This book has all the magic you could want. I love the concept of a young woman wanting to become an assassin instead of living the court life. Any book with an independent female protagonist is my cup of tea. I saw Shadow as a very fun, witty character that I would like to see more of in the future books to follow.
This book has all the magic you could want. I love the concept of a young woman wanting to become an assassin instead of living the court life. Any book with an independent female protagonist is my cup of tea. I saw Shadow as a very fun, witty character that I would like to see more of in the future books to follow.
Here is the thing. I think that there is a pro and con to this kind of switch in perspective.
The pro side to this is that it is a different way of telling the story. With third person we get a little more of the larger details about Caledon and Shadow that we would not know if it was told in first person.
The con side is that it can be confusing to the readers at times. Sometimes I was confused about who was speaking and what was happening, so I had to go back and reread some pages in order to understand. I think for future novels it would be better if De La Cruz told the story either in third person with alternating chapters between Shadow and Caledon. Or the other option would be to keep the first person and alternate between Shadow and Caledon.
Despite that little tidbit, I did enjoy the banter and chemistry between Shadow and Caledon. These are obviously two characters with totally different personalities, which worked for this story. I would like to see this relationship develop a little more in terms of Caldeon's character. There were times where I think Caledon's character felt kind of flat and one-sided. I think this is because we didn't get a first person perspective when it came to his chapters. A first person perspective could have helped make Caledon feel less distant and more a of 3-D character.
And, in terms of the plot twist near the end, I thought it worked for a YA. However, the plot did come off as kind of cliche. I've read this kind of plot twist before in my share of YA novels. I think De La Cruz can make up for it in the next book.
All in all, I would give this book a four out of five stars. It has serious potential as a continuing series. I can't wait to see what's in store for Shadow and Caledon.
This book has all the magic you could want. I love the concept of a young woman wanting to become an assassin instead of living the court life. Any book with an independent female protagonist is my cup of tea. I saw Shadow as a very fun, witty character that I would like to see more of in the future books to follow.
Here is the thing. I think that there is a pro and con to this kind of switch in perspective.
The pro side to this is that it is a different way of telling the story. With third person we get a little more of the larger details about Caledon and Shadow that we would not know if it was told in first person.
The con side is that it can be confusing to the readers at times. Sometimes I was confused about who was speaking and what was happening, so I had to go back and reread some pages in order to understand. I think for future novels it would be better if De La Cruz told the story either in third person with alternating chapters between Shadow and Caledon. Or the other option would be to keep the first person and alternate between Shadow and Caledon.
Despite that little tidbit, I did enjoy the banter and chemistry between Shadow and Caledon. These are obviously two characters with totally different personalities, which worked for this story. I would like to see this relationship develop a little more in terms of Caldeon's character. There were times where I think Caledon's character felt kind of flat and one-sided. I think this is because we didn't get a first person perspective when it came to his chapters. A first person perspective could have helped make Caledon feel less distant and more a of 3-D character.
And, in terms of the plot twist near the end, I thought it worked for a YA. However, the plot did come off as kind of cliche. I've read this kind of plot twist before in my share of YA novels. I think De La Cruz can make up for it in the next book.
All in all, I would give this book a four out of five stars. It has serious potential as a continuing series. I can't wait to see what's in store for Shadow and Caledon.