First off to anyone who actually enjoys the story I genuinely applaud you, however in this case I would suggest you go read up the red queen and the plagiarism drama (which I'll discuss) and if your cool with it...like personally...no. just no I'm sorry but. REASONS WHY I HATE THIS BOOK: -I hate Paedyn -I hate Kai -I hate the plot -it's lowk plagarism -Its not enemies to lovers -IM SORRY ITS JUST NOT GOOD I hate Padeyn: On the surface, Padeyn should be a likeable and compelling character. Her father is dead or whatever, she has a relationship with Adena, and now she's learned to become incredibly observant about every little thing around her in order to pass of as physic so she isn't sent to the scorches or whatever. SHE SUCKS. She felt like her only flaw was caring TOO MUCH for parts of the book, and be fr Adena barely got enough screen time to really feel all too relevant? Its like she gets swept away to her palace with hottie prince Kai and just forgets about everything else! And as I said for Adena, everyone was SO DISTRAUGHT over her death..............but lowk she just didn't feel important enough to Padeyn? Idk guys....idk. But it should've actually had impact, and it didn't. I hate Kai. HES COMIC RELIEF AND NOT IN A HOT WAY. I know OMG SWOON because PRINCE KAI, but he was bland and annoying. And he probably ruined 'darling' for me, which is sad cause I love it when ppl call ppl 'darling' and now I can't not think of Kai's ugly nonexistent face. I hate the plot. It is the red queen and the hunger games not in a cute 'look inspiration!' way in a lowk plagarism way. Its lowk plagarism (Copy pasted from a Goodreads review) the red queen: ➳ a kingdom divided into two - the ordinaires and the elites vs the reds and the silvers ➳ the elemental powers ➳ the silent stone ➳ silver hair ➳ forced to be a thief ➳ unknowingly steals from a prince ➳ falls in love with him ➳ a love triangle with two brothers ➳ the teaching how to dance with one brother ➳ the other brother taking her to the garden ➳ the sister best friend sewed clothes and she was tortured and killed ➳ the scarlett guard resistance ➳ the big plot twist at the end ➳ there was a big explosion during the important ball/dance/gathering the hunger games: ➳ loss of a father ➳ father teaching the daughter archery ➳ the daughter being skilled at archery ➳ fmc has a makeover ➳ what’s your favourite colour - because why not copy+paste lines of dialogue into your book and pass it off as your own? ➳ partners in the arena ➳ an arena ➳ the leaders making children fight to the death ➳ someone we liked dies tragically in the arena - who also had to be a brown girl with curly hair ➳ someone places flowers on their grave ➳ they watch the highlights of the arena, with the upper class enjoying watching teenagers kill each other ➳ the highlights are filmed in an odd way ➳ the host of the interview whatever has a “unique” appearance ➳ the screenings of the arena are shown with all the romance stuff and this is just oh so shocking to everyone ➳ comforting the other after a nightmare ➳ there are silver parachutes with gifts from sponsors ➳ everyone dying at the end of one of the trials - the same thing towards/at the end of the first book ➳ the mutts scene towards the end is similar to the wolf scene ➳ a love triangle involving one blonde golden retriever and one brunette black cat - my deepest apologies to all the cats and dogs out there, you didn’t deserve to be compared to these pieces of junk similarities to other books + bonus section: ➳ shatter me - aaron warner's “love” is changed to “darling” + kai's power is similar to that of a character in the series ➳ the darkest minds - the virus that leaves people with special abilities + there are different categories of abilities and the deadliest and most dangerous of them are eliminated ➳ the jasad heir - the three trials aspect although it was done so much more originally (i would absolutely recommend reading this if purposely unlikeable fmcs are your thing but many have pointed out that it does feel like a colonial romance which some may feel uncomfortable with) ➳ a court of mist and fury - the whole thing about kai having masks + specific moments + “darling” ➳ fourth wing - the vibes of the plot ➳ defy the night - something about the elites (?) ➳ the serpent and the wings of night ➳ renegades ➳ crystal bloom ➳ kindred’s curse It's pretty much a direct (but worse...) copy of the red queen. Its not enemies to lovers THERE IS NEVER A POINT WHERE THEY ARE REALLY ENEMIES! If you want a good example of enemies to lovers, look to Cardan and Jude from the cruel prince. They have a legitimate hatred for each other and learn to love each other as time goes on-Paedyn and Kai are simply in love even though they should be enemies, which is a very different breed from enemies->lovers, its just enemies in love. The entire time. Actually, its enemies in love -> just lovers.
Also, its like this insta-love situation? Which is weird. I hate insta love. It was weird. And its just not good. It sucks I'm sorry guys. Now get ready for a few excerpts from Goodreads reviews I agree with! “to phrase it simply 'powerless' has zero originally in it. the book is a replica of many popular books, such as The Hunger Games, but make it a cheap and bland AliExpress version. it consisted of recycled scenes jam-packed with tropes that the author was unable to mold to enhance and improve the storyline with.” “& it simply did not blend well because the final patchwork felt everything but spontaneous.” “I truly do not understand the hype for this. At all. There are so many other, better written fantasy romance novels out there. It wasn’t just that this was unoriginal and bad writing, but the romance was awful, the characters bland, the plot pacing so damn slow with so many pointless scenes, and every plot aspect was absolutely RIDDLED with logistic issues.” “This whole thing hinges upon tropes and other peoples’ nostalgia and love for to all the books I just listed above.” “The Hunger Games did it better. Red Queen even did it better. This author does not have a single original thought in her head.” “The temu version of red queen ? …POWERLESS IS THE BLATANT COPY OF RED QUEEN. PERIOD.” “She copied the dance scenes. She copied the forced trials scenes. She copied the characters. And only changed the names. She even copied stepping on toes etc etc ETC.” “Unknowingly stealing from a thief. Loss of a father. Silent stones or silencers. Walk in the gardens.” “EVEN BLAIRS CHARACTER WAS FULLY COPIED FROM THE RED QUEENS BI*CHY CHARACTER EVANGELINE.” “for a debut novel, it wasn’t that bad. for a book hyped up to the point where it could be mistaken as the greatest literary masterpiece this generation could ever bear witness to, it was trash.” If you'd like to read a much better enemies to lovers, I would highly recommend Holly Black's the cruel prince or Jane Austen's pride and prejudice. I believe she's written other enemies to lovers novels as well.
