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A review by wildlyminiaturesandwich
Castle of Lies by Kiersi Burkhart
2.0
NOTE: I received a complimentary eARC of this book from Lerner Publishing Group through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.
When I first read the description of this book I was intrigued, it sounded right up my alley! But as soon as I started reading it, it became VERY clear this one wasn’t for me. I should have just stopped after the first two pages but I spent far too much time trying to force myself to finish it instead; trying to care even the slightest bit about any of the characters or how the story ended until I ended up giving up at 23%. My actual rating for this book is 1.5 stars, but seeing as Goodreads doesn’t allow half stars, I rounded up.
I saw another reviewer describe this book as “Game of Thrones meets Cruel Intentions meets Fantasia” and that’s exactly what it is. Now, you might be thinking “Surely those things don’t work together?” and you’d be absolutely right. Those three things should never be put together because then you end up with a book that’s essentially full of incest, substance abuse, and magically animated objects. Actually, considering some of the subjects this book touches on, I’m REALLY surprised it’s marketed as YA Fiction.
**WARNING - SPOILERS AHEAD**
Right from the start I found Thelia’s character off-putting. I mean, the very first paragraph has her describing how weak, inside and out, her cousin Corene (the Princess) is and how she’s not fit to be Queen. She then goes on to describe why she, Thelia, should be queen in the most obnoxious, self-centered way, and plots how she can get the Corene out of the way so she can marry Bayled (the King’s ward, most likely heir, and the man who proposed to Corene without permission from the King). Her focus for the whole book, even when bigger things seem to be going on, is how she can use and screw over anyone standing in her way to become Queen. That is literally all she ever thinks about; her character has no real depth except for being a conceiving, backstabbing bitch. I also found it very hard to believe that the first time Corene told her the elves were coming she basically had a panic attack and passed out, but then when the elves actually got there and it was time to fight, she turned into some no-nonsense warrior maiden; it made no sense at all.
Most of the other characters are the same as Thelia. They all seem to have one main personality trait — loyal, whiny, cheeky, bitchy, etc — and that is literally all they are; very one dimensional. The only character that might have been even SLIGHTLY interesting if I’d kept reading was Sapphire, but still not interesting enough to stop me skipping whole paragraphs and then pages just to find something more interesting going on. I don’t know if it was the author’s intention to make most of the character highly unlikable, but if so then she succeeded.
Also, one of the main reasons I requested this book was because it was supposed to have a lot of queer representation, but it fell VERY flat in that regard. Sapphire appears to be non-binary or possibly gender fluid, but I don’t think it’s ever specifically mentioned other than one time Sapphire corrects Corene when she uses the wrong pronouns for them. Parsifal (Thelia’s other cousin who’s been in love with her for years) is bisexual, or maybe pansexual, and is referred to quite a few times as basically nothing more than a floozy. Am I the only one that’s getting really tired of seeing bisexuals and pansexuals portrayed as sex-crazed maniacs who’ll hook up with literally anything that moves? And Thelia was supposed to be either asexual or demisexual (as well as being touch-adverse and sex-repulsed), but apparently a few bottles of wine seems to completely erase that little detail whenever it’s convenient for the story, like you know, any time she wants to kiss Sapphire (a virtual stranger and essentially her jailer), or have sex with her cousin, Parsifal.
Once I got to yet another point-of-view change at 23% (there were a lot), I knew I wasn’t going to bother reading any further. But I did skip forward every few chapters to read bits and pieces just to get the general idea of the story and honestly, I’m glad I didn’t bother finishing it. It seems to be full of pretty much every fantasy and YA trope the author could find all mashed together but without any actual depth or substance.
When I first read the description of this book I was intrigued, it sounded right up my alley! But as soon as I started reading it, it became VERY clear this one wasn’t for me. I should have just stopped after the first two pages but I spent far too much time trying to force myself to finish it instead; trying to care even the slightest bit about any of the characters or how the story ended until I ended up giving up at 23%. My actual rating for this book is 1.5 stars, but seeing as Goodreads doesn’t allow half stars, I rounded up.
I saw another reviewer describe this book as “Game of Thrones meets Cruel Intentions meets Fantasia” and that’s exactly what it is. Now, you might be thinking “Surely those things don’t work together?” and you’d be absolutely right. Those three things should never be put together because then you end up with a book that’s essentially full of incest, substance abuse, and magically animated objects. Actually, considering some of the subjects this book touches on, I’m REALLY surprised it’s marketed as YA Fiction.
**WARNING - SPOILERS AHEAD**
Right from the start I found Thelia’s character off-putting. I mean, the very first paragraph has her describing how weak, inside and out, her cousin Corene (the Princess) is and how she’s not fit to be Queen. She then goes on to describe why she, Thelia, should be queen in the most obnoxious, self-centered way, and plots how she can get the Corene out of the way so she can marry Bayled (the King’s ward, most likely heir, and the man who proposed to Corene without permission from the King). Her focus for the whole book, even when bigger things seem to be going on, is how she can use and screw over anyone standing in her way to become Queen. That is literally all she ever thinks about; her character has no real depth except for being a conceiving, backstabbing bitch. I also found it very hard to believe that the first time Corene told her the elves were coming she basically had a panic attack and passed out, but then when the elves actually got there and it was time to fight, she turned into some no-nonsense warrior maiden; it made no sense at all.
Most of the other characters are the same as Thelia. They all seem to have one main personality trait — loyal, whiny, cheeky, bitchy, etc — and that is literally all they are; very one dimensional. The only character that might have been even SLIGHTLY interesting if I’d kept reading was Sapphire, but still not interesting enough to stop me skipping whole paragraphs and then pages just to find something more interesting going on. I don’t know if it was the author’s intention to make most of the character highly unlikable, but if so then she succeeded.
Also, one of the main reasons I requested this book was because it was supposed to have a lot of queer representation, but it fell VERY flat in that regard. Sapphire appears to be non-binary or possibly gender fluid, but I don’t think it’s ever specifically mentioned other than one time Sapphire corrects Corene when she uses the wrong pronouns for them. Parsifal (Thelia’s other cousin who’s been in love with her for years) is bisexual, or maybe pansexual, and is referred to quite a few times as basically nothing more than a floozy. Am I the only one that’s getting really tired of seeing bisexuals and pansexuals portrayed as sex-crazed maniacs who’ll hook up with literally anything that moves? And Thelia was supposed to be either asexual or demisexual (as well as being touch-adverse and sex-repulsed), but apparently a few bottles of wine seems to completely erase that little detail whenever it’s convenient for the story, like you know, any time she wants to kiss Sapphire (a virtual stranger and essentially her jailer), or have sex with her cousin, Parsifal.
Once I got to yet another point-of-view change at 23% (there were a lot), I knew I wasn’t going to bother reading any further. But I did skip forward every few chapters to read bits and pieces just to get the general idea of the story and honestly, I’m glad I didn’t bother finishing it. It seems to be full of pretty much every fantasy and YA trope the author could find all mashed together but without any actual depth or substance.