Sandy Gelpieryn

World building was attempted but simplistic. Organization of note goes by The Corporation. There is also a Sisterhood. One language I guess spans multiple planets. We have an evil Empress and a Princess who discovers Evil is real (gasp!). In all, book needs a good editor. Repetitive phrasing about not vomiting produce the opposite effect. Also much too long. And it just stops rather than ends. It’s fine to create a series and link one to the other but a satisfying ending plus a slightly open ended epilogue is much fairer to the reader. Especially in a book of this length. Reads very young YA. Except for the sex scenes which add nothing. People lust out of nowhere. They have amazing sex and I guess fall in love with no showing. We are just told. If 2.5 stars were a thing that’s closer to what this is. I listened to the audiobook. Narrators are good, they rate a 5.

Very well thought out premise that made me rethink many prior ideas. Worth reading a few times to get all the nuance. Well worth the time to dedicate and feel like a great deal was learned. And that you can follow a gameplay that values the many over the few or the one. Solidarity over loneliness. Values over apathy or nihilism. Human rights over free market pipedreams and inequity so deep it’ll take centuries to pull it out. Health care. Basic income. Voting for every citizen. I want to live with freedom to live my values, with government taking taxes from billionaires to lift us all up. And lastly an education that’s quality and obsessed with truth. So we can all have the freedom to thrive.

This YA had an interesting premise and was well told. The audiobook version and wonderfully performed. However the plot had some pretty big logic gaps. The bad guys had a point, which is usually good and makes you think. But the situation of the way magicians are treated (including the MC) belies the argument of the heroes too much. If a peaceful situation was the intent and excuse for a rather breathtaking deception, then at a minimum we should see true respect between magicians and non magicians. The deception alone is still enough to ponder. But the outcome of it should have been better. Other than that, the world building is rich and the two MCs are cute and honest with each other leading to an organic romance that didn’t seem forced. A good read that could have reached excellence if a little better thought through.