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ajwalkerbooks's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
ccleeds7's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
serendipity_library's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
robotnik's review against another edition
emotional
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
I'll be honest: I might have overhyped this book in my head. The cover was just so pretty and the description sounded so interesting and right up my alley. It was probably one of the books this year I was most looking forward to. But then I started reading it, and I was so very disappointed. Throughout the first half, I was tempted to drop it several times. The second half was better by a mile, but by that point, the trust in this being as good as I thought it would be was already gone.
Just a handful of thoughts, I guess??
First off, this book had no business being as long as it was. The first half drags on so damn much. It was unnecessary, especially when the plot wasn't as big brain as the book thinks it is.
While the world building was interesting (using the Ottoman Empire as inspiration rather than western Europe as is the norm, and the whole touch-testing aspect), there were some really big glaring things that made me wonder how exactly is this country actually functioning.
Zeliha, the sultan, appears to not really have any councilors assisting her? It always felt like she was running the country solo without anyone high enough ranked to help her with the day to day. This is despite the fact that we hear about diplomats and ministers all the time. I know Kadou has a nepotism position involving the ships, but I mean besides that. That's just proof there should be more people around. No one ever seems to be actually helping her. Up until we get like a minister of intelligence or something who gets a passing mention, and it was like OH, where the fuck have you been this whole time??? Maybe Kadou just wasn't interacting with them. Who knows? Funnily enough, we see Zeliha just idling her time away a lot. I know she just gave birth but, boy, does she like sitting around with her baby a lot when she has a kingdom to run.
The second thing is, when I started reading it, I was under the impression that the kahyalar were some elite guard. Evemer passing his test was super impressive. They protect the royal family and are trained to do everything from being bodyguards to being maids and several will one day be the country's politicians. But then we learn there's literally thousands upon thousands of them. Hell, Kadou said there was an absurd number of them (400 or something??) whose job was JUST to count the rice or something that the palace eats. Like what? The kahyalar as an organization made zero sense.
There's a political plot with a mystery to this book. It's the main storyline beyond the romance. It's not much of a mystery because you can literally tell who's responsible right off the bat, like seriously chapter one. There's no intrigue, no twist. It goes exactly how you expect it to from the get go.
The romance had a lot to be desired. Hell, the main romance barely interacts for the first 100 or so pages, and then it takes another, what, 200 pages for them to be remotely romantic or interested in each other. But then they just go from zero to sixty and are suddenly deeply and madly in love. Just out of the blue. When they are interacting, it's kind of cute and sweet but it still comes out of nowhere.
Kadou is hard to warm up to because he's stupid. The book wants you to think he's smart and just doesn't realize his own brilliance but he's stupid. And I say this because his interactions with Tadek prove what a fucking idiot he is. Quite literally, a lot of his personal issues in this book stem from Tadek and he just keeps going. First, he tells Tadek not to suspect Siranos. He does anyways and causes a big political scandal that gets his ass demoted and everyone and everything to hate on Kadou because people died and they all think Kadou ordered him to do it. He even falls out of favour with his sister, the sultan, over it. Kadou is told his relationship with Tadek is ruining his reputation. Point blank, to his face, told he shouldn't associate with him for now. Kadou agrees. So he sleeps with Tadek and appoints him his personal secretary so they can hang out together all the time and literally asks for him to come tend to him constantly. If I didn't already know Evemer would be his love interest, I would assume it was Tadek and that would have made me drop the book immediately because I couldn't stand Tadek or his awful personality. It was so incredibly insufferable when I was looking forward to reading about him and Evemer, only to have Tadek shoved in my face repeatedly.
Does Tadek become better once he's out of the picture as a romance? No. He remains there for the rest of the book, being the worst comic relief character I could imagine.
Evemer is okay? Kind of annoying at the beginning because his opinion of Kadou was annoying, but honestly... they were accurate. Kadou deserves to be shit talked by everyone after how stupid he fucking was.
Like I said, I did kind of enjoy it by the end, but it dragged on too long and the romance didn't feel as good as it should have been. Tadek alone takes a whole star away from this book. He's one of the worst characters I had the misfortune of reading all year.
Recommended? I guess, if you have the time to read through all the purple prose and unnecessary fluff making it far too long. This is definitely an one and done sort of read for me.
Just a handful of thoughts, I guess??
First off, this book had no business being as long as it was. The first half drags on so damn much. It was unnecessary, especially when the plot wasn't as big brain as the book thinks it is.
While the world building was interesting (using the Ottoman Empire as inspiration rather than western Europe as is the norm, and the whole touch-testing aspect), there were some really big glaring things that made me wonder how exactly is this country actually functioning.
Zeliha, the sultan, appears to not really have any councilors assisting her? It always felt like she was running the country solo without anyone high enough ranked to help her with the day to day. This is despite the fact that we hear about diplomats and ministers all the time. I know Kadou has a nepotism position involving the ships, but I mean besides that. That's just proof there should be more people around. No one ever seems to be actually helping her. Up until we get like a minister of intelligence or something who gets a passing mention, and it was like OH, where the fuck have you been this whole time??? Maybe Kadou just wasn't interacting with them. Who knows? Funnily enough, we see Zeliha just idling her time away a lot. I know she just gave birth but, boy, does she like sitting around with her baby a lot when she has a kingdom to run.
The second thing is, when I started reading it, I was under the impression that the kahyalar were some elite guard. Evemer passing his test was super impressive. They protect the royal family and are trained to do everything from being bodyguards to being maids and several will one day be the country's politicians. But then we learn there's literally thousands upon thousands of them. Hell, Kadou said there was an absurd number of them (400 or something??) whose job was JUST to count the rice or something that the palace eats. Like what? The kahyalar as an organization made zero sense.
There's a political plot with a mystery to this book. It's the main storyline beyond the romance. It's not much of a mystery because you can literally tell who's responsible right off the bat, like seriously chapter one. There's no intrigue, no twist. It goes exactly how you expect it to from the get go.
The romance had a lot to be desired. Hell, the main romance barely interacts for the first 100 or so pages, and then it takes another, what, 200 pages for them to be remotely romantic or interested in each other. But then they just go from zero to sixty and are suddenly deeply and madly in love. Just out of the blue. When they are interacting, it's kind of cute and sweet but it still comes out of nowhere.
Kadou is hard to warm up to because he's stupid. The book wants you to think he's smart and just doesn't realize his own brilliance but he's stupid. And I say this because his interactions with Tadek prove what a fucking idiot he is. Quite literally, a lot of his personal issues in this book stem from Tadek and he just keeps going. First, he tells Tadek not to suspect Siranos. He does anyways and causes a big political scandal that gets his ass demoted and everyone and everything to hate on Kadou because people died and they all think Kadou ordered him to do it. He even falls out of favour with his sister, the sultan, over it. Kadou is told his relationship with Tadek is ruining his reputation. Point blank, to his face, told he shouldn't associate with him for now. Kadou agrees. So he sleeps with Tadek and appoints him his personal secretary so they can hang out together all the time and literally asks for him to come tend to him constantly. If I didn't already know Evemer would be his love interest, I would assume it was Tadek and that would have made me drop the book immediately because I couldn't stand Tadek or his awful personality. It was so incredibly insufferable when I was looking forward to reading about him and Evemer, only to have Tadek shoved in my face repeatedly.
Does Tadek become better once he's out of the picture as a romance? No. He remains there for the rest of the book, being the worst comic relief character I could imagine.
Evemer is okay? Kind of annoying at the beginning because his opinion of Kadou was annoying, but honestly... they were accurate. Kadou deserves to be shit talked by everyone after how stupid he fucking was.
Like I said, I did kind of enjoy it by the end, but it dragged on too long and the romance didn't feel as good as it should have been. Tadek alone takes a whole star away from this book. He's one of the worst characters I had the misfortune of reading all year.
Recommended? I guess, if you have the time to read through all the purple prose and unnecessary fluff making it far too long. This is definitely an one and done sort of read for me.
dk_d1337d's review against another edition
4.0
I only wish Evemer got dommed. He puts the power in power-bottom.
liroa15's review against another edition
3.0
It was pretty formulaic and the end definitely left something to be desired.
jitterbugbear's review against another edition
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
shmadsie's review against another edition
5.0
Honestly, from the Dedication to the Acknowledgements I loved this book. You could tell how much joy was in it and how solid Evemer (my stoic kahyalar who has to learn how to put his feelings into words) and Kadou (my absolute mess of a prince who has to learn how to not be his own worst enemy) were throughout. They deserved their happy ending and I wanted it so much for them from the very beginning!