This book was really a let down for me - for all the hype with Fairyloot and some of the other book boxes had me really excited for this read. However, it fell flat for me.

The synopsis promised a dark and twisted fairytale - this book had so much potential. But I got nothing besides the being "locked-away-princess" part. The Persian mythology stands out a little bit, but I think there could've been more. The writing wasn't really fairytale-like either - it didn't feel magical or dark or anything really. It felt really impersonal to me and not at all like what I expected. It felt very drawn out as well.

Soraya is a very conflicting protagonist. While she does advance from the beginning to the end of the story (by accepting her poison), I feel like she could've grown more. She was (as Cindy said) "wishy-washy." She couldn't make up her mind about how she felt about her poison. She didn't seem really "monstrous" to me, and it seemed she didn't believe herself.

The first third of the story was all about Azad and Soraya's romance, which felt fake the whole time I read it. I saw the twist with Azad being the bad guy coming from the start - how would Azad (in the beginning) know about Soraya so much? I thought she was a well-kept secret that no one knew anything about? This set my alarms off immediately - Azad was either a stalker with a great obsession or someone who was just interested in her. When he turned out to be the Shahmar, I wasn't surprised.

It took me several more days than I had expected to finish this book - I wasn't gripped by this book and I pretty much had to force myself to continue. I was very unimpressed and almost glad it was a standalone.