​​​Characters and Plot

I was very invested in the first 20% of the book, mostly because of the setting and dreamy sights of it, and I still hadn't come down from my excitement of looking at the gorgeous cover and the art inside of it. However, after that, I quickly got bored and found some problems in the book. ​

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The writing style... every sentence ends with a metaphor, everything is pretty much hyperbolize, now, I actually like lyrical and poetic writing, but a lot of the time, the book uses it in situations that don't fit. The main character can be doing the simplest thing, and the book would exaggerate it most ridiculously. Now, talking about the main character, I found Yining to be impulsive, naive, and to make the brightest choices. How she survived in court that long, I don't know, probably plot armour. I was surprised the prince hadn't executed her for being rude. I'm not saying that's what he should do, but the book spends so much time characterizing the prince as this cruel person that it seems contradictory that he just lets everything Yining did slide.

 

Yining and her sister's relationship wasn't developed well in my opinion, it was too rushed, one moment her sister was ready to kill her, yet the next she found out that Yining is her sister, she goes all protective mode, and now they suddenly love each other so much despite not seeing each other for years. There weren't real bonding moments imo. 

 

The plot... it didn't really have a direction, it just goes with whatever Yining decided to do next, there wasn't a real stake, as the ring took forever to kill Yining. The character didn't have this strong push to her action; she kind of just went with whatever other characters told her to do. 

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Overall, I think this book could be more interesting and more exciting. It was quite boring at times, but I still kind of enjoyed it, and it wasn't hard to get through and understand. I would recommend this book if you are new to fantasy and want to read a Cinderella retelling. 

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