Another on the DNF pile @ 40% this time. I just really don't care about anything that it's happening :(
Trial of the Sun Queen understands that The HunAnother on the DNF pile @ 40% this time. I just really don't care about anything that it's happening :(
Trial of the Sun Queen understands that The Hunger Games was more than the romance, there’s reasons for the games and why they need to occur and so on. What Trial and THG have in common is that the focus shouldn’t be on the romance that might (and does) occur; the focus should very much be on why the tributes have to be in the contest and why it’s all wrong. And then also adds fae to the mix, because why not? While we do get a bit of the politics, I did find myself wanting more but hopefully that’ll play a bigger role in the second book.
The problem is with the characters, Lor especially. Is she someone who could have survived the prison experience she’s been through, has that personality and survival chops here or is she a naive young girl who’s somehow going to believe everything that told her, saving lives of those who trying desperately to kill her, etc. Lor’s personality seems as changeable as a throw of the dice. She’s just not a character worthy of investing in.
“Nothing is free. Nothing is safe. Magic is love, but also, it’s hate.”
The world building in this was perfect; just enough to paint a backdrop of socia“Nothing is free. Nothing is safe. Magic is love, but also, it’s hate.”
The world building in this was perfect; just enough to paint a backdrop of social malice and political divide, providing a tense, uneasy and unpredictable setting. Seriously, every part of this book kept me on my toes, piecing each detail together, trying to solve all of the questions that arose throughout – it was utterly captivating.
If all an author had to do to make me buy a book that read like a fairy tale were the lore and the magic system, this would be a blanket recommendation from me. When I read a book with multiple characters, I expect sufficient characterisation that display their perspectives and sway me toward them, on the basis of their motivations. Since the whole book is written in Elspeth’s point of view, I found myself struggling to relate to any of the others, or understand their difficult relationships. Partly because of this, I found that the romance involved wasn’t executed in a manner that I found convincing. At some points in the book, I felt that certain revelations were rather predictable, and were exactly what I guessed considerably earlier in the tale, and found myself thinking that the characters simply missed something rather trivial.
Elspeth’s codependence on the Nightmare was definitely a point of interest for me. Initially, I loved their back and forth conversation in the recesses of her mind, but the Nightmare started growing on me solely because he spoke in riddle and rhyme. It is part of what gave this book an eerie, fairy tale-esque quality to it, and that is one of the reasons I eagerly kept flipping the pages....more
Anastasia ⋆｡☽˚｡
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Books:
2025-tbr
(21)
