This was really good 😭😭😭😭😭 but unfortunately it was not perfect.

I wish Vis was a bit more flawed, he just seemed to do everything perfectly. I also wasnt a fan of the small romance plot, it just happened to easily. And the ending was pretty confusing, I had to spend some time on reddit forums to fully understand it. But when I did understand, I found it genius and Im super excited for the rest of the series.

The more I think about this, the less I liked it. The concept had so much promise - locked palace mystery, roman and vatican inspired -, but the execution was terrible. The plot just didnt make sense, the decisions the characters made were so stupid and the worldbuilding was weak and underdeveloped. This was clearly a romantasy, where the plot was only there to give the main characters a reason to interact, which althought it is not my favorite type of book, I am not necessarily opposed to. But the characters had no chemistry whatsoever!!! It was also insta-lust, and they immediately threw away the reasons they "hated" each other for, for no reason. I have also seen this marketed as a standalone and it's not. Im so annoyed, because I've been really excited for this book, but it really didnt work for me. The stars are only for Julian.

Im so sad that I could connect with these series. I truly appreciate the cleverness of the books and I really like Gen as a main character, but I cant connect with the story as a whole due to the writing style. It is just so observational and detached.

I don't think I will continue the series.