Reviewed by thepunktheory on
Uuuh this was good.
I can already tell you that this is not the kind of book I'd recommend to anybody. The worldbuilding and the magical topics are a little weird at times but it was right down my alley!
A large part of the world is built from more or less familiar bits of other literary works. Fairytales, Alice in Wonderland and the likes clearly served as an inspiration and I'm here for it.
The way familiar elements were incorporated into the story was amazing. It all gets a fresh coat of paint and thus feels new instead of like a bland copy.
I am still a little confused about the magic system in the story, but apparently, this is the first part of a series, so I'll guess we get a deeper insight on that in later books.
Nevertheless, it did annoy me at times because of the lack of explanation on that front sometimes made it difficult to understand everything that was going on.
This could already be a dealbreaker for many people, so be warned.
Apart from that I quite enjoyed the entire book. There's humor, there are prophecies there are some badass teenagers, there's complicated history. Curses to break, kingdoms to liberate - what else could you want?
The only thing that irritated me somewhat was the pacing. The characters are on a quest and whether or not things work out will only be addressed in the very final pages. Although I knew that this is the first part of a series, I had hoped for more on that front. The resolution felt a bit weak after such a big build-up.
Reading updates
- Started reading
- 12 January, 2020: Finished reading
- 12 January, 2020: Reviewed