Description: Sixteen-year-old Anna Arden is barred from society by a defect of blood. Though her family is part of the Luminate, powerful users of magic, she is Barren, unable to perform the simplest spells. Anna would do anything to belong. But her fate takes another course when, after inadvertently breaking her sister’s debutante spell—an important chance for a highborn young woman to show her prowess with magic—Anna finds herself exiled to her family’s once powerful but now crumbling native Hungary.
Her life might well be over.
In Hungary, Anna discovers that nothing is quite as it seems. Not the people around her, from her aloof cousin Noémi to the fierce and handsome Romani Gábor. Not the society she’s known all her life, for discontent with the Luminate is sweeping the land. And not her lack of magic. Isolated from the only world she cares about, Anna still can’t seem to stop herself from breaking spells.
As rebellion spreads across the region, Anna’s unique ability becomes the catalyst everyone is seeking. In the company of nobles, revolutionaries, and Romanies, Anna must choose: deny her unique power and cling to the life she’s always wanted, or embrace her ability and change that world forever.
My Thoughts: I was a bit scared to read this book when I saw the number of low reviews after I had requested it (probably should have done more homework, but I didn't). I'm happy to say that I did enjoy the story more than I had anticipated. Sure, Anna's reasoning throughout is convoluted, but I think most peoples' is in such a setting.
I wasn't a fan of the love triangle, mostly because Matayas was... weird. But I found Gábor to be a refreshing love interest who, while he didn't agree with Anna's choices, didn't try to bully her into his way of thinking. A lot of YA these days have heroes who think they know everything and Gábor admits that he doesn't.
The relationships Anna had with her family were not my favorite. Her sister confused me and her mother was just awful. And as I said, Matayas was a strange relation. But still, I might have given this story a higher rating if not for the last part of the book. Things started to make less and less sense as she entered the Binding, to the point where I thought her ultimate decision was foolish. There was also some dark magic at the end which really bothered me <spoiler> where Matayas was sacrificed to the spell for heart's blood. <spoiler/> While this was treated as more of a self-sacrifice than anything else, it still really, really bothered me. And then Anna didn't even have the courage to admit what she had done because she knew everyone would be legitimately horrified and maybe even hate her.
Up until the end, I would have seriously considered reading a sequel if there were one. But now, I can't.
I have provided an honest review after having received a copy of this book from the publisher.
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