'Violet Made of Thorns' by Gina Chen - Blog Tour & Mood Board

7/30/2022

Continue below to read my review of the book and be sure to follow this link - [TOUR SCHEDULE] to check out the rest of the stops on the 'VIOLET MADE OF THORNS' blog tour brought to you by TBR AND BEYOND TOURS, DELACORTE PRESS, and GINA CHEN!

Violet Made of Thorns
Gina Chen

Publisher: Delacorte Press

Pub Date: July 26th, 2022

Genres: Young Adult Fantasy Romance

Synopsis:

A darkly enchanting fantasy debut about a morally gray witch, a cursed prince, and a prophecy that ignites their fate-twisted destinies—perfect for fans of The Cruel Prince and Serpent & Dove.

Violet is a prophet and a liar, influencing the royal court with her cleverly phrased—and not always true—divinations. Honesty is for suckers, like the oh-so-not charming Prince Cyrus, who plans to strip Violet of her official role once he’s crowned at the end of the summer—unless Violet does something about it.

But when the king asks her to falsely prophesy Cyrus’s love story for an upcoming ball, Violet awakens a dreaded curse, one that will end in either damnation or salvation for the kingdom—all depending on the prince’s choice of future bride. Violet faces her own choice: Seize an opportunity to gain control of her own destiny, no matter the cost, or give in to the ill-fated attraction that’s growing between her and Cyrus.

Violet’s wits may protect her in the cutthroat court, but they can’t change her fate. And as the boundary between hatred and love grows ever thinner with the prince, Violet must untangle a wicked web of deceit in order to save herself and the kingdom—or doom them all.

r e v i e w
rating: ★ ★ ★ (3 / 5 stars)

I was genuinely so excited for this book when I first came across the synopsis prior to its release. Anyone who knows me, also knows I live in the gray and likewise I love morally gray characters. Life is not black and white, people and their problems are never that simple. So, I find the characters that hang out in the middle to be far more interesting and realistic, even in fantastical worlds.

Violet is not morally gray. At best, she's morally egg-shell colored. Frankly, so is Cyrus. To be honest, none of the characters have much personality or charisma at all. I suppose Camilla is the most fleshed out character,
but even she feels like a pale 2D concept more than a person.

Until I reached the 80% point of the story, I wasn't even invested in a single scene.. let alone the idea that there was some burgeoning love story here. I understand what happened. The author was trying so hard to make both parties come across as cold toward each other and aloof, that she simply failed to show they resonated anywhere else at all. And that's a shame, because there were brief glimpses toward the end.. of real texture.

Unfortunately, by that time I just wanted it to all be over. Luckily, after simmering on low for most of the novel, once the drama hit.. the ending was tied up in a rush. It did, however.. leave me feeling like I wished I could get the time back I'd spent reading the book.

There are plenty of good ideas here. Interesting approaches to magic and familiar topics are sprinkled throughout. The villain I think could have been quite heavy if given more focus. As this is Chen's debut novel, I'm hopeful she'll grow into those ideas and really spend some time honing her craft. Occasionally she writes really beautiful lines worth quoting.. but none of that holds together without any real feeling of connection between the characters, the story, and the reader.

If you still desperately want to give this book a try, you won't hate yourself. It's all right. It just isn't particularly great either.

About the Author:

Gina Chen tells stories about fantastic worlds featuring heroines, antiheroines, and the kind of cleverness that brings trouble in its wake.

A self-taught artist with a degree in computer science, she generates creative nonsense in all forms of media and always has a project stewing. Violet Made of Thorns is her debut fantasy novel.

For more info, visit actualgina.com and follow @actualgina on Twitter and Instagram.

AUTHOR LINKS: ACTUALGINA.COM | GOODREADS | INSTAGRAM | TWITTER | TUMBLR

1 Comment

Scott link

4/25/2023 08:39:22 pm

I don't compose for this age. I'm composing for different ages. On the off chance that this could understand me, they would consume my books, crafted by me for what seems like forever. Then again, the age which deciphers these compositions will be an informed age; they will grasp me and say: 'Not all were sleeping in that frame of mind of our grandparents.