problem with. The characters were good, even though Mare can come off as kind of annoying at moments, and we didn't have a lot of connection to the side characters at points. The selling point was definitely the plot twists, which made my jaw drop at the end. 

 

THE CHARACTERS 

 

Ok so Mare is a pretty basic YA Fantasy main character, and I feel like I changed my opinion on her every other chapter. She makes a lot of very stupid decisions that pissed me off, but at the same time you could understand why she was making them. She was sympathetic, and you could really see how much she cared about her family and people. I will say that she was very naive in many different ways, and kept making really contradicting moves that just made me super mad at her. I mean, she knows that she is in a hostile environment, with the majority of people around her hating what she fundamentally is, so why does she fall and trust so easily. This made her kind of annoying. But at the end of the day I ended up liking her, and I think she has a lot more growth coming in the next two books. 

 

I actually really liked the dynamic that Cal and Maven had towards each other through the majority of the book. It felt like an actual sibling rivalry that would happen when being put in that type of situation. I just really wish we could have seen more of their actual personalities other than just being princes to the kingdom. I think that the story would have been much more impactful if we had more banter or genuine conversation between Cal, Maven and Mare. One thing that really pissed me off was how quickly Mare flip flopped between Cal and Maven. It felt like every other chapter she was into one of them and hating the other. Even without that, we never once see them actually bonding or forming a connection, so the fact that she could claim she loved either of them by the end of the book was just so stupid to me. I think it would have been awesome to see a good love triangle and it would have made everything much more impactful in the end. 

 

I liked the side characters and how they were portrayed. You could really see how much they cared about their cause and I look forward to learning more about them in the next book. The only thing I wished is that we could have gotten to learn more about them individually as people. For example, Farley was such a cool character but we don't know anything about her. We barely hear her talk and we don't know anything about her motivations or how she started this revolution. I think it would have made me care so much about these characters' lives if they had any type of personality, and because we didn't it didn't impact me as much. I loved Kilorn, he had a cute and funny personality, and I hope he becomes more of a prominent character in the next book. 

 

THE PLOT 

 

I actually really liked the plot of this book. I have seen a lot of people say that it was basic and a rip off of other books, but I think it was different enough that it felt fresh and made me immersed in the story. It moved very quickly, so I don't really understand why people say it is boring. Seeing Mare adapt to her new world and watching her experience things she never knew were possible was interesting. She held a lot of contempt for her new life, which I don't really blame her for. 

 

This book was chalked full of plot twists, and let me tell you, holy shit. Some of them were pretty predictable, which I guessed pretty far in advance, but oh my god, the end of this story pretty much makes the entire book. I think it is really hard to make a good plot twist, especially in a story like this, but wow they really pulled it off. I was absolutely on the edge of my seat towards the end of the book and I have not felt that way while reading in a hot minute. I had to set the book down and take a lap around my house, it was really really well done. 

 

I think the tension throughout was done well too. You could really feel how much danger they were in and how important every decision and action were. Some of the Silver royals actually made my blood boil. I had so much hatred for them which I think is hard to communicate in this type of series. 

 

I liked her lightning powers even though they were kind of basic. My biggest problem with them was that when she got them, she wasn't surprised at all and barely even cared. It was so weird. She was just like “Well!! I guess I have cool lightning powers now even though I'm not a Silver!! I'm not going to figure out why or how this happened at all!! In fact, I am not even going to care!!” I was so excited to see how she reacted to having these unique abilities, but it was nothing. Like, does this mean huge things for the Reds? That this is a huge step for her people and now they actually have a fighting chance? She's not going to even consider that there are other people out there like her that could fight with her? On top of that, she pretty much instantly knows how to control and use her lightning. All it takes is a couple of sessions with Julion and she has it all figured out. It was very disappointing, it would have been great to see her interact with her powers more. Despite everything though, it was a very cool power to give her, and I have a feeling that controlling lightning is not going to be the only thing she can do. 

 

TO SUM UP

 

For the most part, I really liked this book. I think that it would really benefit from expanding the characters' personalities as well as see more growth from Mare, however overall it was a very fun read that I would recommend. The plot twist really makes the story, and I would recommend it solely over that (I'm not joking it seriously was that good I am still thinking about it.) This is a trilogy series so I think it has a lot to build off of, and I look forward to understanding more of this world.