Reviews

Well that one ended in an epic disappointment especially because it was overhyped a lot! Going into this I knew that this story may not be for me especially as it is written from the POV of a 19 year old girl but I still gave it a chance because everyone that I follow on social media was singing it's praises and I'm glad I did because there are parts of this story that I liked a lot especially the political machinations going on in the senate, the conspiracies and frauds which the main characters had to slowly unravel the mystery of and search for the appropriate evidence to prosecute the responsible parties. I loved Sir Konrad and liked all the side characters a lot especially Bressinger but I hated Helena and her love interest.

The thing I disliked most about this story was being in the head of a 19 year old girl who behaved like a petulant child half the time and as an infatuated idiot the other half. Reading from her perspective was a chore for me and her constant whining about the unfairness of her life kept irritating me so much that I couldn't fully enjoy the actual plot of the story. There were pacing issues and being a plot driven reader it was quite boring sometimes when nothing interesting happened more so when we had to endure Helena's instant romance rather than spend time with Sir Konrad, Bressinger and Sir Radomir who were actually trying to solve the murder mystery.

Had the story been written from Sir Konrad Vonvalt's POV then I would have loved it a lot more because I loved his character so much and really connected with him. I enjoyed parts of the story when Helena was talking about Sir Konrad Vonvalt and his ways of bringing Justice to all. The author managed to show what I truly believe in real life i.e. Justice can never be completely black and white because the concept of right and wrong keeps on changing with different perspectives. We got to see Sir Konrad change from a man who absolutely believed in the concept of 'no one is above law' to a broken man whose life becomes upside down when the morals on which he based his entire life are challenged and he is forced to see that law is not absolute because it does have huge loopholes that can be manipulated by the guilty and sometimes all we have left is the choice between evil and lesser evil. Sorry for being a broken record but I would like to point out that once again being made to see Sir Konrad go through this realization from the perspective of a naïve and immature person really lessens the impact this could have had on the readers.

Moreover I'm not against romance in a story but I prefer it from an adult perspective and not angsty teenage pining and drama. I didn't like Helena from the very start but I was completely done with her stupidity when she decided to just give up steady pay, comfortable lifestyle, fulfilling work for none other than a young man with whom she only interacted with a few times and who doesn't even have enough income to support himself and his handicapped father let alone a wife and children. I'm sorry for being so salty but for Helena to have spent a part of her life on the streets and years in a Justice's employment having witnessed countless horrible deeds human beings are capable of I expected her to be more mature and not bumbling about wearing rose-tinted glasses and resenting the only person who took a chance on her and gave an orphan shelter, food and means to an income.

I'm really intrigued about the magic system though there wasn't much of it in Book 1 but I hope there will be more about it in the next two installments. I definitely liked the ending more than the first two-thirds of Book 1 because the pacing was way off so hopefully the pacing will be even and fast in the next Book.

Overall a great story which failed to leave it's impact on me because of the choice of POV through which the story is told. I will be continuing the series because I want to be a part of the journey that Sir Konrad will take next.

P.S. - I would recommend the audiobook. The narration is great!