This has been on my TBR for a really long time and I'm glad I finally got to it, but just in terms of finally being able to check it off. This was wildly mid.
I don't think I have strong feelings toward this either way. It was very middle of the road in terms of books. I was initially very excited because I adore a "good for her story" and I wanted to dive into feminine rage, but things just fell flat in that department. We started pretty good and then things just kinda went downhill from there; not to a bad degree, just to a plateau where it seemed to stay until the end.
The main character overall is pretty good. She doesn't make the best decisions all the time, but I overall liked her enough and she doesn't seem to suffer from FMC syndrome. She is driven, and knows what she wants, and is also fiercely loyal, which I appreciate and can get behind. The side characters were also pretty good. They were entertaining and brought an extra layer to this, particularly her best friend.
My issue with the revenge plot line is that she doesn't follow through with it for more than a few chapters. She has revenge on her mind for a singular second and then as soon as she sees the MMC again it's all over. I'm not sure if I would have been able to forgive him as quickly as she did, but that is neither here nor there. The magic system was good enough, and I liked that we did get an actual interaction with a jin rather than just mentioning it. The romance was mid, and very obvious, the world-building next to nonexistent. There was a pretty good plot twist towards the end that I did not see coming, but I don't think I was invested enough in the plot or in love with our FMC enough to truly care about that choice.
Some of the writing did feel a little underdeveloped for me. I especially noticed it in the epilogue where everything was tied into a pretty bow. It seemed the most YA in that section, but that being said, I cannot judge a book for being "too YA" because I am not the audience this book was written for. However, I did want a bit more from this.
Overall, it was okay. Mostly forgettable and will fall into the background against other YA fantasy books I've read.
3/5 stars.
Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
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