A review by diaryofthebookdragon
The Jewel by Amy Ewing
3.0
All it took was one glance to get me existed about The Jewel. I mean, look at that cover! Is there a girl who would not dream to have a dress like that in her fictional wardrobe? But because real life does not offer a lot of opportunities to wear glamorous dresses, we settle for collecting books that feature them on covers.
The Jewel is obviously targeting weak brains like mine who are easily bought with shiny covers. So imagine my surprise when the interior of a book offered me cruel, dark society with corrupted nobility and poor girls used as surrogates. Sure, there is some dressing up and descriptions of fabulous outfits Violet wears, but it’s cast in a shadow by the story about The Lone City.
The Lone City is on an island surrounded by the ocean and protected by huge wall. It’s divided into five concentric circles. Everyone, of course, dream to live in the central circle called The Jewel, where the nobility lives.
Together with Violet, girl sold at auction to be used as surrogate, we get a glimpse behind the walls of noble houses. Where intrigue, jealousy, malice and murder make the daily life. Where surrogates are not cherished (as advertised) but chained, bound, treated like a property and abused.
I was glued to the pages. I was waiting for the story to get even deeper. I was waiting for Amy Ewing to really hit me in the feelz.
Well the big surprise happened at about 60% and the feelz were hit. Just not the one I expected. Because my deep, dark, almost-dystopian story got romance. And it was insta-love kind. With hints of love triangle. Yeah, I know, what a shame.
Don’t get me wrong. The romance was good. There are a lot of swoony moments if you don’t mind that the couple seems to fall deeply in real-true-love as soon as they see each other.
So instead of recommending The Jewel to all my friends who love a good dystopia story, I will only recommend it to those who won’t be dissapointed by huge amount of romance in the second part of the book. It really spoiled the world for me and made it all seem fluffy and not very serious. It downplayed the message of the book. I will still probably buy a sequel since it’s easy to read (I devoured it in a day) and, as eternal optimist, I hope that the story will go back on a right track.
Recommended for lovers of books where there is a lot of dressing ups, small amount of magic, insta-love type of romance and interesting if not a very original setting.
Looking for something similar? World divided in sections, heroine gets to be in the richest one: [b:Extraction|16210411|Extraction (Extraction, #1)|Stephanie Diaz|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1389722280s/16210411.jpg|22171353] or [b:Pawn|10838787|Pawn (The Blackcoat Rebellion, #1)|Aimee Carter|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1374097236s/10838787.jpg|15753006].
Disclaimer: I received this ebook from Edelweiss in exchange for a fair and honest review. This text is also posted on my blog Bookworm Dreams in a little bit more styled edition.
The Jewel is obviously targeting weak brains like mine who are easily bought with shiny covers. So imagine my surprise when the interior of a book offered me cruel, dark society with corrupted nobility and poor girls used as surrogates. Sure, there is some dressing up and descriptions of fabulous outfits Violet wears, but it’s cast in a shadow by the story about The Lone City.
The Lone City is on an island surrounded by the ocean and protected by huge wall. It’s divided into five concentric circles. Everyone, of course, dream to live in the central circle called The Jewel, where the nobility lives.
Together with Violet, girl sold at auction to be used as surrogate, we get a glimpse behind the walls of noble houses. Where intrigue, jealousy, malice and murder make the daily life. Where surrogates are not cherished (as advertised) but chained, bound, treated like a property and abused.
I was glued to the pages. I was waiting for the story to get even deeper. I was waiting for Amy Ewing to really hit me in the feelz.
Well the big surprise happened at about 60% and the feelz were hit. Just not the one I expected. Because my deep, dark, almost-dystopian story got romance. And it was insta-love kind. With hints of love triangle. Yeah, I know, what a shame.
Don’t get me wrong. The romance was good. There are a lot of swoony moments if you don’t mind that the couple seems to fall deeply in real-true-love as soon as they see each other.
“May I ask you something?”
My heart is so swollen I think it might burst. I inhale his scent of soap and clean linen and something that must be boy. “Anything.”
“What is your name?”
My heart explodes into a million glittering fragments that rain down like fireworks through my chest.
“Violet,” I whisper.
So instead of recommending The Jewel to all my friends who love a good dystopia story, I will only recommend it to those who won’t be dissapointed by huge amount of romance in the second part of the book. It really spoiled the world for me and made it all seem fluffy and not very serious. It downplayed the message of the book. I will still probably buy a sequel since it’s easy to read (I devoured it in a day) and, as eternal optimist, I hope that the story will go back on a right track.
Recommended for lovers of books where there is a lot of dressing ups, small amount of magic, insta-love type of romance and interesting if not a very original setting.
Looking for something similar? World divided in sections, heroine gets to be in the richest one: [b:Extraction|16210411|Extraction (Extraction, #1)|Stephanie Diaz|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1389722280s/16210411.jpg|22171353] or [b:Pawn|10838787|Pawn (The Blackcoat Rebellion, #1)|Aimee Carter|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1374097236s/10838787.jpg|15753006].
Disclaimer: I received this ebook from Edelweiss in exchange for a fair and honest review. This text is also posted on my blog Bookworm Dreams in a little bit more styled edition.