Just a note: I am fully aware and acknowledge the problems within this book. I completely respect other peoples opinions surrounding them. I suffer with chronic pain myself and I know how this particular issue may affect some people but I want this review to remain relatively free from that criticism and focus on the books plot and characters, even though I do believe this is an important issue.
This book follows the story of Cyra and Akos. Cyra has a currentgift which causes pain to herself and others which is exploited by her brutal father and brother, to bring to pain to their enemies in Shotet. Akos is the son of an oracle and a farmer and lives a quiet life in the eyes of the quiet people of Thuvhe, when he and his brother are taken by the rulers or Shotet he is thrust into Cyra’s world and they realize they are not so different and may want the same outcome. They work together to try and save Akos’ brother and begin to understand their pre-determined fates.
Cyra is a really interesting character who is constantly at war with herself, she truly believes she deserves the pain that she is in and although she hates the pain she has to cause people at the hands of her brother, she feels powerless to stop it. She goes through a great change within this book and she learns to accept herself and control her gift because she is strong enough and she is able too. I like that although she has been brought up the same way as her brother, she hasn’t been completely warped like he has, she still tries to do the right thing and is very aware of her emotions. I really enjoyed her character and I am interested to learn about her real parents.
Akos is another really interesting character, it constantly states at the beginning that he is the small, shy child and yet he straight away kills someone in an attempt to protect his brother. He never stops trying to save Eijah, always strengthening himself, never losing sight of protecting those he loves, he really develops well as a character and becomes a long stronger physically and emotionally. I love his character because he is very kind and although he hardens up by living with Cyra he never loses who he is and what his goals are which I really like.
I am really excited to find out more from Eijah, he really became a shell of the person that he was and I hope that in the next book he becomes a stronger character and reclaims some of what he was because he was really interesting at the beginning of the book. I liked the Benesit sisters and after what happened to Ori I hope Isae doesn’t lose herself and remains focused on what really counts, bringing down Ryzek and being a good ruler to her people. I also want to know more about the renegades and I am interested to see what involvement they will have in the next book and if they could cause any problems with Ryzeks captivity.
I thought the story was really good and I really enjoyed how it was written, I liked the flashbacks at the beginning and thought they were really important to the story. I also enjoyed the twists that happened throughout, such as learning about Eijah being the next Oracle and Cyra not being a Noavek both of which I really did not see coming so that was super interesting.
My favourite part was Akos managed to get Cyra back from Ryzek and onto the ship to safety. When he calls her ‘my Cyra’ and she just sighs and is so happy in that moment. It was such a nice break for them both, just a bit of romance in the utter turmoil that was going on around them and it was so subtle, yet so sweet.
I also really enjoyed the scene with the festival and when they danced and fought in the paint outside, they both had such a nice time. She felt no pain and was happy for a while. It was so vivid and written in such great detail, it was really fun to read.
I really liked the ending as well, I think it was a good point to end on. There was a bit of a cliffhanger but most of it was a neutral point, they weren’t in the middle of battle and we aren’t waiting to see if someone has died, it was quite a nice place to end on. Definitely not an Allegiant ending which I was terrified of.
The only part I didn’t like, story wise was the fact that Akos didn’t get as much as Cyra, it started off as both and then went entirely her and then back to dual perspective and I don’t really understand why is was so inconsistent. I really liked reading from Akos’ point of view and would have loved to know what was going on with him and in his head during the first half of the book. As much as I loved Cyra I feel that it should have been dual perspective all the way through the book, I know they were together throughout that part but they still feel differently and think separately.
I really enjoyed this book and would definitely recommend it if you loved Veronica Roth’s other series Divergent, it has a strong female character, an interesting world and a cute romance that I really enjoyed. I am really excited to read the second book and really hope that some of the issues with this one are resolved in that one.
I gave this a 4 out of 5 stars
QuothTheBookLover 