Synopsis From Goodreads
After seven grueling years of captivity in the Garden—a burlesque troupe of slave girls—sixteen-year-old Rose finds an opportunity to escape during a performance for the emperor. But the hostage she randomly chose from the crowd to aid her isn’t one of the emperor’s men—not anymore. He’s the former heir to the throne, who is now leading a rebellion against it.
Rayce is a wanted man and dangerously charismatic, the worst person for Rose to get involved with, no matter what his smile promises. But he assumes Rose’s attempt to take him hostage is part of a plot to crush the rebellion, so he takes her as his hostage. Now Rose must prove where her loyalties lie, and she offers Rayce a deal—if he helps her rescue the other girls, she’ll tell him all the Garden’s secrets.
Except the one secret she’s kept for seven years that she’ll take to her grave if she must.
Rayce is a wanted man and dangerously charismatic, the worst person for Rose to get involved with, no matter what his smile promises. But he assumes Rose’s attempt to take him hostage is part of a plot to crush the rebellion, so he takes her as his hostage. Now Rose must prove where her loyalties lie, and she offers Rayce a deal—if he helps her rescue the other girls, she’ll tell him all the Garden’s secrets.
Except the one secret she’s kept for seven years that she’ll take to her grave if she must.
Published March 6th 2017 by Entangled Teen
ISBN13: 9781633758483
Series: Standalone with series potential
Source: Bought
Review (4 Stars)
Found this book while scrolling through netgalley, initially I was drawn in by the striking cover which made me read the synopsis and me subsequently requesting it. I was unfortunately denied but I soon bought it from Amazon and I dived into the kindle edition of this fantasy.
I am going to say right off it you are looking some original or unique fantasy, then this book probably isn't for you. This book is packed with so many (amazing) fantasy tropes, from the 'lost princess' to the 'evil tyrant' from the 'rebel prince' to the 'friendly room mate/guard'. Although no love triangle so that is one trope missing from the conglomerate of tropes. I know that in the book community we love to talk about all the tropes we can't stand, but there is a reason that these tropes have become tropes, and that is because people enjoy them. I think this book came into my reading life at the right moment, work has been crazy and reading has been low on the list of priorities. So this book was perfect as a book which I could just sink into and loose myself into a world full of new characters, yet it felt familiar in many ways because of the familiar tropes. As such it didn't require much brain power to follow the story - always nice after a long day at work.
It did take me a short time to work about the terminology used in the 'garden', and later with the 'glow' of the rebellion it really confused me along with their weapons. However, it didn't matter as I think the main power of this book is a great set of characters which were so wonderfully crafted that as the reader, I felt as though I had a connection to. The core leaders of the rebellion were cautiously open and I felt as though I understood them in that they obviously had a heart for their abused country, yet the life they lead has taught them the necessity for precautions.
Overall, this book flowed perfectly for me. I would recommend this book to all those Throne of Glass lovers who need to get out of a reading slump.
