So like most books I read this a while ago, to be more specific in December and took me a month-ish to read. Overall this was my favorite, I know I said this for most of the book I read but how can I not? This had all of my favorite things in a book that I aspire to write like one day. Historical fiction? check. Adventure? Romance? Feminine Lead who cared about her family rather than her lover? All checks my friend. Though the only down side for me is the antagonist is easily spotted and some holes in the scenes and what not. Especially in the second book, I mean like most series the first one is usually the best one. I could pull up many examples of this but wont so I don’t bore you guys to internet death.
Okay so now that I got all of that out of the way I still highly recommend this book if any of you are interested. So yeah, actually I got the sample of this book a really long time ago like before it even came out. (Well no duh but you guys know what i mean) I was anticipating the release but I forgot about it because of other books and well life. (Haha yeah I’m funny when actually I barley have a life outside of you guys let me just be honest) So when I saw this book on the shelves of Barnes and Noble in 2017 November I got the bad ass looking cover. I started to read it during the predate of my mental breakdown that lasted a few month(honestly couldn’t remember how long that lasted to be honest).
Back to the topic at hand, this book, like most of the books I read literally transported me to where Fallon was. On the topic of her by the way can we just applaud her character? (Round of applause in the distance, thanks you guys) Like the only thing she wanted to do was make her country proud and protect it all for her sister too? Amazing!
Now before we get into character opinions please keep in mind if you haven’t read the book that this is spoilers. SO DON’T READ THIS AND READ THE FREAKIN’ BOOKS ITS AMAZING AND THEN COME BACK AND READ THIS! (okay and thank you)
First off is Fallon, the character I aspire to and my motivation to workout. (ha another one of me trying to be funny) Okay so we see that all she wanted was to go fight along side her father like her ‘dead’ sister Sorcha. But then we are see that her long time friend from a neighboring city admit his love to her and I honestly saw this coming. So then she all like I can go fight next to my father and then I can marry this man I love. But then stuff goes the opposite way. Her father basically was like (sips tea) “nah you’re not going to fight next to me in battle because your MY LaSt DAughTER WhO’S aLiVE! Instead you’re going your ideal husbands brother because I don’t care who you love I just want you to not freaking die!!” So it’s this whole scene that had me broken for a hot minute but then our girl Fallon was all like, “Ah whelp then it looks like I’m just going to run away from all this because eff this.” Which is honestly a mood, so she goes to find her future husband but when she spots him.(Inhales deeply then does those hand motions that were cool like a month ago). Her lover got stabbed by his freaking brother(internally screaming) So we see him die then it’s all down hill from there for our girl Fallon, she got kidnapped by people who sold slaves, she almost died multiple times. The only plus was we met the new new love interest who’s a roman solider for JULIUS CEASER. (SWORN ENEMY BY THE WAY) She gets bid off to go be a gladiator fighter for HIM then ended up being actually pretty freaking good(I mean what do you expect when you train for battle with your older sister and continues for years after her death) BUT anyways I got lost because of reasons. So Fallon = bomb character who I adore and have too much to say about her and I still need to talk about the other characters.
Second on our list is Cai, the love interest after the dead one who I was rooting for. So low-key he reminded me of those people look really intimidating but are actual soft humans you know? I have a friend like that and their nice but we clash on somethings but that’s besides the point. When we first met Cai who was like uhh isn’t this too soon? Because like it wasn’t even two chapters ago that we saw the other guy die. Thankfully our girl Fallon was still grieving for him which I honestly don’t see that much of in YA now a days. It’s like a moment but not the normal grieving process which really annoys me especially when it comes to romance. Before I go off on a tangent I have a few problems with Cai (okay really it’s like one but that’s it) So when we first meet Cai it’s during the ship battle thing and I’m just puzzled on how he fell for her in that moment? I don’t know but in end I was happy for their relationship. Their problems could’ve been solved by like actual talking about I don’t know emotions and how they actual feelings but that’s just me.
Lastly for this review well be talking about Elka. So if you can recall we met Elka in the first couple of chapters when our girl Fallon tired to escape from slavery. They had a rocky relationship but they each agreed on one thing, they hate the Romans and want to leave. Her backstory left me in metaphorical tears not going to lie. As we get to know her more we see why she is they way she is. We learn more about her in the second book which I will tell you guys in the near near future. I hope I didn’t let you guys experience an internet death. As always I hope the rest of your day is great and I will see you guys next time!
the odd blog 