Book:
THE NOTORIOUS VIRTUES by Alwyn Hamilton
Thank you PenguinTeen and Netgalley for the EARC (April 1)

Review:
5⭐
Where to begin???
Nora was always going to be the next heiress. She was the only daughter of Verity Holtzfall. But when Verity is "mugged," Nora and her cousins must compete with one another to earn rings that can be used to enter the woods---the person returning with the ax would be the new heiress. As the trials are set to begin, Lotte shows up. She was abandoned at birth, brought back to compete. This seems like the biggest risk for them, but when the Grims start attacking, they must stay alive, fight, and survive.
What at glorious book. First, the cover is so gorgeous. Plus a magical competition with secrets, lie, and betrayal. What's not to love? Cover to cover this book was just "chef's kiss."
The cover may have been what first caught my eye, but the story that was painted in my mind as I read this kept me hooked as I devoured this book like I had never read a fantasy, sci-fi-esque novel before. It was honestly so refreshing.
From page one, I was grasping at string as I read. Within pagee, drama and secrets were exposed. It was like sitting at the table on Thanksgiving when the claws come out. As the story unfolded, and the competition began everything ramped up---especially as a new threat threatened the potential heiresses. It was edge-of-your seat drama as the story progressed and secrets came to light---ones I saw coming and ones that left me utterly shocked.
THE NOTORIOUS VIRTUES is set to become a trilogy, and with it's cliffhangar-esque ending, I cannot wait to dig in. 10/10 would recommend.

Outside of having a slightly (and i do mean slightly, but nothing in this wide world is black or white, is it?) mixed message from a moral perspective, this was genuinely compelling.

I've waited, what six years to finally read this? I've been waiting every single year for this to be set back into the wild and I am SO GLAD it did! Thank you to NetGalley for letting me read this early!

This is set in the same world as Rebel of the Sands, we find Layla Al-Oman as one of Honora's industrious grandmothers on one side of the family, and Nora certainly inherited some of her traits for observance, and quick thinking. But her other side of the family is just as powerful and deadly.

Honora Holtzfall's mother is dead, and with her- Nora has lost her place as Heiress to the family's seat of power. Triggering the Veritaz Trials. Descended from a family of woodcutters, who were granted power by The Huldrekall (a powerful Dryad of a enchanted heart of the forest) for sparing it's life -granted them an enchanted ax and a ring promising them forever safety in the woods.
With the power of the enchanted ax, and the Huldrekall's blessing of protection, their family's land was safe from all the wild enchanted monsters of the woods.
With this safety people flocked to their land pledging goods and services, knights blood bound by their word to the Holtzfall family for generations, eventually the surrounding land grew to be a large powerful city and with it immense power. But with safety and generations the people have forgotten the monsters that lurk within the woods and the horrors it holds.

The Veritaz Trials are dangerous and the heirs of the next generation can enter to play against one another, one trial for every entrant. One ring for winning every trial based on a virtue, gaining entrance to the heart of the enchanted woods to compete in the final trial to make their way out with that ax to become the heir. Not every Heir makes it out alive.

The Holtzfall clan are wealthy and dysfunctional, they hate each other, but are dependent on one another. Mercy Holtzfall, Nora's grandmother is ruthless and cunning, ruling the enterprises, and family with an iron fist. The Rydder Knights watch and guard them, tied by an ancient blood oath tying back the original family, but they've roughly lost their original meaning, now ground down to bodyguards, servants and chauffeurs.

The city of Walstad is run by the Holtzfall's they own everything, and everyone is beholden to them.
And because of the separation between the 1st circle, and the 13th there's a gross imbalance of wealth and many struggle to just get by. Isengrim, and his Grim faction are rebelling against them and what they stand for.

There's all kinds of mythology crumbs woven into the lore, from different stories and they're blended incredibly well. All of the MC's are dynamic characters all carrying different facets, Nora, Lotte, August, Theo they all have their parts to play. And I really liked each of them.

This was absolutely worth the wait, I'm so glad Alwyn Hamilton is back! Bringing us into her incredible worlds, and I cannot wait to see what creeps out of those woods in the next book. We know whatever Nora comes out as is going to change the world, and Lotte has more to discover about herself as well.

ARC review of The Notorious Virtues. This review is based off the first stage of printer's proofs, which has not been corrected by the author, publisher, or printer. It's based on the uncorrected text.

This book game me the vibe mixture of The Inheritance Games, The Great Gatsby, and a fairy tale mix, combined with magic, and dare I say, monsters?
This book took me a bit to get into. I was intrigued by the Veritaz Trials, which stretched back centuries, and that is explained as well as the tale from which the Trials were derived from. It was a little confusing when switching pov's as it didn't feel some were smooth transitions. The characters grew on me, especially Lotte (she was my favorite, and Nora)
I do think once this has been through its stages of edits, etc, this story will be so good. I liked the magical elements, and the cool things they did (I can't give it away, folks!) and how those pieces were used throughout the story.
The characters were entertaining and interesting. Some annoying, and some kick-ass.
If you're looking for spice, this is not the book, y'all. This is pure entertainment, mystery, whodunit, nobility, and backstabbing sort of fun.
Will I read the final printed version, most likely. I'd like to see what magical spin they put on this. AND, that ending... C'mon, Alwyn! I about threw my kindle! (and I noticed that connection with Rebel of the Sands connection... nice!)

A big thanks to NetGalley, Viking/Penguin Random House

I loved the setting and premise. I also loved the characters. Huge fan of battling family members. Without spoilers, I thought some the mechanics of the world, magic, and rules for inheritance were convoluted. I also wasn't a fan of the ending, too ambiguous. However, strong writing and characters!

Amazing!!! Spectacular!!!! Give me 14 of them!!!!!

Thankyou netgalley for the arc. All opinions are my own.

#TheNotoriousVirtues #Netgalley

I can recognize that this book is good, but it just didn't stir a wild passion in me.

I'm a girlie who loves the 1920s aesthetic, especially when paired with themes about the greediness of the rich and classism. But for some reason it just didn't connect with me with this book. I had a hard time picturing this city, and even though I love worldbuilding through media (Here it's the newspapers), it still didn't give me a clearer image of the world. Also, I feel like the charms weren't explained well enough? It's not really explained where magic outside Holtzfall's inheritance came from. Maybe it was explained and I missed it, but I feel my point still stands if the explanation failed to leave any impact on me.

As for the characters, I liked them well enough. Lotte was my favorite, but Nora and August had some fun banter. Not enough for me to care at all about their romance, but I can see people loving it. Lotte's heavily implied romance with Theo tightroped along the edge of nope after the middle half due to the question of Lotte's parentage; luckily, it was cleared up, and the romance didn't really get the time to go anywhere by the end, which is fine by me. The four POVs between all aforementioned characters almost feel balanced, but August's feels the less developed out of all of them to me.

I dunno, I really wanted to like this one. I can tell that Hamilton was cooking with the themes with the book, but it just didn't enthrall me. I think if I was endeared more to the character, I would feel stronger. But as of now, I can only feel like I can shrug and say, "It's good," and move on with my day.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an early copy of this book! Below is my honest review.

Rating: 3.5 stars out of 5 stars

Summary of the plot:
In this world of Walstad, the Holtzfalls is the founding family and the heir of the family controls all the money and magic. Honora "Nora" is the daughter of the current heir Mercy, until her mother (Mercy) is found murdered in the streets. Now the seat to become heir is open, and all the youngings have a chance to earn it through a magical competition called the Veritaz. While Nora is expecting to become the heir, she's also determined to find out who murdered her mother. There's also a resistance group called the Grims who are determined to see their fair share of money and magic be distributed across the city.

Thoughts on the book:
I really loved Nora and her voice. Her chapters were exciting and felt like the right tone. We also follow three other voices: Lotte (her cousin), Theo (a knight sworn to protect her family), and August (a reporter who helps Nora solve the crime). Lotte's chapters were interesting since she was an outsider to the family. She didn't even know she was part of the family until she was pulled into the competition by her mysterious mother. Theo's and August's chapters were okay.

In terms of the competition, I felt like they made sense to the story and the title of the book. It did seem rather rushed at the end though since we get like three trials in a matter of several chapters. I love the lore behind the trials, which we get sprinkled in between chapters. The book ends with a cliffhanger, so if you hate that, maybe don't pick up this book?

I have not read this author's previous works before but I am looking forward to picking them up now after The Notorious Virtues! If you’re a fan of severe family rivalries, deep-rooted socioeconomic tension, 1920s-esque glamour with fairy tale vibes mixed in, and twists and turns around every corner, then I think you will be up until five am inhaling every word of this like I was.

After the sudden murder of her mother, Nora, along with her cousins, must participate in a series of trials to determine who will be the next heir of the Holtzfall family fortune. Nora's relationship with her family is fraught as it is, but the arrival of a long-lost cousin throws the whole city of Walstad for a spin. Lotte, after presuming she had been an orphan her whole life, is now immersed in the convoluted politics of the Holtzfall family and she's scrambling to prove herself. While Lotte figures out her place as a potential heiress--and perhaps, who her father might be--Nora is on the hunt to find out whether her mother's death was simply a petty crime or something more predetermined. And while the girls are spread thin with the trials and their personal agendas, a dangerous resistance group looms over their shoulders, threatening to dismantle Holtzfall's grip on Walstad once and for all.

This book had me engaged from beginning to end. There are lots of moving parts to this story, and we are blessed with four different POVs that helped develop this world significantly. It is mentioned in the blurb that both Nora and Lotte have their own potential love interests, but don't go into this expecting a lot of romance (I honestly didn't care much for it). That being said, don't skip out on it for that reason. The political intrigue of this story is what had me eagerly flipping through the pages, and the twists and turns thrown at your way will keep you on your toes until the very end.

The characters are great, although I felt the boys could have been more developed since they were important enough to have their own POVs. Nora was a conflicting character for me; she has a lot of self-importance, is glaringly privileged, and is a little too perfect at everything. A part of me also kind of appreciated that however, since I'm a big believer in problematic FMCs, and we were rewarded with a very compelling character journey. Lotte as well had an intriguing character arc, although I wished some of her developments near the end came a little earlier in the book.

Why I gave it four stars and not five: there is constantly a lot going on and ideas being revealed and then unrevealed and it may sometimes feel overwhelming, especially in the last bit when we were thrown new information one after another. The pacing in the beginning was a little slow--as we were being introduced to our characters--and then picked up a little, and then slowed down a bit halfway, and then went absolutely Usain Bolt on us in the last quarter of the book. Lastly, and this somehow bothered me the most, we don't know at all what August, our rakish young reporter, looks like throughout the whole book. I was pleasantly surprised in the beginning to find out that Nora is Middle Eastern (or this book's equivalent of it), and wished there were some more ethnically diverse characters in the story, or at least an explanation as to why there weren't many in this region.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book (and dying to talk more about it once it's released) and can't wait to read the next one in the series--especially after that mother of a cliffhanger.

Such a good book! Loved every single second of it. I recommend everyone to read this book as fast as they can because it's really good and the characters are fantastic.

Amazing. Simply amazing. I've read a lot of fantasy in my day. World-building is crucial. I was immersed in Nora's world. She is someone I would love to sit down with for lunch--although I am sure her sense of style is far better than mine.

Enter a world where the powerful hold all the power. Because of a woodcutter and an axe, one family holds sway over everyone else. Who inherits what is carefully watched? The plotting begins when Nora falls from her exalted spot as the next heir. This is a family who doesn't love so much as they envy and scheme against.

Adding one more person into the battle for the heir position throws everything into a tail spin. Lotte provides an interesting contrast to the high-flying socialites of the upper class. Plus a curious journalist finds themselves becoming closer to the subjects providing the stories that keep them fed and off the streets.

The Virtues are part of who inherits. A series of trials is set for all those who qualify by blood. Who is to be trusted? Who is false?

I read this book in one day. I canceled two social engagements because I wanted to read more.

There is a cliffhanger ending just in case you hate those. I typically do. However, Hamilton ends it in such a way that you have an inkling of what the next book will cover.

I highly recommend buying this book now so it will be in your hands as soon as possible once release day is here. This one is a keeper.