However, if you are going to compare it to ACOTAR you will probably be a bit disappointed. 

 

The Plot

 

Poppy is stuck in a small room for her entire life, unable to show her face or speak to anyone but a 

 

select few, and is subjected to a destiny where she will be given to the Gods where she will become immortal. She is looked at as a God by the kingdom because she was blessed by the Gods at birth, and she has powers that she is not allowed to share with anyone.

 On top of that, she is abused by the Lord of her castle and she is not allowed to do anything about it. I mean how much suffering can a poor girl go through? She possesses an adventurous and defiant spirit that causes her to break the rules many times in the pursuit of freedom and helping others with her abilities. However, with the mist, a dangerous fog that hosts monsters called craven created by a disgraced kingdom named Atlantis, she must be on her guard and learn how to defend herself from the unknown. 

 

The number one thing that I could not let go of while reading this book was how predictable it was. I guessed, and I'm guessing a lot of readers, every single plot twists in the first 100 pages of this book. I think that is why it took me so long to read it, I knew exactly what was going to happen way before it actually did. It is pretty much screamed in your face from the very beginning. It is one of the reasons that I really disliked Poppy, because it was so obvious and she just couldn't understand it even though she spends the whole time bragging about how smart she is. 

 

I think that if it wasn't so predictable, the plot and the plot twists would be very interesting. There are a lot of things up in the air and you spend the whole book putting things together and trying to figure out the truth behind the world that they are placed into. In the last 100 pages when everything clicks to Poppy, it is very interesting and changes your view on the entire world which I think is cool about these types of books. It makes you want to go back and read it to pick up on things that you might have missed now that you know the truth. However this bit is kind of ruined after you pretty much know everything before it is even said. 

 

The Setting

 

It was a very slow build up to explaining the world that it is placed in and all of the politics of the kingdoms and why they are like that. However, it was pretty easy to understand when you got into it. The religious aspect is a big part of the plot and how the world is run. Everyone in the kingdom and the surrounding villages worships there many Gods. 

 

The politics and magic systems are very cookie cutter, and I feel like it has a lot of overused themes that just kind of get repetitive and boring. However, there are some unique things thrown in such as Poppys powers and the ascension. 

 

I could tell that as the writer wrote the book she grew much more comfortable with the world and the characters which made the book much better. The last 100 pages were great and exciting and really expanded on an interesting world that made me want to read more.     

 

The Characters 

 

I personally disliked Poppy, the main character, even though I tried so hard to like her. She fell victim to, in my opinion, one of the worst fantasy tropes there are. That is, she is so dainty and small but yet she can fight so well that she can take on some of the strongest beasts in the land and immortal people without batting an eye. This just made her seem kind of cringy and not relatable. 

 

Also, she is constantly referred to as being very smart, both by her and those around her. However, she could not figure out anything that was going on behind the scenes, though the answers were basically thrown right into her face, which was very frustrating for the reader. However I can understand why she would not know many things because she has been trapped in a small room her entire life. But if that's the case, maybe stop referring to her as this genius even though she is not? She also blindly trusts a man she basically didn't know.

 

She was all around just a very frustrating and cringy character. 

 

Hawke, the love interest in the story, fell kind of flat for me in the story. I didn't really see his connection or obsession with Poppy or why he liked her so much after barely knowing her. I feel like he was trying to be like Rysand from A Court of Thorns and Roses, but kind of missed the mark. I think that by the end of the book his character became a lot more interesting and I feel like there is a lot more to explore with him. 

 

I didn't like how Poppy just became this weak, senseless person whenever she was around Hawke. It took away so much of her character and I hope that this is something that gets explored in the next book. I can understand why she was like this though considering she had never experienced anything like love or attachment in her life, but still. 

 

The smut was ok, I just wish that there was more of a slow build up. I feel like everything happened too quickly so we didn't get to see an actual connection made, and the smut itself was just kind of put in there to be there. With a 6 book series I think that it could have created a lot more tension and it would have been so much better when it finally happened. Again though, towards the end of the book it definitely got a lot better.   

 

The Side Characters

 

One of the things that I really appreciate is that Jennifer L. Armentrout does very well writing her side characters. 

 

There are not many prominent ones, which I think is a good thing because they get to know the ones that are there very well. Even though they do not get mentioned a lot, somehow I still ended up caring (and hating) them. They felt like actual people and you could understand why they do what they do. Additionally, once things start getting revealed towards the end of the book you start seeing all of them in a different light which I really like. 

 

I loved her relationship with Victor, her father figure/mentor. He is basically the only one that she is completely comfortable with and I wish that we saw more of them together and how their friendship came to be. Tawny, her maid and best friend, was a nice addition, and it was cool to see Poppy's inner struggle of trusting her. However that part did get kind of frustrating because Tawny proved her true friendship to her again and again and she could not accept it. 

 

To Sum Up

 

I will probably be reading the next book in this series purely because of what I mentioned before, that the characters and the world building get so much more interesting towards the end of it. The characters become deeper and you get a lot more action and adventure, which everyone wants to see from a YA fantasy book. 

 

You can definitely tell that this book is mainly set up for the rest of the series, and that it is not a good representation of what the theme of the whole series will be. 

 

I would say that if you wanted something along the lines of A Court of Thorns and Roses to give this series a try. However, go into it understanding that there is a lot of frustrating stuff that you will have to read through and that it definitely takes a long time to become interesting.