I had trouble getting into the story and eventually gave up. The writing style just wasn’t for me.

Thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

Unfortunately, the writing style is not for me. 3 stars, as I need to be somewhat neutral

~ I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own ~

Each "chapter" (I'm not sure chapter is the right term here) is written under a subheader that indicates what that chapter is going to be about and they are all faithfully about whatever the subheader indicates and for the most part, it allows a very linear path to what is going to happen next and maybe that's the problem it's too linear. Weird thing to say about a book I know but it's just all very straight forward like the author is writing a paper on the history of this specific world.

I have never read a fantasy novel quite like this. I have always been fascinated by fortune tellers, and this brings the sly tales of mythical abilities to an entire new level. For a first novel, Elijah Spector has done extremely, extremely well - Kalyna is an enchanting character, even if she doesn't have the abilities that her family wants her to have.

I'd like to thank to publishers and NetGalley for allowing me to read this book in return for my honest review.

I'm not normally one to DNF books but this was so difficult to get in to. I loved the premise and I wanted so badly to like this book but after reading until part 2 I couldn't keep going. The pacing feels quite slow and I'm not a big fan of how the story jumps almost every paragraph, Kalyna will be doing something like making dinner and then it jumps to her doing something else like listening to a story from her grandmother as she chops wood. I gave it two stars because it has a lot of potential and the writing wasn't inherently bad. I'm sure other people will enjoy this story but it is just not for me.

The cover caught my attention (really like it!) and then the blurb sounded so interesting.

It's rare to have a fantasy book where the main character doesn't have magic powers of some kind.
I also like a good spy plot, so I was intrigued and the plot did hold my interest for most of the book.

It was just that the writing was so heavy somehow. I guess it had too much information? I felt like I was getting a history lesson on Tetrarchia sometimes. I did enjoy the sarcastic humour at first, though, but thought it was over-done later on, and the language was too modern at times.

Kalyna was an interesting character at first. A lot of contradictory traits, but pretty realistic, in a way. She just became more and more insufferable to me as the plot advanced. Her behaviour was just so arrogant and over-confident.

I'll be honest, I was tempted to DNF, so I ended up just skim-reading the last 20%. It was a bit anti-climactic for me, in the end.

received this book for free for an honest review from netgalley #netgalley

This book had me on the edge of my seat the entire ride beautifully written it plays like a movie in my mind.

DNF, 30%

I wanted to like this book - it was an interesting premise and I like political intrigue in fantasy settings. Kalyna should have been an amazing character but she was very flat. There was no emotion from her so it was hard to feel any sympathy for her. At one point someone mentions her lack of abilities and she describes feeling shame and unworthiness, and almost cries, and I was so startled because you really get no sense that she's upset about her situation. She keeps mentioning a vision her father had of catastrophe, and thinks about ways to save herself and her family, but there isn't a strong sense of urgency or even anything but vague worry. It felt like watching someone observing her own life, rather than participating in it.

Just wasn't for me.

I received this as an ARC from Net Galley