You get a book for free with Amazon Prime, you think it looks interesting, you see it trending on Goodreads and so you decide, "Sure, why not? Should be good, right?" Well, nope. This was another tough one to get through, ladies and gentlemen. We are not out of the times of Wannabe books quite yet. Sure, we don't have as many WannabeTwilight books anymore but we are far, far away from escaping the WannabeHungerGames books any time soon. Let's just dive in.
Kalinda has lived all her life as an anonymous orphan in the Sisterhood temple, wanting only to live in peace with her best friend Jaya. But that doesn't look like it's going to happen because she's suddenly Claimed by the rajah of Tarachand to be his bride. But not just any bride, his one hundredth and final bride and queen who must compete for her place in the palace. But Kalinda's worries are only just beginning as she finds herself thrown into the midst politics and scheming and death matches and finding out just how super special awesome she is!
Yeah, I quickly lost patience with this thing. I'm not kidding about how they make it very, very clear that Mary-Sue...I mean, Kalinda is the most special-est of special people in the history of special. She's the rajah's champion, she's the reincarnation of a legendary queen, she's a Fire Bender (I know they're called bhutas in this world, but let's be honest, who do they think they're fooling?), she's the rarest kind of Bender it is possible to be, she's a long lost princess, etc. etc. Seriously, this book throws every cliche "secret history/origin" story at us to make sure we know that Kalinda is really, really important and stuff, okay? Oh, and let's not forget everybody thinks she's beautiful but she thinks she's plain and she's a weak fighter yet always manages to defeat people stronger than she is. Those are Rules To Creating Your Own Mary Sue one and two!
In fact, they throw every cliche at us that they can possibly think of. Kalinda falls in love with the very first man she sees ever (and I mean it, the very first man she meets), who is so generic and bland he loves her back instantly and has both the most unoriginal job (Captain of the Guard) and scent (sandalwood, why is it always sandalwood?). And of course she has to participate in a tournament where people praise her for doing absolutely nothing and we don't even meet the other 99 wives except the ones that we can lump into generic stereotypes like the gossiping, vain airhead stereotypes, the jealous "I want to kill you really bad" first wife stereotype and the "pregnant so she must be a nice person because all pregnant women are nice people"stereotype. I have just seen so many people just like this so many times the same way that it's hard to see them as anything new or original. They even have rebels with an untrustworthy leader that our noble hero clashes with because we can't just get this story frigging over with.
Because it follows such and obvious pattern, it's hard to find anything truly challenging or even new. I could see just about every twist in this story coming. Nothing comes as a surprise. Character dies, called it. One person betrays another, called it. Oh this person is really dead, they're totally dead, you really have to believe me guys this person didn't make it, they are gone forever, dead as a doornail, cadaverific, oh wait no they're not, I friggin' called it! Plus it throws in these dark and grisly deaths and rapey moments (though not actual rape because that would be going too far) with the rajah and a recycled rebellion plot line that tries it's hardest to make the book seem more edgy and complex than it really is. Well, you're selling it, but I'm just not buying it book!
Final Verdict
This book was a bit of a mess. It tried too hard to be other books and brought in almost nothing new or original. Our Mary-Sue main character is too perfect to be relatable, the love interest is bland, the plot is borrowed, I didn't fall for any of these plot twists (if you can call them that) and I'm putting this one right in the Waste Bin of Despair.
Have you read the book? What did you think? Comment below and share your thoughts. Have a book you'd like me to read or would like to make a recommendation? Contact me on goodreads at https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/65448711-michelle-beer
Next Time: Stanger Things are happening in Fire Lake....
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