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koistyfishy's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
This book to me was absolutely stunning, brilliant, fantastic, and magical all rolled into one!
I was a little confused going into the book based on the info from the blurb as I wasn’t sure how Romeria (Romy), a girl who is a thief for a New York Crime boss and a magical world with warring kingdoms and elves were going to come together…but I think ultimately this confusion is pretty quickly wrapped up in a nice bow… basically Romy meets a mysterious woman called Sophie, and after a couple of circumstances, she makes a deal with her that takes her to a different universe. There Romy wakes up in the body of “dead” princess Romeria of Ybaris. The girl that has just killed the newly appointed King Zander’s parents. Zander also happens to be her fiancée.
The writing in this is excellent. It is easy to read but incredibly vivid. I can see why some people would get bored though, because the story does move very slowly in terms of plot, and because Romy is dumped into this world, and doesn’t understand the history, a lot of it is explained as “history lessons” instead of naturally being found out. However, I personally didn’t mind this as the political intrigue, the complex characters, excellent storytelling and amazing world and world building kept me captivated. I also in general love books that take place in parallel worlds as it gives the excuse for contemporary writing and language to infiltrate fantasy in an easy and natural way that makes it not feel out of place.
As said before the world building is captivating and in general is something to be commended. It has all the elements of what makes a good fantasy, great. It has lore, a unique magic system, supernatural races, Gods or Fates and is complex but easy to grasp a handle on.
Romeria is everything I love in a MC. She is compassionate, caring, strong willed, determined, independent and has a very powerful willingness to survive in any situation. My only irritation is we never really get to see her skills as a thief, it’s only ever mentions that she is good at stealing, but we are never shown this…and in two cases is caught trying to pilfer something….
Zander is broody, serious and extremely loyal to his kingdom and his responsibility to it’s inhabitants. He is also suspicious but strong willed and, given the circumstances, slow to trust but he has an innate need to do the right thing for his people.
The slow burn enemies to lovers romance between the two is angsty, full of tension and banter, and entirely full of chemistry.
I would definitely recommend this to anyone who loves slow burn, forced proximity with a fake relationship. It just ticks all the boxes that need to be ticked including the only one horse and omg that bathtub…..
I am so glad the second book is already released because I would be dying right now if it wasn’t….
I was a little confused going into the book based on the info from the blurb as I wasn’t sure how Romeria (Romy), a girl who is a thief for a New York Crime boss and a magical world with warring kingdoms and elves were going to come together…but I think ultimately this confusion is pretty quickly wrapped up in a nice bow… basically Romy meets a mysterious woman called Sophie, and after a couple of circumstances, she makes a deal with her that takes her to a different universe. There Romy wakes up in the body of “dead” princess Romeria of Ybaris. The girl that has just killed the newly appointed King Zander’s parents. Zander also happens to be her fiancée.
The writing in this is excellent. It is easy to read but incredibly vivid. I can see why some people would get bored though, because the story does move very slowly in terms of plot, and because Romy is dumped into this world, and doesn’t understand the history, a lot of it is explained as “history lessons” instead of naturally being found out. However, I personally didn’t mind this as the political intrigue, the complex characters, excellent storytelling and amazing world and world building kept me captivated. I also in general love books that take place in parallel worlds as it gives the excuse for contemporary writing and language to infiltrate fantasy in an easy and natural way that makes it not feel out of place.
As said before the world building is captivating and in general is something to be commended. It has all the elements of what makes a good fantasy, great. It has lore, a unique magic system, supernatural races, Gods or Fates and is complex but easy to grasp a handle on.
Romeria is everything I love in a MC. She is compassionate, caring, strong willed, determined, independent and has a very powerful willingness to survive in any situation. My only irritation is we never really get to see her skills as a thief, it’s only ever mentions that she is good at stealing, but we are never shown this…and in two cases is caught trying to pilfer something….
Zander is broody, serious and extremely loyal to his kingdom and his responsibility to it’s inhabitants. He is also suspicious but strong willed and, given the circumstances, slow to trust but he has an innate need to do the right thing for his people.
The slow burn enemies to lovers romance between the two is angsty, full of tension and banter, and entirely full of chemistry.
I would definitely recommend this to anyone who loves slow burn, forced proximity with a fake relationship. It just ticks all the boxes that need to be ticked including the only one horse and omg that bathtub…..
I am so glad the second book is already released because I would be dying right now if it wasn’t….
Content Warnings
Graphic: Torture, Violence, Slavery, Blood, Classism, Death, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Abandonment, Child abuse, and Fire/Fire injury
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