Earlier this month I shared my review of A Curse so Dark and Lonely, the first book of Brigid Kemmerer's Cursebreakers trilogy. A young adult fantasy series with the first book inspired on beauty and the beast. I read the first book in a day or so and the pacing was just as great in this book. But I don't know if I like how the story continued. So, in this review, I hope to explain my feelings about this book. Let's get into it.
The book started with the point of view of Harper (the protagonist of the first book), after this chapter the narration shifts to Grey and Lia Mara. Grey was already familiar, as we discovered in the last book that he was the rightful heir. Lia Mara is a new character, but she is the daughter of queen Karis Luran of Syhl Shallow, the country next to Emberfall. Kemmerer completely lets go of the narration of both Rhen and Harper, which I didn't like. This book was recommended to me as I am a big fan of A Court of Thrones and Roses by Sarah J. Maas, so I was ready for a spicy love story of both of them. Well, that didn't happen and that disappointed me. For the first half of the novel, I was confused and I didn't know if I liked where the story was going. Now that I finished it I am still a mix between two feelings. First, the first novel might have been better as a standalone. Or maybe I might have liked it better as a standalone. It was a fun story and well written. Now this book could have been the start of a new series, with just Grey and Lia Mara as its protagonists even in the same world, yet less connected than it is in a trilogy. I understand that keeping the focus on Rhen and Harper might have been boring, which I why I don't know how I feel. I am convinced that the last book, which will be published in January, will be the dealbreaker for me.
If I just disliked the story it would have been easier to put this book away and not look at it again, but that is not the case for me. I liked the story, I liked the writing, I liked the plot and the world around it. It was just not what I expected or maybe wanted with the story. I would have loved to see Harper or Rhen throughout the story, just to keep it in line with the first book and that wasn't the case. I do hope, however, that Kemmerer will merge all the characters in her last book. As it seems that a lot is about to happen. I think that I am disappointed in the fact that I have the feeling that Kemmerer wanted to kind of do the same as Maas did in her series, aka truly changing the focus. But I did not like it as much here as I did there. I feel worried that Rhen might become the villain of the story and that is not what I want to happen, that is not what I feel like he deserves. But that might just be me.
I hope that you can see how unsure I am of my opinion of this book. But it definitely was a fun read, once I kind of got over my disappointment I flew through the pages as much as I did in the first. Kemmerer has a fun style of writing and takes you with her through the story. It is definitely Young Adult, which is why I might be disappointed in the amount of romance. I just want more, maybe that's it. Hahah. I think that this book did set my expectations for the last really high and I hope that Kemmerer will achieve that. This last book is definitely on my reading list for 2021.
Keep reading,
Julia
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