what

This book was just so boring. Everything was so predictable, it was the basic hero’s journey with bland characters and a setting that seemed like it would be fascinating but we didn’t get to know nearly anything about it. I wanted to like this, but honestly I was not engaged with the plot, characters, nor the underdeveloped world.

Very disappointed in this overall, wondering if I don’t like YA in general that much anymore or if it’s this book specifically.

More like 3.5 stars.

I was very hyped for this book, and while it didn’t not really meet those expectations, I still enjoyed it a lot. I understand why this book has made such a splash, as whilst it does do a lot of tropey YA stuff, it still feels unique for the genre. I really like Adeyemi’s writing style and her world is realised, although I feel we do rush through it despite this being a long read. I liked the main characters and they all felt well realised, if a bit dramatic, but it’s YA so it’s par for the course.

My main issue were narrative ones - for example, the whole idea of the exploited underclass rising up is great (especially as she was writing this during the peak of the black lives matter movement) but the book spends a lot of time reminding us that these people are genuinely dangerous and the oppression is somewhat justified. This felt kinda strange, but maybe I’m misinterpreting it? It also leads to the X-Men problem where the oppressed people are just better than their oppressors. Like there’s segments of the book we’re magic users wipe out kings guards with ease, so the fact these people were never in power in first place seems strange. I hope this universe has a version of Magneto because she could do the whole Xavier/Magneto moral philosophy debate but from the reverse side. That would be really interesting, but I digress.

Also, the book is tropey. It does the whole “let out a breath I didn’t know I was holding” thing like three times. One I could look over but three is pushing it.

Overall I enjoyed this book, and would encourage other to read it, but at the same time I can think of stronger authors who do similar things in their books to a better degree. Namely Who Fears Death feels like a more adult, expanded version of the concept which is just more interesting to me. This is still a strong book however, and I am looking forward to the sequel(s) as I want to see more of the world and its characters.