I was afraid I wouldn’t enjoy this novella because we already knew it would have a sad ending due to the previous book, but I shouldn’t have worried. There wasn’t a single moment where I would have felt emotional anyway, regardless of knowing the ending beforehand. I felt zero connection to the characters or story, and I simply didn’t care.

Also, is it just me or was it a little sad that Adena was constantly thinking about Pae like she was some perfect saviour, when we know that Pae never even gave her a second thought once she left Loot. 
I mean, poor girl… Such a one-sided friendship, and then she even has to die so tragically for it? That’s the worst luck in the world.

That said, Adena’s incessant perkiness and childishness did give me a major headache and her romance with Mac was really superficial as well. Adena truly read as a child 99% of the time, and Mac read like he had the personality of a cardboard box. Their relationship gave me the ick, especially because Adena was way more into him at first than the other way around and it was pathetic. Then, suddenly, for no reason whatsoever, Max becomes obsessed with her too but it just feels fake and random.

The writing was also insanely repetitive and super cringy, especially in the first half. The first half truly was one of the worst things I’ve read in a while, but the second half was quite a bit better. It still wasn’t good, but at least it wasn’t that awful either. 
I think it’s because the second half at least had some semblance of a plot, so we didn’t have to focus so much on the awkward and forced romance. Still, the tiny bit of plot we did get felt super rushed and underdeveloped. This novella could have done so much more with it. 
We could have gotten to see the true friendship between Adena and Pae (so that Pae’s revenge arc in Reckless would hold more meaning) or we could have seen how and why the king did this to Adena (but instead we skipped over every scene that could have told us anything meaningful). I think the only reason this novella will have had some sort of purpose is if Mac ends up playing a big part in the rest of the series, but I’m not sure he will. And even still, his personality was pretty much non-existent in this, so the novella wouldn’t have added much regardless.

Honestly, I just wasn’t a big fan of this whole story overall, and I felt disappointed and underwhelmed. It was pretty bad. It’s as plain and simple as that.