3.5 because while I ended up really liking it by its end, heaven ABOVE was it slow! It took the longest time to finally get absorbed in it, so I'm glad I pushed through. The writing is beautiful, to be sure, it just takes a while to get the ball rolling.
Once it does, I appreciated Hathaway's writing more. It was lovely and perfectly captured the feeling of being infatuated—lord the ANGST! Had me clutching my chest with all of the longing.
Political books tend to go over my head most times and this was no different. All I could say is that I appreciated the cleverness of it all—spies and espionage oh my!
As usual, I was here for the romance and I loved that bit immensely. It's told in third person and you get to read both Athan and Aurelia's points of view. I enjoyed both about the same, and loved their voice and their personalities. It definitely got more interesting in the second half of the book!
Overall, stick it out and I think many will enjoy this one!

Dark of the West by Joanna Hathaway is a fantasy novel filled with politics, intrigue and great world building. I liked the dual POV of Athan and Aurelia. Slow to start but once got into it, it moved right along.

This novel is a political charge novel that keeps you on the edge of your toes. The chemistry between the two main characters is electrifying and if you get to close to the action you will get burned. This tale is far from your average royalty falling in love with lower class novel. (In fact every time the princess says he just a farm boy i get vibes from princess bride). The tale could be set in our world during world war 2 and is pulled off very well. I not read a novel that incorporates pilots, wars and espionage in just quite this way.

This story is told in dual perspective one side is from Athan a solider (farm boy) who farther is the general. The other is from Aurelia the daughter of the one of the queens of the northern kingdom. The ending is the a turmoil rush of emotion and really has been gasping for the next book. A great debut but i would but this more in political fiction then fantasy.

I wish I had read this sooner. This is such a cleverly developed opening to the trilogy with truly unique world building for the YA audience. I loved the way Joanna Hathaway developed the characters and paved the way for future books.

A truly fantastic read!

I requested this for the name because it reminded me of East of the Sun but wow this is not the same thing at all! I LOVED this world and it's WW2 inspiration. I was hooked from the prologue and the book kept building until the climax and the CRASH (in a good way!)

I loved this! I was so engrossed in the world with the characters. The story is well written and I thoroughly enjoyed it all! Definitely recommend!

I sadly wasn't able to finish this one. It was good what I read of it. But life got in the way. And I just was never able to really get back to it.

I’m not sure what to say here. I couldn’t get into the book. It was just difficult and I was unable to finish it. I may try reading it again to see if I can finish but I doubt it.

Like a fantastical Downton Abbey but with more airplanes, dogfights, and WWI action. I fricking love it so much. Bring on book 2!

Interesting premise and world building. I loved the fairytale aspect and found it easy to get immersed into this world. The characters were every well developed and easy to connect with. This is a great debut novel and I am looking forward for more.

Intrigued as I was by the concept, I just couldn't get into this book. I really disliked the writing - I don't normally mind things being written in the present tense, but something about both first-person POVs and the third-person prologue felt weirdly self-conscious and over-written. The two viewpoint characters have very similar voices, so they're only really distinguishable by the context, and I just struggled to get invested in them. I don't think this is one for me, but I think those who don't mind flowery prose and a lot of expository dialogue may get on with it better. DNF at 17%.

Dark of the West took me in a way I hadn’t been expecting, and I loved it. Joanna Hathaway has a way of entrancing her readers, wrapping their attention around her fingers and closing them in a fist to keep them trapped.

Something that caught my attention from page one was Hathaway’s writing style. It was so beautiful that it hurt to look away. She has a way of twisting the story into a siren’s call-like writing, and it made it wonderful to experience while reading.

Another thing I really liked while reading was the characters and their development. They each had their own values and beliefs, and they each differed from each other that made them the definition of opposites attract.

Lastly, the world-building. This story doesn’t hold an ounce of magic in it, yet it still felt as though it held a sliver of some sort. But even without the magic, it still was not our world. It was different, and it was beautiful, and it was entrancing.

However, with the amazing comes the slightly disappointing. Something that let me down was the pacing in certain parts. It would feel torturingly long in some parts, but then it would get quick in others.

All in all, I did really like this novel. For that, I rate it 4 stars.

This was a slow burn kind of book for me. It takes a LONG time to get good, but the writing is beautiful and the worldbuilding is lush and strong. The mix of history and fantasy was also very cool and refreshing. Definitely recommend this one.

Dark of the West
4 Stars
I received an advance copy in exchange for my honest opinion & Review

“We’re wonderfully alone, just two little specks beneath the towering cliffs.”

First thoughts
The book cover… Well, I mean it’s just okay. If the yellow/brown colour would reflect like gold on the book, it would be way better. A book about royals and rebels… count me in! 480 pages is a perfect size.

“A reckless sort of pride because the world is suddenly ours to take.”

Strength
The storytelling of Athan’s character was incredible. I could feel every emotion and where exactly he was coming from. I love how the book made you think that life and war were uncomplicated in the eyes of the characters but both main characters came to realize it’s far from the truth. While this book is slow-paced there are always multiple plots happening that keeps you intrigued. This novel left me wanting more.

“He walks, following the ghost, his steps as those of one to a grave.”

Weakness
Aurelia was a bit annoying for me personally; she was a know-it-all princess that jumped straight into the fire without thinking of the consequences and how it could affect other people. The beginning of the book was very confusing when you didn’t know who the characters were or the setting, because of this I almost dropped the book and walked away. While moving on from the prologue, I wanted to “DNF” this novel twice but slowly the story was building and catching on.

“and I wait for something. A glance, maybe. Even a flare of anger. Anything”

Conclusion
The overall book was amazing and left me wanting more. I was in love with every character. I would love to have seen a map at the beginning (that I am now told it was added) as well as putting the prologue at the end or explaining the character’s locations beforehand. Because of the confusing slow beginning, this novel is only receiving a 4 star and not a 5.

Dark of the West is an amazing debut novel filled with political intrigue, romance, and feuding families with a war that could have been avoidable.

Having read the synopsis and understood generally what the book was about, I was highly intrigued and wanted to know more about this story. However, the intrigue only continued to grow as I started reading Dark of the West. The descriptions made about each territory and their political agendas were well thought out and done so precisely that it made the entire story that much more captivating to read. One can easily lose themselves in this book.

The characters were also delightful because they are nothing like you expect them to be. They each grow through the story and find their own in a exceptional way. Though there is romance in Dark of the West it does not however motivate the characters, making this book that much more enjoyable to read from beginning to end.

I look forward to reading more about this story in the second book of this Glass Alliance series. If you haven't checked this book out already, I recommend doing so today.

eARC was kindly provided by Tor Teen in exchange for an honest review. Thank you!

3.5/5 stars. I received an eARC from Tor Teen via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. My full thoughts can be read by clicking the link below.

DNF

I was very excited to get to read this book, however, I had a hard time getting into it. I felt it was fairly slow-moving even though the concept did originally appeal to me. I will not be reviewing this title at the moment. Thank you for the opportunity to read the title early.

My Rating : 4.5

OMG !! The way this book started was amazing, and the war setting, the storyline, th characters were all amazing! During the middle of the book you feel like it's kind of dragging, but only for 50 pages or so and after that it got better! I can't process the story right now because the ending...... I can't wait for the next book !

Thank you Netgalley for the review copy. Detailed review will be up soon !

I'm. . . torn on Dark of the West. This book took me MONTHS to finish (when most books I read in a few days tops) and frequently lost my attention. Whether that was due to my reading mood or the book is a bit fuzzy because by the end, I knew I'd definitely read the sequel but it took so long to get to that point.

The book alternates chapters between Aurelia, a princess living in a world where royalty is slowly transitioning out in parts of the world, and Athan, a pilot and son of a general hellbent on tearing everything down. I liked the contrast in perspectives between the two, though found I preferred Athan's chapters. Aurelia read too much like the stereotypical rebellious princess in the making and her character as a whole fell a bit flat for me. Athan, on the other hand, went through a number of moral dilemmas as his resolve was tested to the point of near-breaking. That growth made me want to root for him, to look forward to his scenes and the trouble he was bound to get into. Athan spends so much of the book between a rock and a hard place, and I enjoyed watching how he'd work through each situation. But at the end of the book, I liked both characters pretty equally and it was actually because of the prologue.

Dark of the West opens with a scene set in the future beyond what the book will take you and, at first, once I got into chapter 1 and beyond, I didn't really understand the prologue. It wasn't until near the end when I realized its significance and it was like WHAM! I need the sequel! I actually went back and re-read the beginning as soon as I finished the last chapter. Talk about pre-planning. And it suddenly made Aurelia's character much more interesting too.

I think where I really struggled with this book was the world. Let me start by saying I LOVED the WWII vibe it had. It's definitely its own fantasy world and all that but filled with guns and planes contrasting with riding horseback and using carriages and the mashing of the worlds (which fits for the era I think this was inspired by) intrigued me to no end. It also made Dark of the West stand out compared to other YA fantasies. So I was here for it.

But WOW was the pacing slow. This book is heavy on the political intrigue and scheming which, while great and all, made it slow going for me. I really struggled to get into the story and everything going on, and for a while the only thing saving Dark of the West from a full-on DNF was the romance subplot (it wasn't like the BEST relationship but, again, that opening scene made me want to know more about Aurelia and Athan).

When it comes to first books in series, especially debuts, my biggest deciding factor is whether or not I would pick up the sequel. For Dark of the West and the Glass Alliance series, I can say with absolute certainty that YES I will definitely be reading the sequel. This book wasn't a total win for me and I definitely struggled to get through it but the ending and everything starting to come together made up for it.

3 stars

Dark of the West had me hooked from the moment I read the synopsis. It sounded exactly like a book I would enjoy reading. But I found myself struggling with most of the book. I enjoyed many aspects of the book, but this was not the story for me.

Some of the best parts of “Dark of the West” was the romance. I like many people am such a sucker for a good romantic story. Athan and Aurelia are complete opposites but boy did they define perfection. Falling in love under false pretenses is one of my favorite tropes and I feel like the author did it so well.

But the parts I didn’t enjoy was just the world building and the writing style. The story has a WW2 feel but its never really confirmed. And the writing style, while beautiful at times also immensely difficult to follow. There were certain chapters I had to read a few times which is so frustrating to do.

“Dark of the West” is a good story regardless of how I feel about the writing style/worldbuilding. This may not have been the book for me, but I am invested in enough that I want to read the other two books. I must know what happens!!