Look. I’m sorry. Well, I’m not. But. I have alwaysssss had a soft spot for this romance fantasy stuff, even before it had a cool “romantasy” moniker and #booktok “discovered” it. Call me hipster emo about it. I accept. Anyhoo, pluses and minuses there. The popularity has made it easier to find lots of books in the genre, so there’s always a new one when I’m in the mood. Buttttt, the quality is definitely always a grab-bag situation. And this one definitely fell into the “pushed out too fast and not enough editing” category. Altogether too bad, both because I wanted something better, but also, I read another series from Armentrout years ago (the Lux series) and I remember it being much better written, so my hopes were higher. 

 

Basically, this couldn’t find the line of originality versus proven classics. It was halfway familiar names (people and places), paranormal creatures (werewolves and vampires), and the general chosen one bringing down an oppressive governmental situation. But it did it poorly. It was not nearly different enough, but wouldn’t just accept that it’s the same as everything else (and go with it because that’s what the people want). Plus, literally nothing was explained. I’m here for not starting with an info dump but like halfway through I still didn’t feel like I understood anything that was going on/building (even stuff that Poppy does know, tbh, as I realize she’s in the dark on some things so it makes sense that those are unclear to the reader too). 

 

Ok and then there is Poppy and Hawke. That main couple build is usually something I love, but it’s SO uneven. Their interactions seem anachronistic to the rest of the story unfolding around them. And I wanted to fall into them, but the way Hawke acts is just…too far bad, not respecting Poppy like at all (other than her “violence” being so “intriguing” to him), and it just never got to a point where I was comfortable enough with the “dark hero” figure he cut to get past it and actually fall. It’s an unhealthy trope to begin with, so I always feel a little bad liking it, but this just…was so bad that I never really could. 

 

And the plot development and Poppy’s story are just similarly, under-development, with no nuance, and just, also bad? Yikes. Some of the most confusing, uneven, poorly edited writing I’ve ever read.