Published by: Simon & Schuster UK, July 2nd 2015
Genre: YA, Your-Guess-Is-As-Good-As-Mine
Pages: 320
Format: Ebook
When the Princess of Nova accidentally poisons herself with a love potion meant for her crush, she falls crown-over-heels in love with her own reflection. Oops. A nationwide hunt is called to find the cure, with competitors travelling the world for the rarest ingredients, deep in magical forests and frozen tundras, facing death at every turn.
Enter Samantha Kemi - an ordinary girl with an extraordinary talent. Sam's family were once the most respected alchemists in the kingdom, but they've fallen on hard times, and winning the hunt would save their reputation. But can Sam really compete with the dazzling powers of the ZoroAster megapharma company? Just how close is Sam willing to get to Zain Aster, her dashing former classmate and enemy, in the meantime?
And just to add to the pressure, this quest is ALL OVER social media. And the world news.
No big deal, then.
And just to add to the pressure, this quest is ALL OVER social media. And the world news.
No big deal, then.
I didn't mind this book ... but I didn't love it. From the beginning it was just a little odd to me, and fluffy. I didn't connect to the characters really, even though they were okay, and their romance was neither here nor there. Plus the villain was one dimensional and typically evil.
When reading, the world is a major thing with me, and this world was ... strange. It had the magical royalty you'd expect from a high fantasy or historical, but it was actually sci-fi, I think, given it's set in the future (or contemporary times? it wasn't clear) and there's all sorts of electronics and fancy tech. It just clashed, the magic and technology, the world and the story. It didn't feel futuristic enough for sci-fi, nor magical enough for fantasy, just somewhere in between that didn't feel right to me. That was the major reason I didn't enjoy this book that much.
I did like some things - the alchemy/apothecary stuff was cool to read and I LOVED that there were definitions and magical properties of plants mixed in with the story. And I liked the adventure stuff, and Evelyn being in love with herself was both sad and hilarious. But the rest? It was kind of flat.
Ultimately, this is an okay book. If you connect with the characters, though, you'll probably like it more than I did.
(Side note: OH GOD THIS IS A SERIES??? HOW??? It ended pretty definitely.....)
(Side note: OH GOD THIS IS A SERIES??? HOW??? It ended pretty definitely.....)
Characters ★★★☆☆
Setting/world ★★☆☆☆
Oh I remember reading about this book and I thought it sounded cute. But why is there a villain? Is this a Disney movie?
ReplyDeleteA really bad Disney movie! Yes! The bad guy Emilia appears out of nowhere, does barely anything, isn't particularly threatening despite making a tonne of threats, and then she steals some stuff/sets something on fire.
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