3.5/5
So this isn't as good as her Crowns Game book but it was better than the Crown's Fate.

I think it struggled at the beginning and the middle it was difficult to see why this wasn't like every other YA fantasy out there but it really did hit its stride in the last 1/3 or so. I REALLY liked the ending. It was logical and not "too clean" which is something I always complain about.

For 5 blissful hours today...I got to live in a world where instead of agent orange, the POTUS was a Democratic woman with a gay son who she still loved...who... *hiccups crying* wanted voter reform and healthcare *happy cry*

Also just realized this was an odd book to read on Canada Day but whatever. Also the sexy scenes...girl...those were tight

My marshmallow soul has been refueled.
This is literally Veronica Mars in YA form and omg I'm trash for this romance and omg I cannot wait to read my ARC of the sequel next month *screams into fist at slow romantic burn of enemies into lovers*

I'm sort of torn on this. If this is aimed at people who are Outlander fans then I am the target audience but I found it just way too similar to the original for it to be particularly interesting. I also struggled with the illustrations themselves. Some pages were just so overwhelming and cluttered. A lot of the characters with dialogue also looked VERY similar so I had a hard time telling them apart.
The good: thank you for keeping those iconic lines from the book in here!

Okay! Alright! Why do I so desperately want to go to a secluded boarding school that inevitably has a murder in it? Maybe that says something about me? Am I messed up?

Now I could have done without the romance. It was an unnecessary distraction for me. It's a damn school for assassins people! Keep your damn pants on! People are bring murdered!

I will definitely be reading the sequel.

Omg why is this so amazing?! Easily one of my fav books. It's so damn dark and gorey and sexy and violent and I love it.

Oh boy there was a lot of politics in this and I THINK I kept it all straight. Once again everyone be lying to each other 24/7/365. This just feels like the OG YA politic fantasy for some reason to me. I'm not CRAZY about the romance developing but I can definitely see its purpose

Okay I've read this thing twice now and maybe I'll get attacked for this but I still don't get it.

Is it a fun fantasy? Absolutely! Solid characters, romance and conflict

Is it "sell your Barnes and Noble special edition copy for $300 USD"? No

I'll absolutely read the sequel and the ending to this was great but I just don't get why it's so different from all other YA fantasies with faeries

Plot twist: she dies

Why have I never read verse before this year?! It lends itself SO WELL to historical fiction!
I really liked the start of this book especially since her family life is not something I've really ever heard of. I also loved how this showed how heavily manipulated faith was in order to suppress women. Also, big shout out to the author for simplify the Hundred Years War and complex political conflicts into like 3 digestible pages at the beginning.

I need to go back down the internet rabbit whole about the Romanovs. I literally just spent an hour sifting through articles trying to find out if everyone was finally buried together and it appears that in 2019...THEY STILL HAVEN'T BURIED THE LAST TWO BODIES! For peets sake! While it's frustrating, this story kinda perfectly summarizes why I am so interested in Russia and went the rout of Russian history when doing my BA in History. It's just so fascinating!