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A review by oakwald
Fortuna Sworn by K.J. Sutton
3.0
i was planning on giving this book four stars after initially finishing it, but after some reflection im bumping it down to a 3.75.
i feel like there was SOOO MUCH wasted potential in this book. sutton had so many opportunities to go a little more in depth with the characters but she kept all of them pretty surface level. i rly wish she actually expanded the relationships between the characters and included more convos/banter. i felt like all of the characters had the potential to be likable, but they all lacked depth, which really stripped them of their likability.
i've also seen a lot of reviews talking about this, and normally i'm very cautious of accusing books of plagiarism, but this book DEFINITELY held some very apparent plot similarities to "A Court of Thorns and Roses" that i don't really consider to be common tropes. like questionably similar. i wanna go a little more in depth on this below, but read at your own caution, because it will include in depth spoilers for both this book and ACOTAR.
i was so shocked that the book was able to get away with so many apparent similarities that i actually looked into whether these trials were a common reference to some faerie mythology i didn't know about. but i found nothing. so i'm assuming it's just flat out copying. i really don't think having such a monumental plot line in your book be so eerily similar to another book is coincidental. but that's just my take.
regardless, i did still enjoy this book. there was definitely room for improvement, but i'm intrigued enough to continue on with the series.
i feel like there was SOOO MUCH wasted potential in this book. sutton had so many opportunities to go a little more in depth with the characters but she kept all of them pretty surface level. i rly wish she actually expanded the relationships between the characters and included more convos/banter. i felt like all of the characters had the potential to be likable, but they all lacked depth, which really stripped them of their likability.
i've also seen a lot of reviews talking about this, and normally i'm very cautious of accusing books of plagiarism, but this book DEFINITELY held some very apparent plot similarities to "A Court of Thorns and Roses" that i don't really consider to be common tropes. like questionably similar. i wanna go a little more in depth on this below, but read at your own caution, because it will include in depth spoilers for both this book and ACOTAR.
Spoiler
i just wanna start off by saying that reading the preface of this book gave me déjà vu, because it was giving me first chapter of ACOMAF vibes. i didn't really think too much of it when i first read it though. when i got towards the end of the book, the similarities were very apparent. the protagonist had to undergo and pass three life-altering trials to win. the first trial involved a test of strength (fighting an animal. here it was a dragon, ACOTAR it was a wyrm), a test of cunning (here it was finding a door, ACOTAR it was choosing a lever), and then a test of loyalty (both books involved having to kill someone you believed to be a loved one, only for it to end up being a trick). like. bruh. three trials down to the same order.i was so shocked that the book was able to get away with so many apparent similarities that i actually looked into whether these trials were a common reference to some faerie mythology i didn't know about. but i found nothing. so i'm assuming it's just flat out copying. i really don't think having such a monumental plot line in your book be so eerily similar to another book is coincidental. but that's just my take.
regardless, i did still enjoy this book. there was definitely room for improvement, but i'm intrigued enough to continue on with the series.