Because overthrowing rival houses is pretty fun.
Song Vibe Check
"Evergreen" By: PVRIS
"Burn it all down" By: PVRIS
"Goodbye" By: Skan
Okay, so after the whole Fourth Wing fever and chaos it left behind, I was seeking another read that could have me on a chokehold like fourth wing did. Or even like C.M Anderson's work which truly has my love still. This one mentioned dragons so I thought to give it a try.
It wasn't bad, but not entirely good either so lets dive into the usual.
Short Summary: the lost heir of a fallen clan infiltrates the court of a rival house to save her adopted father but ends up tied in between two brothers that want two very different things from her.
Long Summary (goodreads will summarize it better than me): Darling Seabreak cannot remember anything before the murder of her family at the hands of House Dragon, but she knows she owes her life to both the power of her Chaos Boon and House Kraken for liberating her from the sewers where she spent her childhood. So when her adoptive Kraken father is captured in battle, Darling vows to save him--even if that means killing each and every last member of House Dragon.
Talon Goldhoard has always been a dutiful War Prince for House Dragon, bravely leading the elite troops of his brother, the High Prince Regent. But lately his brother's erratic rule threatens to undo a hundred years of House Dragon's hard work, and factions are turning to Talon to unseat him. Talon resists, until he's ambushed by a fierce girl who looks exactly like the one his brother has painted obsessively, repeatedly, for years, and Talon knows she's the key to everything.
Together, Darling and Talon must navigate the treacherous waters of House politics, caught up in the complicated game the High Prince Regent is playing against everyone. The unlikeliest of allies, they'll have to stop fighting each other long enough to learn to fight together in order to survive the fiery prophecies and ancient blood magic threatening to devastate their entire world.
Sounds pretty good, right? Well, it was good for the first few chapters and then it lost me entirely. First, the surnames were cringey. Then it started dragging out and it was a whole insta love between Talon and Darling where they "hate" that they are both attracted to each other so not a true enemies to lovers spiel. Then, a good chunk of the book goes between the paintings of the somewhat chaotic high prince regent Caspian (yes, lets imagine Ben Barnes until the ends of time please) and a royal grand tour across the different kingdoms/houses while war looms over them.
The true saving grace is Caspian who not only makes this story more ridiculous but makes the reader think that he is crazy when he is an actual mastermind and someone who loves chaos as he upends their entire kingdoms for a prophecy he saw involving him and Darling and by the end of the book, this was my reaction:
*gasps loudly*
No, but in all seriousness. It ended on that sort of note that leaves you gasping and wondering what exactly did you sit down and read. It was not a bad cliffhanger. The overall story was ideally not the best one but it went from 0 to 100 really quick and so, if I pick up the last book, it will be purely to see what exactly was the chaos that Caspian caused.
Overall: 3/5 stars
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