Because we're left with a bleeding heart by the end of this.
Song Vibe Check:
"Mad World" By: 2WEI, Tommee Profitt and Fleurie
"Willow" By: Taylor Swift
"Twisted" By: Missio
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN.... THERE IS A REASON WHY THIS BOOK WAS ONE OF MY ANTICIPATED READS. Yes, this book became famous because of TikTok and booktok sometimes has its questionable opinions about good books, but with the author being a proud Colombian, I had to read this.
AND IT DID NOT DISAPPOINT. I can definitely say this is onto my top 10 books for the year :) Usually, the three songs for the vibe check are easy for me to come up with usually because they are the songs I am listening to as I am reading the book, but it was harder to pin these songs down (I plan to make a longer playlist for this one!) But let's settle into the beautiful, heart-wrenching, passionately and ANGSTY book we have here.
Short Summary? An island that pops up every 100 years has appeared again and six rulers must compete for 100 days over who will die, who will help break the curses-- or be doomed to face the end of their islands as they know it.
Longer Summary: Isla Crown is the ruler of Wildling, a house dedicated to nature, known to be deadly seductresses cursed to kill every person they love. Her curse, along with those of the other rulers gets challenged at the Centennial, a competition to try to break the prophecy that has created their curses. Breaking it means freedom, and not doing so means living with their curses for another 100 years.
But this centennial is different. Isla has a secret that could make her into the sacrificial lamb. The ruler of Starling, Celeste could create the extinction of her people if she doesn't win. Azul, leader of Skyling has run out of hope, with death seeming more attractive to him. Cleo, the beautifully cruel ruler of Moonling will stop at nothing to get freedom for her people. Oro, King of Lightlark and ruler of Sunling has his life-- and the life of the other islands hanging from a thread where breaking all the rules could be the end for them all and in his desperation, he calls for Grimshaw, the common enemy for the people of Lightlark, but if he doesn't care about alliances, or winning... why has he answered the call?
And most importantly, if they don't break the curse, will it be their inevitable end?
I usually try to keep my reviews brief for you all, but this book has so much that needs to be unpacked and it feels like instead of reading my usual 2-4 minute spiels, I'm pretty sure you'll be reading for a bit longer. So, time to break things down.
The Characters
Isla- Page one and you are pulled into the story. It's hypnotizing in a way to be pulled into her story through her eyes and you think: "well, their houses are meant to hypnotize with beauty" and there definitely is. As we follow her on her journey, we see her as a strong, clever woman who is incredibly stubborn, naive to a certain extent and severely underestimated and with her being the underdog with the world going against her at every turn, we are VERY INVESTED in her tale.
Oro- THIS MAN HAS ENTERED MY TOP 5 BOOK LOVE INTEREST LIST. I knew when we saw the illustrated art of him that many of us on Instagram were like "So, we're all going to simp for this man," And, yes, I will count myself as one of the people who fell in love with his character. Let's not forget this guy is infuriating for the first half of the book, but he gets soo much better that honestly, by the end, I just want him to live to the end (andtostaywithIslathatisall.)
Grim (Grimshaw)- This guy is supposed to be the villain, but this dude is infuriating too. But he detests tea, and that gives him bonus points for me. He also delivers the best lines which has us at the edge of our seats because this man is like THE TENSION MASTER in this book and his flirtiness with Isla has us all obsessed in the love triangle that forms. And let's not forget he's a pretty good lover in bed, just saying.
Cleo- I don't care if her illustration is pretty, or if I initially was rooting for this character, but I HATE HER. Like, everything in this book is built for the purpose of us hating this ruler and honestly, she could have been more of a villain than Grim in all honesty. She seems to make no new friends, and I am definitely interested as to why Oro is always defending her? (Like, methinks this guy has history with her!)
Azul- I love that his house is basically the party house and yet, the sadness that haunts him down had me emotional once I discovered what he lost and *cries* it was like my own heart was breaking. I admit I was a bit suspicious about him at first given how amused he was about the new participants arriving like he already had devised the death of many in the competition, but I came to enjoy his character and the jovial nature he keeps despite everything.
Celeste- *Keeps mouth shut* THIS WOMAN. I swear she is the perfect wolf in sheep's clothing here and that is all I will say about her.
Worldbuilding
Okay, some people took issue with this due to the writing style and how within the first thirty pages, it might have felt a little bit like an info dump, but while I do think this was the case, I think it was necessary for us to understand the world we were entering. Also, we need to keep in mind the age group was from 13-18, so it is meant to have, easy, accessible language that won't force me to pull out a dictionary to see what the author means and I love that. I think that while the worldbuilding may not be so extensive, it is still a mysterious world that pulls you in and the jungle/forest scenes were definitely great as well as the Underwater maze. There are also a lot of similes and metaphors which at times was helpful to create the image of allure even if it was a tad overused in this book.
Nonetheless, I appreciate the effort because as a writer, I always struggle here and my descriptions can be very shallow at times.
Plot
This book has been pitched to be Hunger Games Style and while I can compare some elements of it to the All of Us Villains duology, I think it offers it's own dark fairytale vibes which I absolutely love. The stakes are definitely high and I never thought I'd be so surprised by the twists and turns this book did. The only other surprising book that made me gasp as much as this one was Soman Chainani's Rise of the School for Good and Evil prequel which was amazing too.
While this book is centered on the adventure and the tournament with a lot of liars and cheaters, we don't head into the bloody nature of these competitions until later in the book, and death is promised. Who dies is always the top question in the mind of the reader. I had narrowed it to Cleo, Azul and Celeste and as you read further on, the list definitely does shift and it is by the end that you get the big AHA moment.
Now, let's talk about the tension in this book because GOD THERE WAS SO MUCH OF IT. I do think it was a bit counterproductive that she mentioned the word tension when you could feel it from the interactions, but that doesn't erase the fact that there were many intense scenes that involves Isla with either Grim or Oro (I enjoyed their interactions a lot more!) AND I WAS DEFINITELY the person who went to rant to one of my closest friends about how this book was killing me and that I just needed Isla to kiss either of them (or both!) My wish eventually came true and of course, it still caught me off guard.
BUT IT WAS STILL GLORIOUS until everything goes upside down and then i'm yearning for her to kiss someone else and to get a wildly passionate and spicy chapter knowing that just might be in my wildest dreams (although I think Oro could possibly beat Grim in the lover department like in all the other demonstrations!) Last but not least, here goes my little soapbox moment about this book.
A lot of people have review bombed this book and have given it bad reviews and while it seems like an overwhelming amount of bad reviews, I think a lot of it just attributes to the envy of her being a Latina author who has climbed up the ranks in a short time span. But, she is meant to make Latina women proud for the accomplishments. Alex Aster has been able to get her book already being turned into a movie before it even came out and it goes to show that her effort into making this book is paying off. Many authors only dream of getting a film made. I could be biased being a Latina myself, but she is in many ways a role model and someone who always remembers to be grateful with her followers for supporting her in her journey.
With that being said, you can bet I will be patiently (or not so patiently!) waiting for book 2 to hit the shelves! In summary, don't walk, run to get your copy!
Even if it's just so I can rant with someone else about this book.
Overall: 5/5 stars
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