CBR17 Bingo: O – The title starts with O.
When Ranka is sent south to fulfill a treaty between humans and witches by wedding the crown prince, she goes only so that she can try to bring the system down from the inside. But as she gets to know Galen and his twin sister, the brilliant and beautiful Princess Aramis, she begins to realize that the truth about the conflict between their people may be different than what she’s always believed.
What I really enjoyed about this book was how fearlessly the author tackled a main character who could have easily been unsympathetic. I’ve seen Ranka’s journey compared to that of Zuko in Avatar: The Last Airbender (and there’s cabbage merchant references to prove it!), but Mix makes her story darker, her journey thornier and lonelier, and adds on a hearty dollop of horror. There’s points in the book where the story freaked me out, and I’m usually not so squeamish!
However, I did think the dialogue was a bit unnatural- Percy’s lines in particular, meant to be witty, just felt glib instead. The middle of the book, where Ranka bonds with the royals and Percy, sags a little – there’s plenty of action and character development, but it happens in jerky bursts which I didn’t enjoy. It took me a while to warm up to the romance between Ranka and Aramis, but I was won over by the end though. Jury’s out on Percy and Galen.
Also, I have no idea why the top reviews on Goodreads rant about racism (claiming that the Black royals are oppressing the white Ranka), but frankly I don’t believe that ‘reviewer’ ever actually read the book. The plot sets ‘human’ and ‘witch’ against each other, and being a witch is indicated by the grayness of one’s fingernails – it has nothing to do with the color of their skin. And even this division is explored as mostly a dangerous dynamic. It’s a shame as it seems those reviews turned a lot of people off this book unfairly.
Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from NetGalley. This is my honest and voluntary review.