I decided to take a break from my Kindle recently and read some physical books for a change, wild I know! Before I get into the nitty-gritty of the book, I do have to say that I think I liked this book as a whole but was pretty disappointed/annoyed with certain parts. I also do think that I’ll enjoy the sequel a lot more when/if I ever read it.
So, there are 3 things, tropes, clichés, whatever you call them, that kept me from loving this book. While Cal is a bit guilty of them, most of the problems revolve around Shadow. First and foremost is how Shadow acts when she first meets Cal, specifically thinking he’s arrogant and trying to tell him what to do, and getting mad when he doesn’t listen to her. I couldn’t stop myself from thinking, “bitch, he doesn’t know you, and you’re the one that wanted to be his apprentice. Why are you trying to tell him what to do?”. It’s like she has no clue what being someone’s apprentice entails, aka doing what the mentor says and; not getting mad when they say they know more than you because they do!
The second and third things that really really really annoyed me both dealt with romance cliches. First was how Shadow (and Cal to a much lesser extent) got jealous when the other flirted/kissed the marks. I’m fine with jealousy in books when it’s more playful/not serious, but I got super aggravated when Shadow got unreasonably jealous when Cal had to kiss the duchess. I was just like, “girl, what do you expect. Trying to seduce the targets is part of the job of being an assassin/spy.”. I would have loved it if instead of getting jealous, they both joked and teased each other about the flirting instead. The second cliche that got to me was how they both assumed the other didn’t like them till the end. This one wasn’t as bad, but it’s just an overdone plot device in my mind, so I would have preferred it if it didn’t happen in the first place.
Even though I am interested in reading the next book I have to only give this one a 5.5 out of 10.
Nerd Thoughts 