Author: Linsey Miller
Series: Untitled
Pages: 384
Pages: 384
Expected publication: Sep 5th 2017
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
This ARC was given to me as an ebook by Sourcebooks Fire via NetGalley. Thank you for the opportunity to read this book.
I didn't finish this book after 66% because sadly I did not enjoy it.
This book featured a gender fluid character called Sallot (Sal). Sal is attending an audition to become Opal, a member of the Queen's left-hand. This audition felt too much like a weak copy of Sarah J. Maas's Throne of Glass and I could not escape that. I didn't truly understand how the audition was laid out and the proper rules. The plot felt like it was altogether weak.
And unfortunately Sallot infuriated me. They were arrogant and cocky and I had absolutely no sympathy for them. I got increasingly annoyed and when Sal then showed some actual fear towards the Shadows it felt fake. I felt like Sal was mostly unsympathetic and rude, too full of themselves and I personally felt it very hard to read about a person like this, especially in first person. Sal make a point in the beginning that they has never killed anyone before, but then when they kill of people later it feels childish and like painted on bravery or carelessness. All of their decisions seem abrupt and stupid and they make a big deal of how feared they were but I didn't understand half of the decisions they made. I understand that Sal had deep feelings for their homeland and wanted revenge but it appeared silly and I never felt like I was given real background to this country or what had actually happened. Why was there a war? What happened during the war? What are the Shadows? I felt lost. Sometimes little facts were thrown at the reader but to little for it to make sense or matter to me. I needed some real background to the world and history.
The other characters were all referred to by the number they were given before they entered the audition. Sal was 23. But because all the others were known to Sal as different numbers I constantly got confused with who was who and therefore got confused with Sal's feelings towards each of them. I couldn't form any relationships with those characters and it was very impersonal.
As stated above Sal is gender fluid and the characters do make a deal of it in the book. It is the first time I've experience this topic in a fantasy and I think it is very brave of Miller to bring up such a subject in fantasy when it seems to fit in more in the YA contemporary genre. Personally it didn't bother me and I think that was the upside of the book, and I see that as a success. I mostly depended on what Sal was wearing in the scene but if I didn't know I didn't matter too much. This however doesn't change Sal's personality and characteristics in the narrative which I was not in favour of.
The only character I felt like I could actually deal with was Elise, Sal's writing tutor and love interest. She was cute enough and I did enjoy some of their scenes together but again I was not a fan of Sal's flirting. They were cocky and they acted like they weren't interested but they were and I got tired of it. Toward the 60% mark Sal and Elise share an intimate moment and Sal says they find it intimate and they are nervous, but I got absolutely no feels what so ever.
I have heard great reviews of this book so your reading experience may be completely different. These are my personal opinions of the book and as much as I know that reviews influence readers, don't judge the book by my review alone.
Plot Summary:
Sallot Leon is a thief, and a good one at that. But gender fluid Sal wants nothing more than to escape the drudgery of life as a high way robber and get closer to the upper-class - and the nobles who destroyed their home.
When Sal steals a flyer for an audition to become a member of The Left Hand - the Queen's personal assassins, named after the ring she wears - Sal Jumps at the chance to infiltrate the court and get revenge.
But the revenge is a fight to the death filled with clever circus acrobats, lethal apothecaries, and viscous ex-soldiers. A childhood as a common criminal hardly prepares Sal for the trials. And as Sal succeeds in the competition, and wins the heart of Elise, an intriguing scribe at court, they start to dream of a new life and a different future, but one that Sal can only have if they survive.
-NetGalley
My Rating:
2/10
This ARC was given to me as an ebook by Sourcebooks Fire via NetGalley. Thank you for the opportunity to read this book.
I didn't finish this book after 66% because sadly I did not enjoy it.
This book featured a gender fluid character called Sallot (Sal). Sal is attending an audition to become Opal, a member of the Queen's left-hand. This audition felt too much like a weak copy of Sarah J. Maas's Throne of Glass and I could not escape that. I didn't truly understand how the audition was laid out and the proper rules. The plot felt like it was altogether weak.
And unfortunately Sallot infuriated me. They were arrogant and cocky and I had absolutely no sympathy for them. I got increasingly annoyed and when Sal then showed some actual fear towards the Shadows it felt fake. I felt like Sal was mostly unsympathetic and rude, too full of themselves and I personally felt it very hard to read about a person like this, especially in first person. Sal make a point in the beginning that they has never killed anyone before, but then when they kill of people later it feels childish and like painted on bravery or carelessness. All of their decisions seem abrupt and stupid and they make a big deal of how feared they were but I didn't understand half of the decisions they made. I understand that Sal had deep feelings for their homeland and wanted revenge but it appeared silly and I never felt like I was given real background to this country or what had actually happened. Why was there a war? What happened during the war? What are the Shadows? I felt lost. Sometimes little facts were thrown at the reader but to little for it to make sense or matter to me. I needed some real background to the world and history.
The other characters were all referred to by the number they were given before they entered the audition. Sal was 23. But because all the others were known to Sal as different numbers I constantly got confused with who was who and therefore got confused with Sal's feelings towards each of them. I couldn't form any relationships with those characters and it was very impersonal.
As stated above Sal is gender fluid and the characters do make a deal of it in the book. It is the first time I've experience this topic in a fantasy and I think it is very brave of Miller to bring up such a subject in fantasy when it seems to fit in more in the YA contemporary genre. Personally it didn't bother me and I think that was the upside of the book, and I see that as a success. I mostly depended on what Sal was wearing in the scene but if I didn't know I didn't matter too much. This however doesn't change Sal's personality and characteristics in the narrative which I was not in favour of.
The only character I felt like I could actually deal with was Elise, Sal's writing tutor and love interest. She was cute enough and I did enjoy some of their scenes together but again I was not a fan of Sal's flirting. They were cocky and they acted like they weren't interested but they were and I got tired of it. Toward the 60% mark Sal and Elise share an intimate moment and Sal says they find it intimate and they are nervous, but I got absolutely no feels what so ever.
I have heard great reviews of this book so your reading experience may be completely different. These are my personal opinions of the book and as much as I know that reviews influence readers, don't judge the book by my review alone.
Plot Summary:
Sallot Leon is a thief, and a good one at that. But gender fluid Sal wants nothing more than to escape the drudgery of life as a high way robber and get closer to the upper-class - and the nobles who destroyed their home.
When Sal steals a flyer for an audition to become a member of The Left Hand - the Queen's personal assassins, named after the ring she wears - Sal Jumps at the chance to infiltrate the court and get revenge.
But the revenge is a fight to the death filled with clever circus acrobats, lethal apothecaries, and viscous ex-soldiers. A childhood as a common criminal hardly prepares Sal for the trials. And as Sal succeeds in the competition, and wins the heart of Elise, an intriguing scribe at court, they start to dream of a new life and a different future, but one that Sal can only have if they survive.
-NetGalley
My Rating:
2/10
