Kim M. (Eucalia) reviewed on 11/3/2008 + 52 more book reviews

Somehow I managed to both love and hate this book. I loved the story and I loved the characters, but there was absolutely no depth to this. Had this 400-page double-spaced novel been an 800-page single-spaced novel it would have been awesome! It felt a bit like an outline that still needed to be fleshed out. This is the story of Yelena, a young woman who is terribly abused as a teenager until she finally strikes back and kills one of her abusers. She is thrown into the dungeon and sentenced to hang, but on her way to the gallows she is given the alternative of being the Commander's food taster. When she chooses this option she is given a lethal dose of poison from which she can only survive if she receives a daily dose of the antidote. All of this is only the set up for the rest of the adventures in the book--it's a fabulously intricate and inventive plot. But is it like to live in the castle where Yelena lives? What is the world like outside the castle? You'll never know from reading this novel. How do the characters feel when all of this adventure is going on? Sure, you'll be told, but you'll never feel any of that yourself. There's some romance thrown in near the end of the book and it almost feels like a slap in the face it's so unexpected. Excuse me? Where did that come from? But for some reason, despite these rather large shortcomings, I still loved this book. This was the author's first novel and one can only hope that experience will make her writing fuller. I'm looking forward to reading the rest of the books in this series.

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