I went into The Forgotten Dawn with such high hopes, the synopsis sounded like something I'd love since games and trials are one of my favourite tropes to read about. But unfortunately, the story just didn’t click for me the way I’d hoped it would. I'm sad about it. The biggest issue for me was the writing itself in terms of the structural aspect (there are a few typos though). There were so many moments where things were mentioned but never explained, and other times where something important felt like it was completely skipped over like a lot of her training for the trials was just avoided, even though she's not suppose to be skilled at all, it would have been nice to read about. Also the trials are suppose to be deadly, but no one died lmao?? Then there was repetition, like the same sentence popping up again in the next paragraph or chapter with slightly different wording. If it not's repetition then it's overly flowery and descriptive writing.. coming from someone who loves flowery writing, every single thing needed an "as if..". It kept pulling me out of the story, it was almost exhausting to stay engaged. Character-wise, I struggled to connect. The friendships that were supposedly built during the selection process felt rushed and unearned. We’re told the main character is an outcast, but she suddenly clicks with others without much effort or depth. And the romance? Way too fast, with no real buildup or chemistry. I kept waiting for a moment that would make it make sense, but it never came. The pacing didn’t help either. The first half dragged, especially between elimination rounds, where we could’ve gotten character development but didn’t. The second half had more action, but by then, I was already struggling to stay engaged. The ending does try to set up something bigger so I did like it, but a bunch of threads from earlier were left hanging. To be fair, there are some really cool ideas here. The courts and the selection process had potential, and I can see what the author was going for. But it all felt underdeveloped so I still think the concept has promise, and I’m curious to see how the author grows in future books. But this one just wasn’t for me.