A few years ago when I was just starting to explore YA Fantasy I would probably have thought this a great book. I was coming off reading romance novels and had not had a whole lot of exposure (other than classics read at a young age) to other fantasy-type novels.
Since then I’ve read Fantasy YA books such as Graceling & Fire by Kristin Cashore, the Mortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare and the Studies trilogy by Maria Snyder. Also, I’ve also just come off reading the Mistborn trilogy by Brandon Sanderson. What does all of this mean? It means I’m a bit more critical now and my likes and dislikes are quite a bit more pronounced.
This novel felt like a toned-down romance novel. It had all the elements of the classic romance historical novel – a political marriage that results in jibes for a few days before both people realize they have love for each other. The kidnapping and basic formula to split the two apart making them realize that the love is true love. There’s a bit of intrigue and rebellion because, goodness knows, you have to show that your hero has a backbone. Ugh, I could go on but honestly.. the result was that, in spite of REALLY wanting to like this book, I was bored by it. I knew what the ending would be, there was no excitement or twists or turns and the characters were fairly one-dimensional.
It’s not as bad as some other YA novels out there are, but it wasn’t what I was expecting at all and I was disappointed by it.
