i haven't seen such a severe lack of chemistry between two couples than i did in this book. it was so unbelievably dry and i was irrevocably bored for 90% of this book. dnf-ing a book doesn't normally cross my mind but it definitely did here. it's a travesty to market this book as akin to heartstopper because they are simply NOT in the same playground. i was dragging myself through gwen's pov chapters coz she had NOTHING going on for her. gwen and bridget had zero sparks between them and it all felt so forced—they don't even have any emotional connection with each other to make me believe that they love one another. hell, gwen's relationship w arthur was better developed than whatever tf she had going on w bridget.
onto arthur and gabe: they had a bit more chemistry so that i could root for them, but they were still dry. the book was stilted and it felt like the characters were being forced together more often than not. i clocked onto the third act conflict as soon as the cultists vs catholics thing was mentioned earlier, but the author is as bad in writing politics as they are with relationships. some of the banter was fine, and it is a testament to how dry gwen was that i have more highlights of arthur than her. the use of pop-culture references was truly comical, even though they caught me off-guard (esp the riverdale reference). the ending left much to be desired. i feel like if u set a coup up and put it into effect in the climax of your book, you should also show a proper aftermath instead of a half-assed "the guy who didn't want to be king is king and he changed policies and they all lived happily ever after". it felt so unearned?? gabriel rarely exhibits proper leadership qualities. gwen had the potential to take over in his place but she's a coward and her end motivations are non-existent. she doesn't rlly change much from the beginning of the book to the end of the book. arthur is arguably the best written character but even he has his flaws. his alcoholism is shown as a problem but the book doesn't properly explore WHY he goes down that path in the first place, and fails to examine his relationship w his dead mother even though it seems to be a big facet of his personality. this was a poorly written book. don't recommend.
