I have had this on my “currently reading” Goodreads shelf for almost a year. I received an e-ARC from the publisher (Albert Whitman & Company) and Netgalley. Thank you! I am so sorry that it took so long to read and review this book. As many know, it was due to a crazy pregnancy.
Anyways, this book had so much promise and potential but it just didn’t do it for me. I felt like I needed more from the world building. There are so many things that I would have loved more information and background on. Things were just skimmed or skipped. This was one of the biggest issues for me.
I do think that the author did a great job with the characters and supporting characters. Anyone else wanting to read more about her parents? That would be an awesome book, I think! I really was craving so much more about them. I did have some issues with Hesina because she was just frustrating at times. She was a Queen and she did not act like it. She acted on the side lines and she really needed to assert her power. I think one of my favorite characters was Akira. I wish he would have been a little bit more present. He was a lot of fun.
I do wish that the “trial” actually lasted a lot longer. I really enjoyed Akira finding the faults in the witnesses stories. It was amusing and I would have loved a lot more of it! It really could have helped this book because the plot is so slow. It takes forever to get things going and it gets a bit boring. It’s not particularly a hard read but just a really slow build.
I did like some of the plot twists! I did know what a couple of them were ahead of time, it was quite obvious. I think what really threw me was Lilian. Ahhh! That’s all I’ll say about that because .. no spoilers!
Overall, this wasn’t a terrible book but I wanted a lot more from it. If I remember correctly, it was pretty hyped before it came out last year. I’m not sure what happened after that, since I kind of dropped off the face of the earth. Regardless, there are definitely some enjoyable moments but it’s filled with some issues.
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