Violet must accept the ugly realities of her existence... and try to stay alive. But then a forbidden romance erupts between Violet and a handsome gentleman hired as a companion to the Duchess’s petulant niece. Though his presence makes life in the Jewel a bit brighter, the consequences of their illicit relationship will cost them both more than they bargained for.
I will fully admit that I haven’t read any of the books that
are apparently being compared to it, though I do have The Selection in my queue
once I get through a bunch of books I requested from authors and all that fun
stuff. My first impression of the book
was that it was a bit unsettling; I mean, why wouldn’t it be? It seems to go back and forth on its
impression of surrogates, whether they’re slaves or they’re girls who’ve gotten
a great opportunity in their life.
I really did enjoy most of the book, mostly because the
problems Violet faces and the ways she reacted made sense to me. She’s torn on her life in the Jewel, one she
feels like she should hate and yet, every time the Duchess gives her something
for acting good and staying in line, she can’t help but think, “Well, maybe
this isn’t so bad.” I have to admit that I didn’t really like the fact that she
started right off with thinking how unfair it all is; it’s becoming a cliché in
dystopian, I think, for characters to be Rebels From the Start. One of the things some people seem to have a
problem with is that she’s special, as in has “better” or “more” as far as
other surrogates (as in her Augeries, in this case) but I’m one of those people
that’s of the opinion that in a lot of cases, main characters do have to be
special in some way. If they don’t have
special powers, or a “tragic” background, then they’re just some random person
thrown into the events for no reason, and I’d find that boring.
A part I can honestly say I enjoyed was the Duchess. I didn’t find myself hating her, even though
we probably were supposed to. She has
her obviously mean moments, of course, such as when she threatens to break
Violet’s hand, and when she has Annabelle drug her so they can try to
impregnate her again without even telling her it was happening. But in the grand scheme of things, it’s
obvious that she’s not the worst person ever.
The reveal about what the Electress is trying to do as far as surrogates
makes that clear, if it’s true (though I personally am a bit skeptical,
considering the Electress came from the Bank, not the Jewel, and so wasn’t
raised like the royalty).
One of the problems I did have with the book, however, is
the “instalove.” As in she’s in love with Ash as soon as she meets him. And I was actually fine with quite a lot of
the book after they met, however… I couldn’t help but slam my head on the
nearest hard surface sometimes. When she
sees him and Carnelian kissing in the ballroom, for instance, even after she
heard during that very first encounter that he might be obligated to kiss her
or even have sex with her, if that’s what she wishes, she freaks out and thinks
that he’s a traitor. I mean,
seriously? I know you’re smarter than
that, Violet. It seemed like it was just
put in there to create drama and, in the end, the same ending could’ve been achieved
by a lot of other means.
Also the ending is a cliffhanger and the worst kind too,
where you’re left thinking “Where’s the rest?” as in “That’s more like the end
of a chapter not a book,” and people who’ve read some of my past reviews would
know I hate that device. It doesn’t stop
me from being interested in the next books, but I still hate it because I find
it sloppy.
Still, I think it’s worth a shot, so happy reading!
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