Camelot and the Cultists are the reason why Gwen and Arthur have been betrothed since birth in the first place. Other than existing and causing problems, there is not much thought given to why the cultists still exist. This takes place in what is supposed to be a slightly magical medieval England, which is a time period that could have a lot of religious tension if the author wrote it right, or even thought about it. However, it's sort of there and then left alone, because it's not important when it comes to Gwen and Arthur falling in love with other people. I will say I did genuinely like how they helped each other get what they wanted, but I got distracted by all the other stuff that was poorly executed. It was so distracting. This has all the set-up of a political fantasy with arranged marriages and factions and nothing happens with that.

Also, Gwen mentions being Catholic in the book and I don't think she ever picks up the Bible once. Nothing about her character screams Catholic, let alone catholic from the Middle Ages. I think that line was supposed to drive a wedge between her and Arthur because Arthur has cultist ancestors, but nothing comes of it. And again, we don't really know what the significance of that is. Or why it is STILL such a big after over a century since the original Arthur pulled the stone and ruled Camelot. 

So much tension could have been made out of the politics for the romances, but instead, we have Art and Gwen being unlikeable, and oh no we can't do stuff for reasons. It doesn't feel like the world is hanging on them getting married. You have to take the author's word for it that it will be very bad TM if they don't and leave it at that without further justification from the plot, time period, setting, etc. Frankly, I don't see how the world is going to fall apart if they marry whoever they want, making this entire book pointless and insufferable.