2.25⭐️ ~ Thank you to the author for gifting me an E-book of the first two books of this series!!

So. Where do I even begin 😬

To start off…the writing in this book was just not for me. I didn’t really like how the characters talked, I didn’t really like how it was from a 3rd person pov but then had thoughts and flashbacks in first person. And I didn’t rlly like the descriptions. Idk the writing just wasn’t very good to me and I think it could’ve used more revision.

That being said, I have to admit that the worst part of this book was the plot and the way it was laid out. The author had a pov from EVERY character at some point in this book. Mind you this is like 6-10 different characters (I lost count tbh). The chapters were not even labeled with whose pov we were reading and you had to just assume based off of whose name was mentioned the most since it was 3rd person. AND it would just randomly switch perspective in the middle of the chapter. I was so confused.

As for the plot I thought some parts were interesting such as the world structure and the whole prophecies/thinkers thing. But the main plot was a cliché “it’s forbidden to have powers” but ofc the prince I born with them and so is some common girl and they fall in love blah blah blah. Along with the mid plot and bad writing there were SO MANY PLOT HOLES. Like some points you would get the same scene from two character povs and they described it COMPLETELY DIFFERENTLY. I was so lost and since pov changed like every chapter I lost track of the timeline because it would mention the next morning and then go back to the night before and omg I was just so lost at some points. I honestly feel like the author rushed through this and hardly revised because there was also so much repetition and parts where someone would refer to one of the mmc’s wife as his fiancée still? Like did we not just read about the wedding? 

I know that this book and book 2 were published in the same year (2023 I think) which I think contributes to the poor writing quality. Book 3 has just now been released so hopefully its quality is better. But I truly just don’t understand how the author let so many holes and info slip past her? It makes me feel like she did not reread.

Anyways, you are all probably wondering “Emily why did you even finish this book?” Well let me tell u, sometimes u have a book or tv show that’s so bad u just have to see where it goes and that’s what this was for me. On top of this I did enjoy small parts of the romance plot (if u can even call it that 🤨) and that kept me going for a bit. But honestly NOTHING happened in this book fantasy plot wise until I was 90% through no joke. Up until that point it just felt like a basic forbidden romance novel set in a random fantasy world with no explanation.

The worldbuilding twas not good as well. Once again quite confused and I think having the 10 kingdoms be called the First Kingdom, the Second Kingdom, etc was dreadfully boring and unoriginal. And the whole prophecy this entire book surrounds I feel like is SO OBVIOUS. We obviously know from the start who the prince of snow is but the violet queen? You want to just ignore the emphasis on the fmc violet eyes?? Tf.

As for characters. I didn’t connect with any of them. 🫤 They honestly didn’t develop much from the start to the end of this book. And they switched up so fast. One minute you don’t trust each other and the next you are kissing and spilling your secrets like you’ve known eachother for years. It made no sense.

On top of this (Ik u are wondering when this rant will end) the author marketed this for fans of the tv show Reign. That is my FAVORITE SHOW and this book can’t even compare and I lowkey don’t know why it’s marketed that way because I saw no similarities other than taking place in a royal court 😭

So. Overall, I WILL be reading book 2 because it was so bad I must know what happens and I want to know if I’m right about that dang prophecy. However, as an avid fantasy and Romantasy reader this book is not good. I can’t speak for books 2 and 3 but I do not recommend this one unless you feel like being bored and confused. 

This is probably one of the most negative reviews I’ve done and I feel so awful for saying all of this because I’m sure the author did put in effort and Ik this book probably means a lot to her. But in truth this book needs more work. I think it could be great with more revision (maybe the copy she gave me was an arc and unrivised???😬) but right now it’s just not.

This is her debut novel as an indie author and I think she has amazing potential as a writer just not in this one. Maybe book 2 will be better?? At least this one was not a DNF.