A review by geldauran
The Rose Society by Marie Lu
3.0
This is probably more around a 3.5 for me. Or maybe it averages out at 4- 5 stars for Adelina and 3 stars for everything else.
I think the book suffered for including Maeve's POV, I don't think she offered any interesting perspectives, motivations, or feelings to justify her inclusion. Raffaele and Teren also had chapters, but theirs were short and included significant character exposition.
The effort at romance in the book was distracting and not particularly meaningful. I remember the last book concluding with Maeve speaking of her feelings for Lutece, but this was essentially dropped from the book except for one very short moment. Teren and the Queen were more interesting, but it still wasn't explained all that well. They interacted well, but there's some significant piece of the past that I felt needed to be explained to really invest in that relationship.
The star of the book, naturally, is Adelina. Adelina's character development, her story, her thoughts and journey and struggles are so, so well done. Adelina moving from a victim, to an anti-hero, to essentially a straight-up villain is fascinating, and Lu really does it perfectly. She just delves into the darkness and its great.
The world-building and side characters (anyone other than Adelina, Violetta, Raffaele and Teren) just felt a little weak. But I still find the book delightful because of Adelina.
I think the book suffered for including Maeve's POV, I don't think she offered any interesting perspectives, motivations, or feelings to justify her inclusion. Raffaele and Teren also had chapters, but theirs were short and included significant character exposition.
The effort at romance in the book was distracting and not particularly meaningful. I remember the last book concluding with Maeve speaking of her feelings for Lutece, but this was essentially dropped from the book except for one very short moment. Teren and the Queen were more interesting, but it still wasn't explained all that well. They interacted well, but there's some significant piece of the past that I felt needed to be explained to really invest in that relationship.
The star of the book, naturally, is Adelina. Adelina's character development, her story, her thoughts and journey and struggles are so, so well done. Adelina moving from a victim, to an anti-hero, to essentially a straight-up villain is fascinating, and Lu really does it perfectly. She just delves into the darkness and its great.
The world-building and side characters (anyone other than Adelina, Violetta, Raffaele and Teren) just felt a little weak. But I still find the book delightful because of Adelina.