Welcome to the first half of the 2020 Dystopia Reading Challenge !! This will be the first of two bi-annual link-ups for your reviews! So this link-up will cover January, February, March, April, May & June! The link-up will always be easily accessible by hovering over Dystopia Reading Challenge tab and selecting Review Link-Up from the drop down menu. :) HELPFUL LINKS: Dystopian, (post-)apocalyptic and sci-fi YA of 2016 Best Dystopian & Post-Apocalyptic Fiction Best YA Dystopia Novels LINK-UP GUIDELINES: Link up your book reviews under "Review Link-up" as follows: Name of book @ Your blog name, Goodreads, Shelfari, Booklikes, etc. Make sure to use an email you check, because if you win the giveaway, I'll be using that email to contact you. Remember, each review you link up is an entry into the giveaway! :) Giveaway is open international as long as the Book Depository ships to you! :) Try and stop by some other reviews! Lets create a sense of community and get to t...
Author: Amanda Foody
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Publication Date: April 10, 2018
Pages: 411
Format: Hardcover/Own
Welcome to the City of Sin, where casino families reign, gangs infest the streets…and secrets hide in every shadow.
Enne Salta was raised as a proper young lady, and no lady would willingly visit New Reynes, the so-called City of Sin. But when her mother goes missing, Enne must leave her finishing school—and her reputation—behind to follow her mother’s trail to the city where no one survives uncorrupted.
Frightened and alone, Enne has only one lead: the name Levi Glaisyer. Unfortunately, Levi is not the gentleman she expected—he’s a street lord and a con man. Levi is also only one payment away from cleaning up a rapidly unraveling investment scam, so he doesn't have time to investigate a woman leading a dangerous double life. Enne's offer of compensation, however, could be the solution to all his problems.
Their search for clues leads them through glamorous casinos, illicit cabarets and into the clutches of a ruthless Mafia donna. As Enne unearths an impossible secret about her past, Levi's enemies catch up to them, ensnaring him in a vicious execution game where the players always lose. To save him, Enne will need to surrender herself to the city…
And she’ll need to play.
Review: I was a little iffy going into this since it's got some mixed reviews. But I actually really enjoyed the story. It's a bit different than the other fantasy books I've been reading so it was a nice change of pace. I really liked the story taking place in New Reynes. It gave me a general feel of Las Vegas but with a dark magical dystopian twist. It was incredibly good.
I really liked the whole idea of people having talents, one blood talent and one split talent. Your blood talent is the stronger one while the split talent is weaker. But generally you should still be ok with your split talent. Which is why its a bit odd that Enne is absolutely rubbish with her split talent. Eventually she finds out neither of her names/talents are actually what they are, which explains why she is surprisingly good at other stuff that she shouldn't be good at. I however was surprised at what her true name/talents are and just why they were being hidden from her. Though I'm still not completely sure what exactly her blood talent is. I'm hoping it will be explained a bit better in the next book. I also was really intrigued with the fact that there was so many varying talents. Name a skill and there's a talent for it. I'm really excited to see more talents in King of Fools. The Shadow Game was also incredibly interesting. I can't say much without spoiling the whole idea of the game in general, but after reading it being played out, I definitely understand how people keep dying playing the game.
I thought Enne was an interesting character. She is a prim and proper girl whose been to finishing school. She comes to New Reynes to look for her mother. What she finds is a whole secret life her mother was leading without her knowledge. And Enne ends up getting sucked into the corrupted city that has taken her mom. She is so naive when she first arrives. She just starts blatantly asking questions and spouting off about her mom in a city where talking to the wrong person could get her in trouble. And she doesn't seem to understand this until she meets Levi and he gives her the overall jist of everything. After that she seems to be a mix of naive but growing. She's still making some mistakes that could get her into more trouble, but she's slowly learning how to survive and play the game of living in New Reynes. I really liked Enne's growth by the end of the book. She went from being naive, to being a girl that had balls. She became a lord over certain people. She walked into The Shadow Game determined to win despite having never played before. And she took every opportunity she got to get herself ahead. She went into New Reynes weak but has emerged much stronger than before.
Levi was also an interesting character. Enne first comes across him because her mother left a note to find him should she never return. But he ends up being much more interesting than just her mothers contact. He is lord of the Iron gang, one of the three big gangs in New Reynes. But he clearly has his own struggles. He's in a debt that could get him killed thanks to one of the mafia donnas. He's looked at to be challenged for lord of the Irons because he's not able to properly support the gang and pay them because of that crippling debt. And now he's roped in to Enne's issues with her mom. But partnering up with Enne to solve the mystery of her mothers disappearance makes life quite interesting for him. They both have this slow burn of falling for each other while working together. All Levi wanted was Enne's money if he helped her, but ends up having her save his life and falling for her instead. Though at the end of the book he's still on rocky ground regarding being lord of the Irons. I think Levi's growth was interesting. He went from just caring about the money for his gang to genuinely caring about Enne and wanting to know what the hell was behind her moms disappearance. It was neat watching him grow as well.
Overall, I really liked the story. My only issues were that I wish we got more background into the mizers and the rebellion. We are left to understand that one of Enne's talents is mizer related, but we don't get much more information besides that. I really felt like had we had more background of the mizers, I would have understood a few things much better. I also wish we had got more background regarding the talents, and the magic type of system in place. That also would have helped me understand a bit more. Mostly, my issues were that certain things just didn't have enough background for me to fully understand a number of things. Was this a huge deal-breaker though? No. I got the general idea of most stuff. I just want some more details. Hopefully we can get more in the next book!
I really liked the whole idea of people having talents, one blood talent and one split talent. Your blood talent is the stronger one while the split talent is weaker. But generally you should still be ok with your split talent. Which is why its a bit odd that Enne is absolutely rubbish with her split talent. Eventually she finds out neither of her names/talents are actually what they are, which explains why she is surprisingly good at other stuff that she shouldn't be good at. I however was surprised at what her true name/talents are and just why they were being hidden from her. Though I'm still not completely sure what exactly her blood talent is. I'm hoping it will be explained a bit better in the next book. I also was really intrigued with the fact that there was so many varying talents. Name a skill and there's a talent for it. I'm really excited to see more talents in King of Fools. The Shadow Game was also incredibly interesting. I can't say much without spoiling the whole idea of the game in general, but after reading it being played out, I definitely understand how people keep dying playing the game.
I thought Enne was an interesting character. She is a prim and proper girl whose been to finishing school. She comes to New Reynes to look for her mother. What she finds is a whole secret life her mother was leading without her knowledge. And Enne ends up getting sucked into the corrupted city that has taken her mom. She is so naive when she first arrives. She just starts blatantly asking questions and spouting off about her mom in a city where talking to the wrong person could get her in trouble. And she doesn't seem to understand this until she meets Levi and he gives her the overall jist of everything. After that she seems to be a mix of naive but growing. She's still making some mistakes that could get her into more trouble, but she's slowly learning how to survive and play the game of living in New Reynes. I really liked Enne's growth by the end of the book. She went from being naive, to being a girl that had balls. She became a lord over certain people. She walked into The Shadow Game determined to win despite having never played before. And she took every opportunity she got to get herself ahead. She went into New Reynes weak but has emerged much stronger than before.
Levi was also an interesting character. Enne first comes across him because her mother left a note to find him should she never return. But he ends up being much more interesting than just her mothers contact. He is lord of the Iron gang, one of the three big gangs in New Reynes. But he clearly has his own struggles. He's in a debt that could get him killed thanks to one of the mafia donnas. He's looked at to be challenged for lord of the Irons because he's not able to properly support the gang and pay them because of that crippling debt. And now he's roped in to Enne's issues with her mom. But partnering up with Enne to solve the mystery of her mothers disappearance makes life quite interesting for him. They both have this slow burn of falling for each other while working together. All Levi wanted was Enne's money if he helped her, but ends up having her save his life and falling for her instead. Though at the end of the book he's still on rocky ground regarding being lord of the Irons. I think Levi's growth was interesting. He went from just caring about the money for his gang to genuinely caring about Enne and wanting to know what the hell was behind her moms disappearance. It was neat watching him grow as well.
Overall, I really liked the story. My only issues were that I wish we got more background into the mizers and the rebellion. We are left to understand that one of Enne's talents is mizer related, but we don't get much more information besides that. I really felt like had we had more background of the mizers, I would have understood a few things much better. I also wish we had got more background regarding the talents, and the magic type of system in place. That also would have helped me understand a bit more. Mostly, my issues were that certain things just didn't have enough background for me to fully understand a number of things. Was this a huge deal-breaker though? No. I got the general idea of most stuff. I just want some more details. Hopefully we can get more in the next book!
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