Well that was a bloody hot mess.
By the time I got to 40% I realized nothing was happening and I kept checking the percentage remaining on my ebook to see if I was almost done yet. I was floored that I was only less than halfway done. This book was so long and it absolutely did not need to be. About 20% to 80% is just this on repeat:
- Poppy learns something about her past/origins.
- Poppy says, “I have questions”
- Kieran rolls his eyes.
- Because Poppy stabbed Casteel that ONE time in an earlier book, everyone constantly says, “Lol Poppy, just don't go stabbing Casteel now, you hear?”
- Casteel talks about how he feels unworthy of Poppy.
- They fight about whether or not Poppy should participate in battles.
- Poppy then learns that what she just learned about her past a few chapters ago was actually completely wrong, and learns something else instead.
Rinse and repeat. Over and over. These “cute” inside jokes got so, so old. Heaven forbid Poppy have a question. I also got really fed up with the massive info dumps and “twists” where those info dumps were actually wrong, and here's a NEW info dump instead. It read like the author kept changing her mind about how the story was going to go, rather than an intentional twist.
Nothing of note happened until the last 10-15% of the book. I truly believe you could skip to the end, read that, and not have missed anything important.