I truly enjoyed this book and all its twists. This is the first book I've ever read by Aster so I wasn't sure about if I would enjoy her writing style, but I really did! Every time I thought I had it all figured out she would flip the script and surprise me. I LOVED all the characters and the development of the main character, Isla. She really came into her own and found her own strengths along the way.

Oh boy… wie sehr ich mich auf dieses Buch gefreut habe und wie enttäuschend es am Ende für mich war.

Strong beginning, sluggish middle, strong ending First of all—this book is not a masterpiece in terms of writing style or worldbuilding. Nevertheless, I still had a really good time with it! I got into the story quite easily, and I found the various gifts and curses of the different folks really interesting. However, this brings me straight to a (small) point of criticism of the German edition. Only thanks to comments other readers did I find out halfway through the book that the English edition includes a glossary of the gifts and curses of the different folks, as well as a prologue about the prophecy—both of which are completely missing from the German version. That would have made things much easier for me, and I don’t understand why they left it out. Overall, too little was explained throughout the book. The worlds and what defines them were described too superficially, as were the characters, the history of the curses, and the Centennial. I would have liked much more depth there. The love story between Isla and Grim was slower than a slow burn, but at least that made sense later on. Unfortunately, I was also bothered by several spelling and logic errors, and at times so little happened that I doubted whether I would read book two at all. But the last 100–150 pages really redeemed it, when suddenly everything started happening at once. Even though I wanted to strangle Isla after Grim’s revelation about erasing memories—because she asked absolutely no questions, and by that point it should have been clear that Celeste wasn’t trustworthy (she must have known about Grim’s backstory as well), and Isla basically ran straight into a trap that you could see coming a mile away. Still, from that point on the story had me completely hooked again, and I’m really excited to see how everything develops around Isla, Oro, and Grim, and what Cleo is planning. So—it’s worth enduring the dull stretch in between!

3

3-3,5 Sterne Dieses Buch war wirklich schwierig für mich.. Erst fand ich es sehr langweilig, der Schreibstil war so gar nicht meins und es hat mich null gefesselt. Dann gefiel es mir irgendwann etwas besser..aber der Love Interest am Ende hat es mir dann versaut. Hätte mir den Verlauf dort trotz allem ganz anders gewünscht und bin enttäuscht. Weiß auch nicht, ob es mich genug reizt zu erfahren wie es weitergeht, aber gleichzeitig bin ich schon neugierig.. Naja, wir werden sehen, wenn es soweit ist..