reread: june 2020

Failure isn't absolute. Just because you couldn't save everyone doesn't mean you didn't save anyone

i enjoyed this just as much this time around and have nothing new to add to the review!

first read: september 2019

This book was a fantastic mixture of brutal fantasy moments and realistic real life moments that were either just so nice to read about or utterly heartbreaking.

This book had hope and heartbreak, it had murder, death and dying but also a good amount of starting a new life, beginning to see new hope and finding new reasons to keep going.

It has a wonderful mixture of family moments that are sad but also beautiful, i loved seeing nice sibling relationships.

I loved how casually LBGTQ+ elements are thrown in this book and actually not discussed at all but just accepted, because YES! Its not necessary to constantly talk about why someone loves someone else! Its so nice to see a book where its just accepted as "Okay you do that! I hope it will go well!" instead of having it be a big deal either in DC were Harper is "originally" from or in Emberfalls which is basically a medieval kingdom but nobody cares because why should they?

"My father once said we are all dealt a hand at birth. A good hand can ultimately lose - just as a poor hand can win- but we must all play the cards fate deals. The homies we face may not be the choices we want, but they are choices nonetheless." (page 188)

I really enjoyed the dynamics between the characters in this book. And i mean everyone not just a specific pair, but in general, every character interacting with another was fantastically done.
Cher wasn't a moment in this book where i thought "why was that in there? Was that necessary? What does this character do? What was that scene in there it added nothing!". Which is actually surprisingly rare to have an entire book with a good amount of characters added and not have at least one moment where i wish it would just move on.
But thats actually wonderful and shows what a thought out book this was!

"I don't think he's right. I think you get cards, and you play them, but then you get more cards. I don't think it's all predestined from the beginning. All along the way, you could have made a different choice and this all could have ended up differently.... Failure isn't absolute. Just because you couldn't save everyone doesn't mean you didn't save anyone." (page 472)

I also really enjoyed that the author didn't think it was necessary for the reader to constantly repeat moments, for example the two quotes i just used above, there are 300 pages apart, but other then a brief mention before the second quote of "Hey your remember when you told me that, here is what i think" and i love when authors do that. Readers aren't stupid or can't remember a scene at least a little before finishing a book thats not even 500 pages! There is no need to recap an entire scene to add that second moment in and make it connect with that first one.

Its just an example since i already wanted to use those quotes in this review anyway since i thought Kemmerer did a fantastic job with those moments and what she says is not only true but also a great reminder for everyone!

But she did it a few times throughout the book, where she picked something back up without big explanations and i appreciated it a lot.

I know some people enjoy when authors recap moments, especially important once before something big happens that is connected with what happened earlier in a book. But i think there is a time and place for that and in a book that is not even 500 pages its not necessary. If an author does it an a long series and recaps what happens in book one so that something makes more sense in book 10? Go for it! But so many authors do it in one book for no reason other than making me think they have to believe their readers are not capable to remember what happened a few pages before.

Might not be a big deal for a lot of other readers, but i sure appreciated how it was done in this book!

"It's not my first scar... I wasn't perfect before. I'll get over it." (page 242)

Now lets talk about Harper!
Because that girl is one of the best female characters i had in a book in a long time. Not just YA or a first book or fantasy or... in general, she is one of the best characters. Period.

She's strong and knows her limits but isn't afraid to push them. And she deals with life. She doesn't take anything just because a guy tells her or because someone is intimidating. She is smart and uses her brain and tries to find solutions.

She isn't perfect, she makes mistakes and causes trouble and gets in over her head, but i think that only makes her more realistic.

And i loved how casually a chronic illness/condition was treated in this book (as already mentioned with the LBGTQ+ elements) it was mentioned, explained and moving on. But it wasn't something the author forgot about conveniently in specific moments. There are way to many moments with chronic illnesses in book where they are just ignored in moments because it would cause issues or problems or the author would have had to think about a solution on how to make it work. And they just don't. They just conveniently forget about it for a moment and maybe even never mention the "issue" again or just "magically heal" it after that moment.
This book does NOT do that and its so nice to see that!

Its so great to see an author include a character with a condition and keep it throughout the entire book, mention it here and there, point out the little moments where it flairs up or causes a moment where Harper sees that she can't do that but she can do something else instead and it just works. Because if you have a chronic issue? You know what you have to do? Learn to deal with it and live with it the best you can! You can't just constantly complain or not do anything at all. You can't also just ignore it. You -as the person dealing with it- will find ways to make it work. For you, with your body and your issues.

And Harper does exactly that. And its BEAUTIFUL to see!

On top of that she is full of sass and sarcasm. And who doesn't love that??

"...Acting like a prince generally means acting like an arrogant know-it-all, so you shouldn't have any trouble at all." (page 422)

I also really loved how this book ended and it wasn't completely clear what actually caused it all. Which might sound strange especially since i quiet often complain about the not specifically clear cut endings. BUT i enjoyed it here because its fantasy and a curse and so many things happened at once at the end that nobody can now what really happened.

who knows if Grey caused the curse to end because he took Lilith away? Or killed her, if he killed her? Or if Harper actually loved deeply enough? Or if Rhen just started to fight the monster enough to cause a shift? Or if it was all together the hope and will to fight and win? Or if the clear love between Harper, Grey and Rhen (yes friendship but clearly love!) that caused the curse to break? Who knows? And quiet honestly, who cares? Because it all happened and isn't that what counts? That i happened and that they all made it happen?

I mean the actual real ending was heartbreaking! I want to know more and i want to know now!

because honestly i don't really care that Grey might be Rhen's actual brother or what ever. Who cares! But i want him to go back to his friends and that family because they are his family and they clearly care about him and are wondering where he is and what happened to him and are afraid he's dead. And instead of going back he wants do hide? Bash something hard over his head! He needs a freakin' reset!!

Now lets talk about what i had a bit of an issue with.

I get this is a Beauty and the beast retelling.
BUT its actually more a ACOTAR by Sarah J Maas retelling - at least for the first 1/3 to 1/2.
There are a LOT of similarities at first. And not necessarily to the original Beauty and the Beast but specifically ACATOR.

- There are names that are unnecessarily similar
- a curse that keeps the "court"/castle in the same season
- one best friend/guard guy that stands by the "beast" that is sarcastic, snarky, very loyal and secretly nice
- a person that pops up unpredictably basically just to taunt the beast

There are more little things but i don't want to be overly specific since that would spoil a bit of the book and because after at the longest 200 pages it starts to get less and less and becomes so very clearly its own book.

Still there is a lot of similarities that are clearly noticeable.
Which in one aspect is good. I actually quiet enjoyed ACOTAR so i didn't really mind it too much but quiet honestly i was very happy that the book went away from those similarities when it did.

On the other hand because of this clear similarities in the beginning this book can clearly be used as a "if you liked this" or "if you hated this" about ACOTAR you will like this book.
For example if you didn't like the romance in ACOTAR? Great read this!
So much better done!
If you didn't like the female character in ACOTAR because in that first book she really didn't have much of an actual character at all? Read this book because it actually has a super strong and clearly characterized female lead!
But if you did like ACOTAR and enjoyed the setting? Read this you will enjoy this as well.
If you enjoyed the friendships, the fighting and a bit of drama sprinkled in? Read this because this has an even greater mixture of that!


All in all i clearly enjoyed this!

Its defiantly one i will pick up in the future and re-read and can't wait to continue on and see where this is going and what is going to come!