2020 So I Suddenly Come Into a Lot of Reading Time

3/5

I picked up this 2002 duology because I was looking for a enemies-to-lovers story that was more or less similar to The Cruel Prince. It was pretty much what I expected, starting off with a pair of capable siblings defending their land from the tyrant king. But as the novel progressed, the protagonist grew more and more stupid. She was aware of her ignorance and stupidity and yet did nothing to improve it. She would feel ashamed of her ignorant actions, but then be too afraid to apologize and confront them, so instead we spend the novel burdened by her incompetence. Other than that, the plot and characters are interesting, and I was moved enough by our underdogs to be sympathetic to their plight. 

1/5

I was drawn in from the very first page with McLemore's beautiful writing. She captured the magical atmosphere perfectly, similar to the way Erin Morgenstern captured the magic of her Night Circus. The novel is also gender identity conscious, which would be a big plus for those looking for more representation in YA novels. But the biggest drawback and the reason why I didn't finish is because the novel was boring. The plot didn't move fast enough, which may have been in part due to the beautiful writing slowing the author down. 

3.5/5

This 2005 novel is another that I found in my search for something similar to The Cruel Prince. The high-stakes, poison-happy plot of the book and enemies-to-lover relationship make it a closer match to Cruel Prince than Crown Duel. The main character is very smart and the multiple twists in the plot both make this a strong read, but the aspect that truly stood out to me was Snyder's handling of past trauma. Snyder's slow reveal of our protagonist's trauma gives it the weight it deserves. She truly shows us the emotional impact of past events, rather than blandly using them to add motives or false stakes. A small downside of the novel would be that it also contains the trope of a protagonist finding out that she actually has magical powers, but that took a small role in this novel and actually played well into the rest of the plot. Overall, I would recommend.