Actual rating: 1.5 ⭐


Oh, God. Oh, Dear Allah.

I was a big fan of The Lunar Chronicles, to the point I collected almost all of the books. They got me hoping so much for Marissa Meyer's other works, especially this one.

But when TLC was full of actions and adventures, this supposed-to-be-magical-book had given me....

Totally, almost nothing.

The fact that I spent ten days to read this after a long, boring, work hours annoyed me so much. Why didn't I just stop? Because I still have my hopes. But things wouldn't always turned out to be as what you hoped for, I see.

I don't know what happened with the author when she wrote this--maybe she fell in love so deep with the whole story and decided to prolong nearly EVERYTHING in the book. Dozens of pages were spent to describe every single damn thing in the world building detailedly. I mean yeah, it's important. But when it gets too long—who cares?

The characters. The main heroine, Lady Catherine Pinkerton. Oh God, it was sooooo hard to like her. I even don't understand why the King favored her so much. Said she's the one with the heart of a steel, so strong and so brave, when mainly all she does is just whining, whining, and whining non stop. I know it's sort of obligatory for kids to obey their parents, but when you're forced to marry the stupid, disgusting King, why don't you stand up for yourself instead of complaining over the silly 'courtship' (ah, I got goosebumps) inside your head for every single damn time?

Remember Scarlett Dragna from Caraval? Well, Catherine Pinkerton is like her worse twin sister.

Also, the minuscule King and Catherine's parents. I have no idea who was more disgusting than who, but I do think it's best for the trio to just get married to each other. I mean, why the heck would you marry your 'dearest' daughter with a man who's fifteen years her senior but act like a five years old dwarf who giggled at every chance he got?

If I were to be the citizen of Hearts, I'd do some sacrifice for the Jabberwock to snatch the King (who by the way, reminded me so much of my equally disgusting, silly, crazy neighbor) and turned him into a pack of minced meat before giving it to Cheshire (who'd probably refused). Easy coup d'état, and we could put someone more capable in the throne. Cheshire, maybe. That feline was at least the more reasonable than all of the people here.

Also, what's with the marriage between animal and human here? I never read Alice in Wonderland before, but I don't think it's in here? What is the bestiality thing about?

The only thing that could at least redeem the whole story was the ending. At last, at the very last, our Catherine could stand at her very own feet! One and a half stars for that.

Think I'll keep it because the cover is so pretty, tho.