bookfairy95
3.5 stars I had a hard time getting into this book, mostly because of the second storyline and probably because of the format - I listened to in on audio. I loved January’s storyline, her character and her development. I was quite sad everytime it got interrupted for the storyline of January’s book. I do see why her book was so important though and I do think it quite brilliant in the way it was executed and how these two plots came together. It is certainly unique and unlike anything I’ve read so far. Now, the writing is beautiful. I do think this book would have been a lot better if I had actually read it, because then I would have experienced the writing style and all the descriptions fully. With the audio book I found myself distracted a few times, because nothing actually happened and the story didn’t seem to progress. I think some bits and pieces where actually lost on me this way, which is truly a shame. However, it is also a book I don’t see myself rereading simply because I know how everything ends now and I know about the big plot twist (which wasn’t really that big to be honest). How the story was executed (I said this again) was brilliant. I loved it! Neverless, the big realisation of what and why and WHO came to me pretty soon. Very early into the story I already had some theories and in the end they proved to be true, so I knew how the story would turn out. Seeing it unravel was still good though! The characters are… different. In a good way. January started off as a little girl that had dreams and fantasies and learned early on that those dreams probably would not come true for her, because she is different than the others. Different personality. Different way of seeing the world and its wonders. Different ethnicity. Different upbringing. She learned to live with it and learned to fit in, until she was wronged. And that, in my opinion, was a wonderful change. When she came to the realisation that the world isn’t as good as she thought and that the people she loved aren’t necessarily good people, she developed a great deal and became a young woman who was willing to fight for what she wanted. Another character I found to be well developed was the antagonist. There was a very blurry line between good and bad and I liked the fact that January still loved him even though he turned out to be a monster. The family dynamics were also different and… deep? There was way more to it than one would suspect in the beginning. A vast range of emotion and feelings of love and guilt. I wish those would have been talked about more though. With a standalone you only have limited possibilities in bringing across such fantastic worlds AND do all the main characters and side characters justice in their development. And while the world was very well built, I wanted to know more about the father. His personality was a very interesting one and I loved the chapters from his perspective. I wish there had been more. I wish there had been more about this special romance.
