This book broke me. So if this sounds appealing to you, and you read it based on my review, please don't complain afterwards. 

The start was very promising, but then there was a lot of world building and getting to know characters for like 30-50% of the book. Enough action and plot twists to keep me interested, but also very few bread crumbs of what I really wanted to read about to make me impatient. The second half is just a wild ride.
It is supposed to be YA and I recognize the typical tropes coming with a YA fantasy books. But most of them have a spin or are resolved in a new way, which I really loved. You expect things to happen, and then they do happen, but in unexpected ways to mess with your head. In fact, I truly believe, the author just wrote this book to mess with my head specifically. Especially with the ending, which makes me question everything I thought I knew about myself. 
Anyway, this book also seems a little too brutal for YA? The stakes are definitely higher than usual, and the author isn't afraid of showing it. 
The world building is interesting, and the mysteries are intriguing, but what I loved the most were the intense and intimate scenes between the characters. I held my breath so many times I lost count, tbh. Thank goodness, the sequel is coming out next month. Can't wait to get my heart ripped out and trampled on again. 

Ich hätte mit dem Buch warten sollen bis der zweite Band erschienen ist. Der Cliffhanger am Ende! 

Der erste Band sehr viel World building und man hat einiges über die Hauptcharatere gelernt. Ich fand es sehr spannend, auch durch die unterschiedlichen Perspektiven der Charaktere mehr über die Welt zu lernen. 
Will selber hat diese Welt selber gerade erst kennen gelernt, daher fand ich es auch nicht zu viel Information auf ein Mal, wenn ihm etwas erklärt wurde. 

Ich habe mit vielen gerechnet, aber nicht mit dem Twist am Ende! 

Ich hatte so gehofft, dass James aus der ganzen Sache irgendwie unbeschadet raus kommt, er ist mir sl and Herz gewachsen. Genau wie Will. Ich hoffe so sehr, dass sie es schaffen sich ihren eigenen Weg zu suchen und nicht die Geschichte wiederholen müssen.

Der zweite Band kann nicht früh genug kommen!

Whew. This took a while to read — not the least because I've been on a huge reading slump, but also because I wasn't as invested in the story as I'd hoped. It really picked up near the end, which is why I'm still giving it a good rating, but I do wish it had picked up a little sooner than that.

In truth, my biggest qualm was with the worldbuilding. Though it is solidly done, and the world mythos is quite interesting, there is so much infodumping in this book. The characters are constantly learning new things about the world through chunks of explanation given in dialogue, and though the content is interesting, the scene itself turns out boring, because so much is being told rather than shown through the action. I don't remember Captive Prince doing it nearly as much, but I might be biased...

That's much of what kept me from finishing it as quickly as I would otherwise have, because I was really quite invested in the main quartet of characters. Will, James, Violet and Cyprian were all very well developed, and their relationships feel appropriately nuanced. Katherine and Elizabeth are... okay. They definitely fall short when compared to the rest, probably because their story is barely there in comparison (which works to keep the mystery going, but not to flesh out their characters and make one properly interested). There's also the fact that the relationship between Katherine and Will was rather poorly executed, and Elizabeth hardly there at all — though I expect this will change in future instalments.  As for the ending,

though I did begin to see the twist coming, I couldn't be mad about it — not when it's as good a twist as this. And I have to say I definitely wouldn't be mad about a pretty corruption arc in the next books, either...

The focus is most certainly on Will and James, and I'd quite like it kept there, thank you very much. They share by far the most interesting dynamic, and while it is possible to see echoes of Damen and Laurent in some of their interactions, they are very much their own characters, which is great to see. I'll be looking forward to seeing where Pacat takes the story next.

I spent 80% of this book thinking about how slow paced it was, how much it followed the standard good vs evil, light vs dark plotlines that we've all seen a million times before, how the writing and the characterizations were uneven, and how much I really dislike instalove. Our main character has the personality of mashed potatoes (bland and inoffensive) except for those moments where he is suddenly either charismatic and charming, or kind of ruthless. It almost gave me whiplash trying to keep up with how often Will changed to suit the plot. But the last 20% was a trip with twists that I did not see coming, and that makes me very curious to see where this series goes. 

First half of the book seems just fine when reading for the first time, but man on the reread the whole book was really enjoyable.  The second half of the book was a “read-in-one-session” kinda deal for both my first and second read through, and the way the history/lost civilization stuff unravels is everything to me

Honestly I think I liked it better the second time around for spoiler reasons but once you can piece everything together it is just so satisfying

original rating = 4/5
reread rating = 5/5

I’m sure there are plenty of valid criticisms of this book but tbh the last 50ish pages are burned into my brain forever so I’m unwilling to accept them

I think what people were is less important than what they are. And what people are is less important than what they could be.

Even under the guise of an overcomplicated fantasy world and endless description of said world and each of its ultimately useless facets, CS Pacat is still a master of tension and romance. And that is the reason I come back to her books again and again.

A good chunk of the book (read: ~80%) is a lot of explaining and confusing details, and I really was not enjoying my time with it. The whole old world/new world and the Stewards as a community were a lot to take in, and honestly it didn't even matter much by the end; I just didn't really care about them or their purpose. And do I really need to? (Honestly, the smaller-scale political battles of CaPri felt more intense and important than the big world struggles of this one.) Violet is badass, and I already love Will. James has such potential, and unfortunately he was barely in this first installment. But once we get to the real twists, the real meat of the story, in the last 20% or so, this book becomes a CS Pacat book. Just as in Captive Prince, this first book is mainly a set up for the epicness that will (hopefully) be the rest of the trilogy. I cannot wait for the sequel to be released!

Reread October 2023

Second reading: unquestionably better than the first! Knowing all the world-building to come, I was able to fully immerse myself in the story and world, and it was glorious. The characters were captivating, the story relentless, and the intrigue top-notch. I was absolutely enthralled.