3 stars, full Review on my blog!

────── ✧ ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ♡ ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ✧ ──────

wait that's how it ended? will there be a second book??

slightly underwhelming, the whole book felt very rushed

It’s unique in a way and a great debut but I felt like I was reading and not processing the words, or maybe I just didn't connect with the characters since there were so many. There were so many things happening plot-wise that it was all crammed into 378 pages.

⪼When it came to the Trials part of the book, I was disappointed. They weren’t as high stakes as they seemed to be, our FMC breezed through them almost without a thought. I really feel like they could have gone differently. I mean they were entertaining enough but not as incredibly dangerous were meant to be.

IM SORRY BUT IN THE BOOK DESCRIPTION WHERE SAYS "her struggles through high-stakes trials" is literally false advertising 😭😭

⪼I didn't care for Aella and Raven's relationship because there wasn't enough build-up. Although it mentions they 'knew each other' from before, I would have liked to see more of them getting to know each other better. Their 'romance' lacked real tension or chemistry, despite the forbidden love angle.

⪼Every time I read the MMC's name-Raven, idk why but I kept thinking of Raven from The 100(<333 I lovvee her sm). But anyway, HE was... strange; gave weird vibes at times, like he was about to betray Aella or something.

Also, as the MMC he was lacking character development; we don’t get to know anything about him, he has no backstory, we don't even get to know his real name(only his given Songbird name). It felt like his only purpose in the book was to serve as Aella's stress relief because those are mainly the only times we got to see him.

His character was very mysterious, and I WISH we had his POV. That would have made him so much more interesting and we would have gotten to know him more.

⪼smut scenes felt awkward between them? Aella kept having to repeat herself 'it's just sex nothing more'... probably why they lacked chemistry because their relationship was more of a Friends-with-benefits

⪼I feel like I constantly had to keep referring to the glossary to even remember what things were:

Eagle: the leader of the Aviary and advisor to the King of the Sorrows
Tycheroi: fortunate ones – the common race in the Empyrieos. They are long-lived and blessed with soul magic by the gods.
Goiteía: an alphabet of marks used to tap into soul magic. The more one uses goiteía, the shorter their lifespan.
Goiteían: a person who sells the service of mark carving, or is in servitude to carve goiteía for another.

these are just a few, there were so many more words/names/Kingdoms/pronunciations in the glossary, and honestly, at one point I just stopped going back and forth accepting that I probably won't remember what the heck was being talked about.

⪼Xan, is an interesting character that I want to know more about, but his appearance felt rushed in a way.

THE CLIFFHANGER WAS SHOCKING AND SLIGHTLY CONFUSING. If there is a second book, I'll probably read it, because WHAT THE HECK XAN???!!

Overall, I'm not going to say I completely disliked this, but it was very underwhelming, and I feel like I need to read it again.

𝓉𝓇𝑜𝓅𝑒𝓈:
❥Spies
❥assassins & royals
❥a perilous heist
❥'high stakes' trials
❥forbidden romance
❥forced proximity
❥court intrigue
❥kingdom politics
❥Greek mythology


Thank you for the ARC, Braidee!
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