The main character annoyed me

It is a well written story, a nice world building and it is not like you have to force yourself to listen/read until the end. However, the whole patriotic theme pervading the story just is not my cup of tea, and I don’t like the message I heard out of this book.
The female main character annoyed me completely, not getting tired of defining herself and justifying her decisions by phrases like „I am the Cornaro heir“, „I am the daughter of Raverra“, „I am the loyal daughter of the Serene City“ or „I am the loyal daughter of the empire“ all through the story. In my opinion she is supporting an oppressive system, and even though she is trying to prevent it, she is ready to burn a whole city out of duty to the empire if commanded. The fact that she decides to „remain unattached for political purposes“, not even by force of her mother but her own choice, thereby again backing up the oppressing rules of monarchy, also wins her no favors from me. If you choose power, why not choose to fight for your love with that power as well?
I guess if you are a fan of books about political intrigues, this is the perfect book. But it’s just not for me.

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2 Leute fanden das hilfreich

Wonderful book

Cleverly drafted story, colourful and believable characters and a lovely idea of magic. I went directly on with book number two!

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This doesn't work for me

The story is pretty well written, the characters are intriguing and the fatansy world is interesting enough.

There is 1 major problem within the story in my opinion.
The treatment of Zaira after her capture makes absolutely no sense in context to the goals the government has for her. She should've been put next to her controller right away regardless of any political problems and she probably should've gotten the treatment of a second daughter who won't inherit any political power. This way they could've ensured she gets as much freedom as possible, gets an education and much more time with her controller to form a bond, it also could've served as a pretty good proof of trust towards Zaira.

Then there's one more problem, but that's much more subjective since it has to do with the amount of stories I already know with nearly the same premise. I was able to jump over minutes of content regularly without feeling that I missed anything important. This probably wouldn't have been a problem if I was reading this story in a book, but listening to it as an audiobook it sapped most of my interest quite fast.

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