I rated Dark of the West 3.5/5 stars; as one of my most highly anticipated releases of the year, it fell flat in some regards but exceeded my expectations in others.
My favorite part about Dark of the West was the characters. I loved Athan and Aurelia as individuals and as two people in a relationship. I think their relationship was so natural and beautiful, the complete antithesis to insta-love. They started out being friends, which I don't think we see enough of in YA Fantasy, and as their feelings for each other deepened, I never got the impression that their relationship was being hurried along to further the plot. For a lot of the book, they seemed to hover in this territory of maybe not-quite-loving each other, but still caring about each other deeply, which I think is so realistic for two teenagers who haven't known each other for very long.
As individuals, I think I liked Athan best. Unlike a lot of male characters in fantasy, he wasn't afraid to express and properly experience his emotions. Of course he's scared, of course he's sad, and of course he has conflicted feelings towards almost everyone in his life. But he has such a strong grasp on those emotions that instead of acting out senselessly, he thinks through them and recognizes what they are, which, in my opinion, is a truer definition of strength than if he were to just bottle everything up.
I have to admit, I didn't enjoy Aurelia as much as a character. She seemed to let things happen to her throughout a lot of the book, while not actually doing anything about them. She's a princess; while she doesn't have as much power as her brother, who is set to inherit the throne, she still must have some power and must be able to have some control over her fate.
The other characters, particularly Athan's brothers, were so interesting to read about from Athan's point of view, because even though they were objectively bad people (one of them in particular), they were Athan's brothers, and he cared about them in his own way. I also liked the hinted shared background between Athan's father and Ali's mother. I'm really interested to find out more about that. Perhaps in a novella?
The setting was another thing I really liked. While I normally like a lot of magic in fantasy novels, I think the incorporation of technology was really unique. This world has cars, planes, gramophones, and other technology that seems better suited to a novel set in the early 1900s. While Athan's chapters were mostly set in a world filled with dangerous technology, Ali's surroundings were more typical of an average fantasy novel. I think that if any book could perfectly reconcile these differing aspects of fantasy, it would be Dark of the West.
However, one thing I couldn't understand was why some aspects of the world were so outdated compared to all the technology. Aurelia's mother is planning to marry her to a man in his thirties; shouldn't arranged marriages be a thing of the past? There are superstitions about whether or not a true ruler of Etania can be murdered; in a world with so many advancements, shouldn't superstitions be less commonly accepted?
The plot caused some...issues for me. I couldn't figure out who was allied with whom, who was pretending to be allied but was really enemies with which country, and so on. The alliances were so convoluted that I couldn't figure out anything about them. I also didn't like how North and South were used so frequently to differentiate between groups. Obviously, this is all taking place on one continent, but the entirety of the North was not one allied unit, and the same goes for the South. One person does not rule over the entirety of the North or the South, and the people from each half do not share defining characteristics, like appearance or language. The only clear distinction I could really make was that the North has monarchies, while the South does not. This made understanding the political aspect behind the plot very difficult.
So, while I definitely felt that Dark of the West had some flaws, the writing was absolutely beautiful, the romance was believable and SO cute, and the main characters were just so genuinely goodhearted. ( )

I rated Dark of the West 3.5/5 stars; as one of my most highly anticipated releases of the year, it fell flat in some regards but exceeded my expectations in others.
My favorite part about Dark of the West was the characters. I loved Athan and Aurelia as individuals and as two people in a relationship. I think their relationship was so natural and beautiful, the complete antithesis to insta-love. They started out being friends, which I don't think we see enough of in YA Fantasy, and as their feelings for each other deepened, I never got the impression that their relationship was being hurried along to further the plot. For a lot of the book, they seemed to hover in this territory of maybe not-quite-loving each other, but still caring about each other deeply, which I think is so realistic for two teenagers who haven't known each other for very long.
As individuals, I think I liked Athan best. Unlike a lot of male characters in fantasy, he wasn't afraid to express and properly experience his emotions. Of course he's scared, of course he's sad, and of course he has conflicted feelings towards almost everyone in his life. But he has such a strong grasp on those emotions that instead of acting out senselessly, he thinks through them and recognizes what they are, which, in my opinion, is a truer definition of strength than if he were to just bottle everything up.
I have to admit, I didn't enjoy Aurelia as much as a character. She seemed to let things happen to her throughout a lot of the book, while not actually doing anything about them. She's a princess; while she doesn't have as much power as her brother, who is set to inherit the throne, she still must have some power and must be able to have some control over her fate.
The other characters, particularly Athan's brothers, were so interesting to read about from Athan's point of view, because even though they were objectively bad people (one of them in particular), they were Athan's brothers, and he cared about them in his own way. I also liked the hinted shared background between Athan's father and Ali's mother. I'm really interested to find out more about that. Perhaps in a novella?
The setting was another thing I really liked. While I normally like a lot of magic in fantasy novels, I think the incorporation of technology was really unique. This world has cars, planes, gramophones, and other technology that seems better suited to a novel set in the early 1900s. While Athan's chapters were mostly set in a world filled with dangerous technology, Ali's surroundings were more typical of an average fantasy novel. I think that if any book could perfectly reconcile these differing aspects of fantasy, it would be Dark of the West.
However, one thing I couldn't understand was why some aspects of the world were so outdated compared to all the technology. Aurelia's mother is planning to marry her to a man in his thirties; shouldn't arranged marriages be a thing of the past? There are superstitions about whether or not a true ruler of Etania can be murdered; in a world with so many advancements, shouldn't superstitions be less commonly accepted?
The plot caused some...issues for me. I couldn't figure out who was allied with whom, who was pretending to be allied but was really enemies with which country, and so on. The alliances were so convoluted that I couldn't figure out anything about them. I also didn't like how North and South were used so frequently to differentiate between groups. Obviously, this is all taking place on one continent, but the entirety of the North was not one allied unit, and the same goes for the South. One person does not rule over the entirety of the North or the South, and the people from each half do not share defining characteristics, like appearance or language. The only clear distinction I could really make was that the North has monarchies, while the South does not. This made understanding the political aspect behind the plot very difficult.
So, while I definitely felt that Dark of the West had some flaws, the writing was absolutely beautiful, the romance was believable and SO cute, and the main characters were just so genuinely goodhearted. ( )

A mix of intrigue, treachery, red herrings and romance, all set in a nicely created world. Aurelia would like to think that her mother is a good ruler and that her brother will make a decent king. Maybe both hopes would be true in a world where there wasn't so much chaos and deception, but there is and so she must navigate a tricky path, one made even more so when she becomes attracted to Athan, son of a ruthless general with multiple aims. It story ends on an interesting note, one that had me eager to buy the second and third installments. It's worth mentioning that the world where this story takes place is a fascinating mash-up of technology and more primitive cultures. ( )

IF YOU LOVE:
ANGSTY SLOW BURN-ISH FRIENDS TO LOVERS TO ENEMIES??
THE SOFTEST HOT BLOND FIGHTER PILOT????? amongst all this court politicking and threatening war??
then READ THIS AND CRY WITH ME. ( )

I received this eARC from Tor Teen on Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of this book in any way.

DNF'd at chapter 2

I'm sure the book is fine, and I liked some aspects of it, but the prologue was terrible as far as plot goes, the writing is simultaneously pretentious and boring—and somehow manages to read like distance-inducing third person despite being first—and so much exposition has been spewed at me, I feel like I've already read half the book. There are better war books and there are better fantasies. ( )