namimerijaan's reviews
190 reviews

It would have been 2.5 had it not been for the ending because I really did not see that coming

the fact that quishi was "senior" from obsidian who had almost completed the 12th door, the actual leader of obsidian who would've completed his 12th door had it not been for nanzhu's wish to relive all that by quishi's side was a little too shocking for me. Now as much as it shocked me doesn't mean I'm pretty happy with it. The thing is, the quishi we follow belives no one truly loved him before nanzhu (which again is the main premise on why I even liked their relationship because he proved he wanted to always be by quishi's side) and you put it in my face that oh well quishi had a loving relationship with everyone, nanzhu just wanted to live with quishi so he took everything from quishi and made him redo it all which really left a bitter feeling in my heart for the ship. Is the twist great from a story perspective? yup! Does it crumble the credibility of the trials they went through? Also yes.

I also did not like how the side characters were not placed in much importance and we rarely got to see them except main couple as if the entire story existed just to feed dog food which I won't mind most of the time if side characters feel human but honestly apart from cheng siblings, everyone else (zaozao and dongyuan included) did not feel real fleshed out character. Having side characters have a job does not make them good side characters btw. And I think in that respect the drama did way better because atleast the side characters left so much impression and had so much substance to them as characters

and their deaths actually mattered and made sense in drama unlike the book where they couldn't care less about the dead 2 hours after the characters died.

 Markless by C. G. Malburi

Thanks to @netgalley for providing me with an E-ARC for review!

Things I liked in the story:
- Use of singing as part of magic system which was very unique and fresh to read.
- Dekala as a cunning princess was much more fun to read and the little moments of her softness which came out when she's with Kimya were probably my favorites.
- Concept of soulbonds and only when you are bonded, then you will have full control over your powers.

Things I did not like:
- The plot twist. The book is written in first person perspective and we are looking at the world through her eyes. We even hear her inner monologues so it makes zero sense that Ruti lies to us as readers. It was done deliberately to keep the mystery on, but it does not make sense at all.
- Showing systemic oppression but somehow making it a cultural thing, like oh well this is how it is, does not sit right with me. Markless are not even mentioned unless it serves to move the story forward and the resolution for the problem falls flat as they just relocate the slums to other kingdom (also very weird).
- The entire thing with Reagent being ignorant towards Ruti being in palace when he literally tried to kill her before makes no sense because he does not know any of the plans but still lets the Heir do whatever (again for plot convenience).
- How the magic system works is never explained properly. Who is spotted one? Maned one? etc, how are readers supposed to know? This is not a fanfiction where everyone is aware about the workings in a world so this should have been explained properly. 
- Ruti as a character. The fact that she dares order around things to Heir of the throne but does not get reprimand or punished for her doings is crazy to me. And you cannot make me believe that just because Heir is attracted to her, she lets go of all these things while also saying she cannot fall in love. The chemistry fails to work because of this reason.

It is okay as a debut novel but would be better if things were more polished and more coherent.