Definitely an interesting read. It does follow your standard romantasy formula with a no one girl who is deemed special. It’s very SJM inspired with how the story flows. It’s like if From Blood and Ash was written better in my opinion with a less annoying MFC. Ngl, Lore is THAT GIRL. I also love the first line in the book. It’s definitely going to grab your attention. There’s subtle themes of the unfairness of capitalism and classism within the backdrop of the book.  Lore makes it a point to show the difference between her and other contestants just based off life experiences. I’m on to the next book 🫡

I enjoy the banter and the layers of plot. I go back and forth on liking Lor, but I find myself mostly rooting for her. It was a quick read with a good balance of description and dialogue. 

 I was going to give this book 3 stars, because despite my following review, I did enjoy this book. It was, at the very least, a fast and entertaining read. But the more I think about it the more annoyed I'm getting.

The attempts at foreshadowing and an unreliable narrator were certainly an attempt. Maybe it wasn't supposed to be a reveal and I'm getting worked up over nothing, but everyone is just so secretive throughout this book, and the ending was certainly written like it was supposed to be an "Aha!" moment. But it was so obvious from the very beginning who Lor is supposed to be, despite her claiming she has no clue what anyone is talking about.
Flat and predictable, the plot barrels on ahead despite the many many holes it has. Why must we hold trails for the choosing of the Sun Queen? Why must the trials be deadly? Why can't we just stick a bunch of women in front of the Mirror until it picks somebody? Nobody knows! That's just the way things are, DUH!!

And I don't think I've ever read a book where the FMC's POV is in first person, present tense, while the MMC's POV is third person, past tense. Certainly another choice on the author's part. I've read my fair share of books that swap between first and third person for the different characters' chapters, but shouldn't we be sticking to the same timely narrative? Unless we're looking at a flashback or something? I thought mayyybe the reveal would be that Nadir's chapters happened a long time ago and Lor is the only one in the present, but nope. Just sloppy writing. There's scene where their POVs are back to back of the same event, and it was still like that there as well. A narrator was recalling his side of the story, and Lor was telling us her side as it was happing. I found it jarring, to say the least.

Was this book the worst thing I've ever read? No absolutely not. Was it just a clash of the plots of SJM's entire writing collective and The Selection series? Absolutely yes. And do I have the next book sitting on my holds shelf? For now, but that's subject to change seeing as I have a projected several months wait. I may change my mind between now and then. 

I liked it, but I didn't love it.
I think the premise was okay, but it really felt like it needed to be a little more fleshed out. There was a lot that we just needed to accept as "this is how it works in this world" for no real reason.
As far as characters go, I feel like our FMC was inconsistent.

Based on the "secrets" she knows that she isn't telling the audience it feels like she'd be more savvy / have a better idea of what is happening, so it's weird that the reader could sus things out quicker even without having as much insider info.

The book is 1st person, so it was also strange to me when she would have revelations that didn't have much build up.

Like "I" thought the Sun King was sus from the get-go, but she was lusting hard, until suddenly she was like " there was always something off" Girl I was in your head, you were way too in your own head / with your own hangups to suspect he had an ulterior motive past just being horny.

She also is supposed to be 24, and yes I know she's lived in a prison for half her life so there is going to be trauma behaviors with that, but there was a weird level of self-awareness about her behaviors, like she'd been to therapy or something.
Other characters were also kind of off and I can't place them. I can't tell whether we're supposed to like Gabriel or not, he's so inconsistent. He's an ass, but then sometimes he looks at her nicely and that was enough for her to be cool with him? I think he was supposed to have a bit of a teasing older brother vibe but I don't think it succeeded. He's just a dick.
The world feels so vague. A lot of it can be chalked up to our FMC not knowing shit, but also she was 12 when she was imprisoned, not 4. She should have some idea of the world around her.

Again, I get the impression she knows a lot more than she's saying, but for some reason her inner monologue is still confused.

My other complaint isn't just a this book problem, but it feels like "New Adult" is written less as YA with Spice, but like Middle Grade with Spice, which gives those scenes a weird icky quality even though they're technically happening between adults.
I'll give book 2 in the series a chance I think, but I really need to see some real world building and character development/growth to go any further than that.