Also Posted on For The Love of Fictional Worlds

Disclaimer: A physical ARC was provided via Simon & Schuster India and the Author in exchange for an honest review. The Thoughts, opinions & feelings expressed in the review are therefore, my own.

Everyone has that ONE author in their lives – .the one author whose works grace their shelves, but the one author they can’t make themselves read, for they do not want their expectations shattered and ruined.

Adam Silvera is THAT author for me – have his books on the shelf; but somehow am never able to force myself to pick them up to read – majorly because I have heard so many great things about his works; that I bone deep scared that thy hype would never be matched by reality.

But when I was approved for a physical ARC (TYSM Simon and Schuster India); I knew I had to get over this irrational fear of having my expectations ruined. Plus, the fact that this a is a new genre for the author and he chose phoenixes and magic to incorporate in the plotline – had my expectations skyrocketing!

And before we go any further – know that I really really wanted to be wowed by this beauty – I did, but no matter how much leeway I gave the author; I just couldn’t bring me to absolutely adore the book!


WHAT I LIKED ABOUT THE BOOK –

1. The concept of twins and brotherhood – the fact that the two brothers, Emil and Brighton are polar opposites, definitely worked for the plotline.

2. The fact the sexuality of Emil was a given fact and a background – it was just accepted as who he was, and no fuss was made about his choices; was a refreshing change of pace.

3. The Pheonix type of powers incorporated into the plotline – with both the bad and the good guys; made it an interesting twist to the story!

4. Also, the way the celestial powers of the different humans were described ignited my imagination – and I swear if I had any creative powers; I would have already been giving some specific scenes their own fanart!

5. The action sequences were detailed and adventurous – definitely parts of the books that I really enjoyed.

WHAT DID NOT WORK FOR ME?

1. The fact that the author takes it for granted that we, as readers already knew the background of the world he has created. I didn’t and after a while into the book; it became a chore to keep every detail straight in my mind.

2. SO MANY POVs – honestly, for me this book would have worked with just Emil and Brighton’s POVs. I swear adding the POVs of so many characters just made the plotline all the more cumbersome!

3. Connected with the multiple POVs is the fact that the actual twist and the conspiracy became way too complicated to keep a track of - the two groups were easy enough to understand, but gawd, it took me more than 80% of the book to even get a hang of the dynamics of the holistic plotline.

Even at the end of the review, I do not know if I can recommend this book to fantasy fans – the plotline could use a lot more fine editing and finesse in putting forward the story! Just, if you are Adam Silvera fans, keep an open mind; and do NOT go into this book with sky high expectations!



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