_edited.jpg)
3 stars! This review will be spoiler free!
Synopsis: Rielle has magical capabilities unheard of for any human or saint. This is her secret. Her secret is exposed one day when she tried to save the crown prince. To prove she isn’t a threat, to prove she is the Sun Queen she must endure 7 trials and win the trust of the people of Celdaria. Eliana is a bounty hunter and when he family is endangered, she makes shaky alliances to do whatever she can to keep them safe. Even when that means going against the Empire and risks her own life. Rielle and Eliana’s lives parallel across 1000 years as unforeseen event push them towards a war that neither of them knew they’d have to face. Initial thoughts: IM SO IN THE MIDDLE. One thing I loved for sure was the writing style. Claire Legrand has a way with words. The beginning of this book was great, but the ending was rather anticlimactic. There were multiple things about the plot that I enjoyed, but there were also an equal amount of things that bothered, annoyed, or bored me. Eliana's POV was more interesting to me in that she was creating relationships with multiple interesting side characters, but her personality had a tendency to annoy me. Rielle's POV was occasionally intriguing... But also occasionally weird and confusing. I don't know quite how much I like vs. dislike this book, or whether I'd continue? Maybe? Probably. Plot: Things I liked: The beginning of this book sucks you in.
Claire Legrand's writing style is right up my alley. I really liked her flow and I enjoyed the way she wrote her character's voices. Every. SINGLE. Chapter. Leaves you on a cliffhanger and then you're swept off into the other person's POV. I liked that both of these MC’s weren’t hetero, they both admit to having feelings or sexual interactions with females. The romance in Eliana’s POV I preferred over Rielle’s. I can tell you that I don’t know who I ship her with more, Simon or Navi. Maybe Navi. I love how this author doesn't shy away from sexual comments and talk about lovers. I found this very refreshing! Not to mention there were a few “hot scenes” that took me by surprise in a good way. Yay for sex positivity! The world building was gradual and intriguing. I’m so glad that Legrand didn’t lay everything on you right in the beginning, she slowly introduces you to the different creatures of this world, the different types of magic, and the evils. The villain in this story is quite mysterious. There are multiple enemies in this story and I enjoyed seeing how they intertwine and unfold. Really you spend this whole book trying to figure out who really is the bad guy? What is he? And what are they capable of? Rielle’s Sun Queen trials were fun and exciting (for the reader, not Rielle obviously). The action keeps you on the edge of your seat. Eliana’s fighting scenes do the same, though sometimes I was confused because she kept getting beat so easily and she’s supposed to be this crazy skilled assassin-like girl. Things I didn’t like: During the second half of the book, I lost interest.
One particular character that I actually liked was killed off early. I wanted to get to know him more. The dual perspective didn’t quite mesh well for me. I felt like these were two completely different stories and there was nearly no overlap for me to feel like there was enough of a connection between Eliana and Rielle. The split time periods still kind of bother me even after establishing the foundation for the world. I don’t understand why they had to be so far apart, 1000 years seemed excessive to me. The romance in Rielle’s POV confused me sometimes. Sometimes it seemed like she was more “in lust” with Audric than in love. And even though she’s in love with Audric, she has these moments with Corien? That I don’t entirely understand. I also don’t know why Rielle didn’t find it utterly freaky that she had an angel talking to her in her mind?! Eliana has this tendency to make rash decisions without truly thinking them through and that continued to piss me off throughout the book. I just kept thinking, “no… what are you doing… you’re going to go back and wish you hadn’t done that…” The ending was rather… dull. I feel like there was so much BUILD UP and not enough payoff. There could have been more done, more revealed, to keep readers snagged. I feel like we weren’t left with much hope or thoughts or ideas about where this series is going, and not in a good way. Characters: RIELLE absolutely suffered from the special snowflake syndrome. Was it the worst? No. Was it still pretty bad? Yeah. She is an utter badass in battle, but man was she overpowered. Thankfully, though she never struggled with her abilities, she did have internal struggles. Watching her go back and forth between her “dark side” and knowing what is right was interesting. I’m just waiting for her to embrace her evilness, I really want to know how she develops into the blood queen. ELIANA I’m iffy about as a character. Sometimes I really liked her, sometimes she pissed me off. I didn’t like that Eliana was continuously passed off as the almighty Dread of Orline, but then she would literally fail more often that kick ass in battle scenes. I did LOVE that she had an undying passion for taking care of her family and especially Remy. Remy’s faith in his sister was the sweetest. SIMON is still a mystery to me. I know who he is to Rielle and to Eliana, but like who is HE? What happened to him while Eliana was growing up? Where did his scars come from? Why is he so closed off? I NEED TO KNOW MORE ABOUT HIM. Overall: I stand in the middle on this book, but I liked it. I can see myself picking up book two because I always hope for improvement in series by the sequel, but if I’m not blown away then, I probably won’t continue.