Yawn.

This review will try to remain spoiler free and any spoilers will be hidden.

Again... yawn. There is nothing new in this book, I have read the same thing a hundred times it seems.

"Once upon a time, in a castle carved of stone, a girl plotted murder." How good does this seem! I was excited for this but it was so so disappointing.

Mia is a huntress who hunts female 'demons' shes betrothed to the crown Prince but doesn't like him, there's an attempted assassination and they both have to escape and go on the run where they find out lots of secrets.

This book begins where the readers are just supposed to know everything and how the magic system works and all the details without actually being told all of this. The start of this book could be the start of a second book where you have had the first one to build up what is what. But we get thrown into all the action without actually being told what's what and how things work. Are we supposed to just know these things??

The writing isn't the worst i've ever read but it isn't fantastic, there are places where there is so much unnecessary description that your head swims and it doesn't actually add anything it is just annoying. The characters are forgettable. I would have quite preferred Prince Quin to be the main character as he wasn't too bad of a character. Mia became annoying. She's meant to be a bad ass huntress and independent but she actually isn't that independant, she relies on everyone for everything. She is too arrogant to accept the fact that she might not know everything in the world and maybe... just maybe... someone else might know something she doesn't. She also seems to talk in scientific verses. This is weird and just does not happen at all in real life. Such as: "Your clavicle throws the most beautiful shadows" WHO SAYS THAT?! ooo your collar bone is gorgeous.

Cliché's EVERYWHERE.

-Female protagonist who is a huntress
-betrothed to the Crown Prince of the Kingdom
- She is against this marriage
-Girl and boy don't like eachother
-Power hungry King
-Prince turns out to not be so bad after all
-lots of secrets
-fights
-magic

The main character, Mia, goes through some training that goes on and on and you feel like a week or so has passed but it turns out it was 1 DAY. 1 day. And after a mere 1 day she needs no more of course... The timeline of events is just a mess to be honest.

I love the premis of a female protagonist smashing down barriers in the patriarchal society and coming out on top and being fierce. Which is what I expected this to be but it just didn't deliver. It was forced, boring, nothing new and the girl was annoying and pig-headed.
I also love the idea of a book that has more feminist elements and LGBT inclusion as I don't think there is enough in YA fiction right now but it got completely rammed down your throat. It was too forced it made it unbelievable. It is just told to us but its not shown to us in any way where is the evidence of all this? There isn't any! It's meant to be a book with a great feminist character with female power throughout... but then she belittles and makes fun of her sister for wanting a husband, children and a family life. Not all girls have to want to be a kick ass huntress heroine. What is wrong with wanting a husband and children?? Why is that something to make fun of and bring someone down over?

"You're beautiful when you lie." He quickly added, "Not to diminish you or suggest that beauty is an indicator of your worth."

The sentence above is so forced why not just have him say something different? cringe & eye roll.

Similarly... “I don’t know. I’ve never had a husband. Or a wife,” she added.
Why not just have her say "I've never had a husband or wife" why be so blantantly obvious pointing it out. We get it, one of the characters is bisexual (amongst others) but why try so hard is pointing it out. Just put it normally.

It is like she wrote this story then needed to add in feminism and LGBT inclusion so went back and dotted it in here and there rather than having it flow nicely within the story.
I did like the twists that came throughout the book as they were unexpected, which i like, and unpredictable. The book ended well and would lead well into a second book. I also enjoyed the backstory of Mias mother and her journey, especially through diary pages.

Overall: boring, nothing new, clichés everywhere, feminism shoved down your throat, forgettable characters, messy timeline, not the best cover, eveything is so forced and shoving in your face, it is trying too hard and failing, it needs so much more editing and refinement.