Seventeen-year-old Anouk has finally caught the break she’s been looking for—she's been selected out of hundreds of other candidates to fly to France and help with the excavation of a vast, underground palace buried a hundred feet below the suburbs of Paris. Built in the 1780's to hide an aristocratic family and a mad duke during the French Revolution, the palace has lain hidden and forgotten ever since. Anouk, along with several other gifted teenagers, will be the first to set foot in it in over two centuries.
Or so she thought.
But nothing is as it seems, and the teens soon find themselves embroiled in a game far more sinister, and dangerous, than they could possibly have imagined. An evil spanning centuries is waiting for them in the depths. . .
This was absolutely nothing like anything that I was expecting and for that, this book get points.
I was absorbed into the book from the very start. Before we even start guessing about the mystery behind the Butterfly Palace we have other mysteries put on us, like why Anouk is the way she is and what happened in her past to make her that way. We're then introduced to the menacing Dorf and the big mystery of the book. Then things change direction in a reeling way and the book changes from atmospheric mystery to some sort of crazy survival sci-i type thing - think the Triwizard Cup maze in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, just a lot more terrifying.
So the whole thing is pretty fast paced with new things being thrown in at every turn. The only thing is, despite the mystery and all of the new dangers, I was thoroughly bored halfway through the books. Of course, there were parts where my interest peaked a little again, but the book failed to hold my attention which surprises me because of how high-stakes the whole thing was.
I think the mixture of characters was very interesting, and the whole background story was terrifying and great, but I think the writing style just didn't work for me, and this book hasn't really stuck in my mind since.
Book released 15th March by Greenwillow Books
Book received from the publisher in exchange for an honest review
Hmm. It sounds like a really interesting one. I'm sorry it bored you in parts! Hope your next read is better!
ReplyDeleteI might still pick this one up eventually, because the premise sounds like there's a lot of potential there.
Thanks for the review!
I agree with all your points. Instead of a standalone it could have been spread across a duology or a trilogy. There are so many characters here. So much is happening at such a fast pace that it doesn't allow the story to flourish. Disappointed me very much too.
ReplyDeleteAparajita @Le' Grande Codex