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I found the story to be intriguing, entertaining, and honestly awe striking at times. But it suffered from too fast a pace and too underdeveloped communication. As the reader, you are jolted constantly, vascilating between Lada and Radu. Radu experiences strong character development over the roughly 20 year span of the novel. Lada, on the other hand, comes across less like a slowly disintegrating psychopath and more as a poorly written "angsty female character" whose whole personality is defiance, contrarianism, and internalized misogyny.
I can somewhat understand the development of her violence and hatred, but it feels less like a development and more like a drawn out acceptance of how awful of a human being she is when she was essentially born with a savor for the suffering of other people and hardly a noble bone in her body. Her entire personality is a violation of the Geneva Convention and weirdly enough, she can't pass the Bechtel test.
All in all, I enjoyed MUCH of this novel and its intense action as well as its slippery political intrigues! I cannot rate it any higher, unfortunately, on account of the massive disappointment that is Lada's character "arc".
Thinly veiled spoiler: Vlad Dracul is a red herring...
Graphic: Death, Physical abuse, Violence, Blood, Murder, Abandonment, War
Moderate: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Sexual harassment
Minor: Child death, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery
Graphic: Body horror, Cursing, Death, Sexual content, Blood, Murder, Injury/Injury detail
Graphic: War, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Abandonment
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Death, Homophobia, Sexual content, Kidnapping, Death of parent
Moderate: Child abuse, Death, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Violence, Abandonment, Colonisation, War
Minor: Child death, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Infidelity, Sexual content, Slavery, Blood, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Injury/Injury detail
Graphic: Violence
Moderate: Bullying, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Slavery, Abandonment, Sexual harassment