I appreciate that this story was full of political intrigue; a lost prince, a power hungry tyrant out for revenge, and a sweet naive girl stuck in the midst of it all. I really enjoyed the premise of it, but something about it just didn’t work. 

It started off really strong, and I was super interested in where the story was going, but it kind of petered out, and I was starting to get bored by about 100 pages in. Nothing much had really happened and we hadn't even jumped ship to another world yet. 

Shortly after, things started to pick up again but I just don't think my interest ever truly recovered. There must have been some romance tucked away in a page I missed somewhere because based on other reviews, these two had some major chemistry… or something. I didn’t catch that.  What I did catch was Nicholas saying some pretty shady asshole shit, and then Clara just forgiving him no questions asked (on more than one occasion) and boom now they're soulmates… or something.

I think I was rooting more for Anise than I was supposed to be, and I think I was hating on Drosselmeyer more than I was supposed to be. Maybe that's why I never really connected with this book - I was too invested in the wrong characters… It truly felt to me like Anise should not have been the villain. Like it was her fault that people treated her like an abomination and killed her parents. 

This book felt a bit on the younger end of the YA spectrum. The writing seemed quite immature to me, and there was nothing I ever fell in love with in this story. For the most part, I enjoyed it. I moved through it pretty quickly and it was an easy read.