Rating: 4.5/5
Sage, a beautiful intelligent sword maker, is recruited into a rebellion against the Aermian king. Despite extensive training, she is caught one day by none other than the crown prince himself. She is dragged kicking and screaming to the castle dungeon where interrogations ensue. Tehl, the crown prince is trying squash the rebellion and take care of his depressed father when the beautiful rebel waltzes into his life. Sage (calling herself Ruby) and Tehl clash on more than one occasion and her stubbornness and unwillingness to reveal anything about the rebellion make Tehl and his entourage make more and more drastic decisions. As Sage spends more time at the castle, she begins to wonder if she's on the right side...
This book was gripping from the start. I appreciated getting the perspectives of both Sage and Tehl. There were many strong characters in this book and most of them kept me guessing - their actions were surprising at times. Samuel, Tehl's brother was delightful to read about; he was very fun loving but also a master of manipulation and cunning. The king was the embodiment of what depression does to people. It turns them into a shell of themselves and I thought that his character was written well.
I think this book brings up an important issue - we can't necessarily trust propaganda even from those we consider our closest family and friends. Until you are actually in a situation or you actually meet a person, you can't know for sure that what the rumors say is true. It's unwise to make huge, life changing decisions based on something you have limited knowledge about. Everyone in this story had their beliefs challenged and I thought that was so awesome.
The editing was actually pretty good for a self published author. My one and only real complaint is that Sage was too much of the ultimate badass bombshell character. She was kind, strong, compassionate, beautiful, manipulative, feisty, pretty much everything desirable. It was a bit much and a tad unrealistic. (She could take down 5 men at a time, she could manipulate/sweet talk anyone into doing anything, her sword making skills amazed people, all the men at the ball ogled her when she walked in, etc.)
Overall, a great read!
There is a bit of a cliffhanger at the end of the book that will leave you wanting more!
Grammar/Editing: Abysmal/Poor/Needs Work/Good/Excellent - The editing, punctuation, and grammar was very good for the most part. There were the occasional comma errors here and there but nothing too bad. A few instances where the lack of contractions in dialogue made reading a little awkward in some places. Not too bad overall. (Better than most I have read).
Violence: None/Mild/Medium/Heavy/Extreme - The main violence in this book comes from torture. There is mention of rape but it does not happen. A girl is cut and beaten and almost killed during an interrogation.
Profanity: None/Mild/Medium/Heavy/Extreme: The language was very mild in this book. NO F-bombs, a few uses of other mild curse words but nothing too bad. Overall, a very clean book.
Sexuality: None/Mild/Medium/Heavy/Extreme: Almost NO sexuality in this book except for the fact that it's insinuated that some of the characters might have mistresses. At one point, a character talks about violating someone in order to scare her. A character was almost raped so that could also be a little upsetting but overall there is almost nothing sexual.
Purchase this book using my affiliate link:
No comments:
Post a Comment