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kasfire's review
3.0
3/5 Stars
Warning: Some mildly graphic depictions of physical abuse, and potential depictions of sexual abuse (it was almost hard to distinguish so giving warning just in case).
Sigh, I actually had really high hopes for this novel. The premise sounded so intriguing. It was essentially a Sci-Fi selection, where the girls competing are clones of a dead princess. However, it became brutally... underwhelming and annoying.
We meet Victoria as she is getting "reset" (a term that, at least in this instance, means that certain memories of hers were wiped). Then we learn about her home life, which is rather horrid. Her foster father (who treats her like a servant and has her call him Master), beats her with switches. Mainly just for the hell of it to show her that he "owns her".
Now, it wasn't until we get to the whole selection process and realization of the cloning point of the story that it loses me. Victoria is supposed to be competing for the Prince's hand (aka, Selection series anyone?) But then she has *gasp* another love interest. And man... they do a terrible job of covering up their tracks.
Plus, she literally flip flops between the two the entire second half of the book. Like, dude, I get that love is confusing sometimes, but you kiss each of them multiple times (sometimes both in the same day) and after each kiss you are so "sure" of your feelings. Nah girly, you are just an indecisive girl who enjoys having the attention of two men. And it's annoying. At least in the Selection series America stays away from Aspen to begin with because of their relationship growth and such. In this one, it hardly shows relationship growth other than the physical. There's a touch of the emotional, but not enough to keep you invested.
Plus, none of the characters other than Victoria grow throughout the novel. Not the prince, not the queen, not even any of the other clones. It's flipping ridiculous. I would have DNFed this book if it wasn't practically impossible for me to do that.
Part of me wants to read the sequel and hope that more will happen. But then again, part of me doesn't really care at this point. I suppose time will tell.
**Disclaimer: I received an ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review
***Update: I received an updated ARC from the author and with the added epilogue, the story is going in a better direction. However, the rest of my review still stands
Warning: Some mildly graphic depictions of physical abuse, and potential depictions of sexual abuse (it was almost hard to distinguish so giving warning just in case).
Sigh, I actually had really high hopes for this novel. The premise sounded so intriguing. It was essentially a Sci-Fi selection, where the girls competing are clones of a dead princess. However, it became brutally... underwhelming and annoying.
We meet Victoria as she is getting "reset" (a term that, at least in this instance, means that certain memories of hers were wiped). Then we learn about her home life, which is rather horrid. Her foster father (who treats her like a servant and has her call him Master), beats her with switches. Mainly just for the hell of it to show her that he "owns her".
Now, it wasn't until we get to the whole selection process and realization of the cloning point of the story that it loses me. Victoria is supposed to be competing for the Prince's hand (aka, Selection series anyone?) But then she has *gasp* another love interest. And man... they do a terrible job of covering up their tracks.
Plus, she literally flip flops between the two the entire second half of the book. Like, dude, I get that love is confusing sometimes, but you kiss each of them multiple times (sometimes both in the same day) and after each kiss you are so "sure" of your feelings. Nah girly, you are just an indecisive girl who enjoys having the attention of two men. And it's annoying. At least in the Selection series America stays away from Aspen to begin with because of their relationship growth and such. In this one, it hardly shows relationship growth other than the physical. There's a touch of the emotional, but not enough to keep you invested.
Plus, none of the characters other than Victoria grow throughout the novel. Not the prince, not the queen, not even any of the other clones. It's flipping ridiculous. I would have DNFed this book if it wasn't practically impossible for me to do that.
Part of me wants to read the sequel and hope that more will happen. But then again, part of me doesn't really care at this point. I suppose time will tell.
**Disclaimer: I received an ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review
***Update: I received an updated ARC from the author and with the added epilogue, the story is going in a better direction. However, the rest of my review still stands
brookieworm's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
jenbsbooks's review
So, I don't really feel like I should leave an official rating, as I'm marking this DNF at just 5% in. That was several chapters (12 of them, plus a prologue). I was one of those who loved [b:The Selection|10507293|The Selection (The Selection, #1)|Kiera Cass|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1322103400l/10507293._SY75_.jpg|15413183], but Bella Forrest novels not so much (both hyped used for promotion "If you liked xxx then you'll love this!")
The premise intrigued me, but once the chapters started, and it switched to the first person perspective, it was grating. The writing didn't feel natural, very stilted, not at all what a young girl would be thinking. As she is reflecting upon the beating her "foster father" gives her, to bend her to his will, she thinks "And I was a small girl who could easily be bent." But she's really a princess and the parents of this family know this, and instead of trying to find favor with the Queen, she's more of a "Cinderella" servant type (although the "step-sisters" and mother aren't bad, it's the father who beats her). Did he not fear that the queen would be angry when she finds out the daughter she put in their care was abused so? Is the mother aware? She seems to have a good relationship with Victoria but doesn't care that her husband, and the governess are constantly hitting her and leaving welts and broken skin? As the queen recalls Victoria to the capital to marry a prince from the neighboring kingdom, was there any reason why a younger daughter had been kept secret and raised away from the castle all these years? We, and Victoria, are told "your questions will be answered when you get here" and Victoria sure seems to accept that a lot more than I did!
As I read these few chapters, what went from a promising premise and my happy interest, went to my face being scrunched up thinking "uhhhh" ...
So in this world of billions of books at my fingertips, I'm not going to press forward on one that is rubbing me the wrong way so early on. Perhaps it gets better? Maybe I'm in a mood? The title, the cover, the premise were promising but I just didn't feel like they were going to deliver after all.
The whole series was available on Kindle Unlimited - I'm a bit sad I didn't like it.
The premise intrigued me, but once the chapters started, and it switched to the first person perspective, it was grating. The writing didn't feel natural, very stilted, not at all what a young girl would be thinking. As she is reflecting upon the beating her "foster father" gives her, to bend her to his will, she thinks "And I was a small girl who could easily be bent." But she's really a princess and the parents of this family know this, and instead of trying to find favor with the Queen, she's more of a "Cinderella" servant type (although the "step-sisters" and mother aren't bad, it's the father who beats her). Did he not fear that the queen would be angry when she finds out the daughter she put in their care was abused so? Is the mother aware? She seems to have a good relationship with Victoria but doesn't care that her husband, and the governess are constantly hitting her and leaving welts and broken skin? As the queen recalls Victoria to the capital to marry a prince from the neighboring kingdom, was there any reason why a younger daughter had been kept secret and raised away from the castle all these years? We, and Victoria, are told "your questions will be answered when you get here" and Victoria sure seems to accept that a lot more than I did!
As I read these few chapters, what went from a promising premise and my happy interest, went to my face being scrunched up thinking "uhhhh" ...
So in this world of billions of books at my fingertips, I'm not going to press forward on one that is rubbing me the wrong way so early on. Perhaps it gets better? Maybe I'm in a mood? The title, the cover, the premise were promising but I just didn't feel like they were going to deliver after all.
The whole series was available on Kindle Unlimited - I'm a bit sad I didn't like it.
hurricane_reads_13's review against another edition
4.0
Typical post apocalyptic Princess story. Queen and prince have a contest for new princess. Same old same old. Prince chooses main character, main character wants the guy from her home town, but ends up falling for prince anyways. Okay we get it. But, it has a few twists towards the end of the book that I’m interested in seeing where it goes in the second book.
bookbreaksnhottakes's review against another edition
4.0
A delightful dystopian spin on a classic fairy tail
For those of you who enjoys strong female characters who overcome adversity and still choose to have hope in the world. You would love this book! At times it felt a little reminisce of the Cinderella fairytale mixed with the bachelor, mixed with some other kind of story with a really kick ass main character.
For those of you who enjoys strong female characters who overcome adversity and still choose to have hope in the world. You would love this book! At times it felt a little reminisce of the Cinderella fairytale mixed with the bachelor, mixed with some other kind of story with a really kick ass main character.
sophiephie333's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I went into this book with no explanations. I honestly just feel.. meh about this story. The plot is a fun idea, but I don’t know how to feel about the execution. I’m also back and forth on how to feel about the characters. The prince more specifically, I’ll touch on him more later in my review. There will be no spoilers.
Victoria almost seems inconsistent to me. Is she strong or is she weak? Is she growing as a person as time goes on or is what she’s doing totally out of character for her? It’s so hard to say because things seem to fly in this book. To me, she seems like she’s really weak willed, she gets peer pressured throughout the story. Everything she does is because of what someone else wants, but never really for herself. Which, is a noble trait to have, but Victoria takes it to extremes at some points.
Now to the Prince. If I’m supposed to like him, I’m sorry, but I hate him. I really hope he’s not end game, he just rubs me the wrong way. I don’t want to say what reasons he does because that would require me to give some minor spoilers, but no. I’ll DNF if there’s any more solid evidence that she’ll end up with him.
Kale. Love him. Definitely end game material. I said what I said.
The other girls seems to follow cliche stereotypes. Nothing too special about them, but maybe I’m warming up one of them that I didn’t like at first.
To wrap it up, I’m interested in the series enough to continuing on to the next book, but I’m kind of on the edge of just moving on from this series.
Victoria almost seems inconsistent to me. Is she strong or is she weak? Is she growing as a person as time goes on or is what she’s doing totally out of character for her? It’s so hard to say because things seem to fly in this book. To me, she seems like she’s really weak willed, she gets peer pressured throughout the story. Everything she does is because of what someone else wants, but never really for herself. Which, is a noble trait to have, but Victoria takes it to extremes at some points.
Now to the Prince. If I’m supposed to like him, I’m sorry, but I hate him. I really hope he’s not end game, he just rubs me the wrong way. I don’t want to say what reasons he does because that would require me to give some minor spoilers, but no. I’ll DNF if there’s any more solid evidence that she’ll end up with him.
Kale. Love him. Definitely end game material. I said what I said.
The other girls seems to follow cliche stereotypes. Nothing too special about them, but maybe I’m warming up one of them that I didn’t like at first.
To wrap it up, I’m interested in the series enough to continuing on to the next book, but I’m kind of on the edge of just moving on from this series.
ktbgoodwin's review
3.0
This book was okay. I liked most of the characters, and I honestly thought I’d like this book more but I didn’t. 🤷🏻♀️
jilljemmett's review against another edition
4.0
This review is part of the blog tour from YA Bound Blog Tours.
Victoria Sandalwood lives with Duke and Duchess Ramsey. She has lived with them all her life, but she has never been treated as a daughter. She has been banished to the cellar and is constantly punished for silly things, resulting in her being beaten by Master Ramsey. One day, she gets a message from Queen Hart that says she is her daughter and must return to the castle to marry a prince. Victoria is shocked at this news but also happy to leave her painful life. However, when she arrives at the castle, Victoria meets six other girls who look just like her. She must compete with these other girls to win the Prince's heart.
This book is very similar to other popular YA dystopian series right now: The Selection, Red Queen, The Lunar Chronicles. But this one has a clever twist involving genetics.
Every time I thought I had figured out what was happening, I was pleasantly surprised to find out I was wrong. The twists were surprising and the pace moved quickly so I was never bored.
The ending left the story open to a sequel, which I look forward to reading.
Victoria Sandalwood lives with Duke and Duchess Ramsey. She has lived with them all her life, but she has never been treated as a daughter. She has been banished to the cellar and is constantly punished for silly things, resulting in her being beaten by Master Ramsey. One day, she gets a message from Queen Hart that says she is her daughter and must return to the castle to marry a prince. Victoria is shocked at this news but also happy to leave her painful life. However, when she arrives at the castle, Victoria meets six other girls who look just like her. She must compete with these other girls to win the Prince's heart.
This book is very similar to other popular YA dystopian series right now: The Selection, Red Queen, The Lunar Chronicles. But this one has a clever twist involving genetics.
Every time I thought I had figured out what was happening, I was pleasantly surprised to find out I was wrong. The twists were surprising and the pace moved quickly so I was never bored.
The ending left the story open to a sequel, which I look forward to reading.
rimpysreads's review against another edition
4.0
Review on my blog: https://rimpysreads.wordpress.com/2017/07/25/royal-replicas-by-michael-pierce-spoiler-free-review/
This novel gave me such a The Bachelor vibe. It was a fun story with a cool dystopian vibe to it.
I was honestly very surprised by how intriguing and interesting this novel turned out to be. I could not put it down and sped through the 400+ pages in a day or so.
The main character, Victoria, was a very fun character to follow. She went through a lot throughout this novel and was always very strong, which I really appreciated.
I’d like to mention that there is a love triangle in this novel, and it does get frustrating at times, but it mostly resolves itself throughout the novel.
Additionally, I’d like to mention that the writing in this novel was so easy to follow, and there never really seemed to be a lull in the book in which I’d think about putting it down. It was always go, go, go.
All in all, I’m really glad I received this novel for review and since it’s already out I really recommend you all to pick it up. I think it’d be an amazing book slump breaker.
This novel gave me such a The Bachelor vibe. It was a fun story with a cool dystopian vibe to it.
I was honestly very surprised by how intriguing and interesting this novel turned out to be. I could not put it down and sped through the 400+ pages in a day or so.
The main character, Victoria, was a very fun character to follow. She went through a lot throughout this novel and was always very strong, which I really appreciated.
I’d like to mention that there is a love triangle in this novel, and it does get frustrating at times, but it mostly resolves itself throughout the novel.
Additionally, I’d like to mention that the writing in this novel was so easy to follow, and there never really seemed to be a lull in the book in which I’d think about putting it down. It was always go, go, go.
All in all, I’m really glad I received this novel for review and since it’s already out I really recommend you all to pick it up. I think it’d be an amazing book slump breaker.