I didn't realize that this story would follow three widely different storylines – from the summary, you think you're only going to get Evie's (a Savage fighter looking for an old love) perspective. Instead, the chapters were split up in a wide variety of POVs, ultimately following Evie, Lexi (the aforementioned old love's wife and a look into the political scene), and Dyeawan (a disabled girl with a penchant for invention).
In my opinion, however, the storylines don't mesh well together. There are a few connections made between Evie's and Lexi's, but Dyeawan is just kinda off in her own world and not really connecting to the other two. I also found myself really enjoying Evie's POVs, liking Dyeawan's POVs, and skipping Lexi's entirely. I didn't feel an emotional attachment to her and didn't really find her POV interesting enough to read. It was full of political worldbuilding that I felt like I was slogging through.
Right at the beginning of the novel, you are blasted with worldbuilding and tons of information that is super overwhelming to the reader. I struggled to make sense of the first 30% before it eased up a bit. I think it could have been spread out a bit better throughout all of the POVs, instead of just being jampacked in Lexi's POV.
And the ending was just not satisfying to me. It just kinda....ended. I felt like there was barely any resolution. It wasn't really a cliffhanger, the narrative just stopped without any final battle or confrontation or anything like that.
Overall, I didn't dislike this book but I'm not sure if I'd pick up the second novel.
In my opinion, however, the storylines don't mesh well together. There are a few connections made between Evie's and Lexi's, but Dyeawan is just kinda off in her own world and not really connecting to the other two. I also found myself really enjoying Evie's POVs, liking Dyeawan's POVs, and skipping Lexi's entirely. I didn't feel an emotional attachment to her and didn't really find her POV interesting enough to read. It was full of political worldbuilding that I felt like I was slogging through.
Right at the beginning of the novel, you are blasted with worldbuilding and tons of information that is super overwhelming to the reader. I struggled to make sense of the first 30% before it eased up a bit. I think it could have been spread out a bit better throughout all of the POVs, instead of just being jampacked in Lexi's POV.
And the ending was just not satisfying to me. It just kinda....ended. I felt like there was barely any resolution. It wasn't really a cliffhanger, the narrative just stopped without any final battle or confrontation or anything like that.
Overall, I didn't dislike this book but I'm not sure if I'd pick up the second novel.