istg, this book almost put me into a reading slump... i hate it when that happens but since it was a recommendation from a friend I wanted to give it a try even though I do not like fantasy (dragons, fairies, etc.) and kingdom (queendom, I guess as well)tropes.

i'd like to start with that on the maps that are given some places were missing (or maybe I couldn't find them?) and that confused me a lot. it's one thing where the whole world is new and I have to remember it all for 800+ pages but it really confused me when I couldn't find where I am. by the end I stopped paying attention to the map, I didn't care where I was. 

I feel like this whole book could have been separated into at least two books as there was so much packed into it — characters, places, stories, POVs. some of the storylines dropped without an explanation for example

Turosa? i thought there was a future for their "rivalry" but nothing happened after the choosing with the dragons which I thought it was weird as it did have some build-up.

so why introduce characters when they have no meaning in the story? if you mention a gun they it is due to be used in the book! or whatever... all in all, none of the characters spoke to me like at all - maybe the issue was that there were too many and the book was jumping from one to another so much.

one of the thing I liked the most (and maybe the only thing) was the story between Ead and Sabran. i loved the way it progressed and it felt the most natural and real one throughout everything else. also I was very invested in Tane and the choosing day and all that but then the story completely changed and I did not care one bit anymore. 

i really was doing my best to try to get into it but... i kind of knew since it's fantasy I won't like it. my mistake here. apologies only to my friend who was pretty excited for me to read this one. :(