Denice's Reviews > De ijzige verloofde

** spoiler alert ** DNF’d at 70%

I really wanted to love this book…
However I just couldn’t get myself to care for finishing it at all.
Im actually surprised I stuck around this long.

But I skim-read the last 30%, looking for some redeeming qualities that could convince me to read the other books in this series, but i didn’t find it.

Such a shame, they really are pretty books🤷‍♀️

So yeah, here is a collection of thoughts:


The different arcs and the worldbuilding is super interesting! I think it’s really interesting how the earth just combusted and there’s new lands in the form of floating islands

Ophelia’s “reading” magic was also an interesting part though she didn’t use it too much

But, If Ophelia mentions how tall and huge Thorn is one more time im gonna scream.

Spoiler alert: I screamed.

Girl, he’s tall. We get it. No need to shove it in my face every 5 seconds he’s on page.

This repetitive issue was way to common. For example: The aunt has horse teeth, her skin is yellow etc, Don’t worry, I already what she looked like after the first five times you said it.

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Now to the characters.
(Im reading the book in Dutch so names may vary)

Ophelia:
Girl please take action. I don’t care what you do but do something.

In her internal monologue she’s clearly not pleased by the way people treat her. But does she ever attempt to speak in out loud? No.

She literally gets mentally tortured by Thorns aunt Brunhilde. Like the aunt uses her powers to send painful spikes to Ophelia’s brain. Basically repeatedly gives her heavy migraine that leaves her sick.

Thorn asks her at one point (in an attempt to show he cares i guess):
“Is my aunt using her claws to hurt you?”
(Or something like that cuz I had to translate it to English)
And does Ophelia tell him? No.

Look, its refreshing to finally have a female mc that’s not a mary sue. She’s not a fighter, she’s not some kind of assasin, however Showing a little more backbone wouldn’t hurt. Girl please just stand up for yourself for once.

I guess too passive heroines are just not for me.
(I have to mention: from what I’ve skim read in the last 30%, I can conclude she did finally stand up for herself later)


Thorn:
What do I say about him? Idk, tbh i don’t really care about him. Aside from a few small attempts to enter a conversation with Ophelia, he’s nothing more than a cold and rock hard shield. Do we get any insight in him? No. Any emotions? Not really.
Maybe I would’ve enjoyed it more if we got some chapters from his pov.

Archibald:
He might actually be the worst being alive.
He made a literal rape joke. Need I say more? How do people even like this guy?

He literally told Ophelia that if she was Thorns Fiancee (She is, but she is pretending to be someone else at this moment) he would like to “deflower” her just to get on Thorns nerves.

A. Literal. Rape. “Joke”.
At least that gives us an idea on how he sees women. As objects.

The other Women:
The cast of this book exists out of mainly women, I wouldn’t mind were those women not all evil snakes.

Two prime examples:
Freya: Beats Ophelia up with her powers to the point she has to wear a neck brace. (Even though i believe those powers were a type of illusion)

Brunhilde: Tortures Ophilia with her powers to cause heavy migraines that make her sick and blur her sight. (I guess sometimes she has mood switches and then she’s suddenly kind to Ophelia again???)

But also Ophelia’s mom and sister in the beginning of the book.
(Though i do not remember them well enough aside from being horrible)

Oh and Thorn’s grandma. Who attempted to choke him with a pillow when he was a baby and attempted to poison some lady and set Ophelia up to take the blame.

Ophelia, Ophelia’s uncle and maybe her aunt Rosalinde are the few characters who didn’t seem that bad.

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Worldbuilding:
Okay this is the one thing I actually like and why I rated it two stars.
The worldbuilding was interesting. I love how the earth exploded and split up in new arks and the different clans that inhabited those arks and their respective powers.

Though I had a bit of a hard time to determine the time period.
Like they had a plane and used a phone, but the book doesn’t really feel like modern times.

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The powers: a bit vague

Ophilia has the power to “read” objects and see their history. Super interesting but she barely uses those powers.
And she can travel through mirrors, but why? Idk. I don’t think its really been explained. Maybe later in the book but I just couldn’t get myself to keep reading every page.