The idea for this book series is pretty chill, and it even started out pretty dang well, but unfortunately, it had a few key issues.

The Melodramatic Romance: It is so utterly ridiculous. I think maybe this is the book I rolled my eyes at the most this year. Now just imagine a poetic flowery 16 year old boy obsessed with destiny and who thinks he's found his one true love, who also happens to be the Chosen One, the super-special, super-powerful (gorgeous!!) mage who will save the universe from the Bane.

Now imagine being privy to his every thought.

Imagine. The. Crap. He. Will. Think.

And not just think...say.

"My love, my sky, my destiny". (Actually, I think this line is from Book Two, but still, my copy of the book has been returned to the library, and this gets the point across.)

*gags*

I mean, I can take overly dramatic declarations of love, trust me, but not when it's coming from 16 year olds who used to make out with a fricking construct in, essentially, a dream world that he gave the appearance of his crush. (Yeah, I don't get it either) And not when it's put in that silly way.

But besides the melodrama, and Titus occasionally creeping me out, it wasn't that bad otherwise. The weirdest part about it was that I would go from "ugggggh" to "awwww" and back again every 30 pages.

The Pacing: Oh dear heavens. It started off promising, at a good clip and with enough going on with the introduction of characters to keep you interested. But the middle of the book just draaaags on and on, with very little actually going on in any way except for destiny talk and Titus being a strangely likable drama queen, and then the end picks up and resumes a normal and intriguing pace. But the middle is brutal.

Iolanthe passing as a boy: I find trouble with this, because Titus is constantly mooning about how beautiful she is, but apparently a husky voice and a cocky grin are enough to pass her off as a teenage boy, not just for a couple weeks, but over a great deal of time. In close quarters with a bunch of teenage boys. I just find this hard to believe.

Like, ew: The crude and lewd homosexual/sex/"wand" jokes scattered throughout were a bit distasteful, I'm just saying.

And as for the low rating, the rest of that simply resulted from me not really caring about where these kids ended up. And if I wasn't complaining about it, then whatever it was probably was pretty okay.

Oh, oh and I should mention the Crucible. The idea for the Crucible was very original and inventive and mind-twisty and something that every fantasy book probably aspires to have.

AH, and he understand the value of history too. Oh boy. I think I might be in trouble. This book is like kryptonite for me--a bunch of my weaknesses all wrapped up in one attractive package. Tentatively thinking this might be a five-star book for me, here (knock on wood, please).

"Sarrica, you are my dearest friend, but right now I am finding it increasingly difficult not to punch you in the face."

So I am really loving this so far. Political court fantasy? I am so there. And it's even funny.

**An ARC of this book was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review**

This was quite a lot of fun, with magical reforms and mermaids and malicious intent strewn about...and that's just the "M"s. But honestly, I enjoyed it greatly. Atmospherically, it had a nice blend of whimsy and gloom, and the characters were just right. Full review to come after publication.

Can't wait to read the sequel!

I went into this book with very low expectations, which is probably why I was pleasantly surprised for most of it. I liked the story, so far as the X-Men meets high political fantasy went, but it was seriously bogged down with romantic entanglements, what with a frelling love square. That's a new trend, I'm seeing. Love triangles are so 2011.

Regardless, I was quite pleased that Mare was not the only super-special snowflake, as that and the love square would have tipped me over the edge. But even though, love square annoyance aside, it was a fine book, I have to agree with my friend Kass: "I don't care for this book one bit because, frankly, I feel like I've already read it. Multiple times."

There's really nothing wrong with the book but also not very much right, unless you count the gorgeous cover and endpages. The story has been done before and it'll be done again. (On a slightly related note, I keep hearing people comparing it to Red Rising and their comparisons seem legit, but I've never read it.) I wish I liked it, but it just wasn't doing anything for me.