start date: 10/05/2021 | end date: 23/05/2021

genre/tropes: adventure, fantasy, action, magic, friendship based, romance-ish (?), bully-to-lover lmao

summary: a village is protected by a wizard (called 'the dragon') from the forest which emits dark magic. the price of his protection: the village must offer up one of their young women to serve the dragon every 10 years. the main character, agnieszka, is sure her best friend will be chosen until the dragon arrives and takes her instead.

thoughts: i started reading this for the romance and it flopped lmao. the thing i really liked about this story is the friendship between the protagonist and her best friend because lemme tell ya they REALLY go through it. it was really nice to read this book and see the depth of their friendship and how far they would go for each other and it's really endearing i absolutely loved it.

• would i read this again?: yes but this time with the intent of focusing on the friendship cauSE REALLY THOSE BITCHES GOT ME CRYIN OVER THEM
• do i recommend this book?: nah, the cons outweigh the pros tbh. if ur interested in how good the friendship is in this book, it takes less time to listen to me struggle to find the words and stumble over my thoughts while i rave about what happens and how good it is (but actually i take it back maybe read it if ur into friendship then it's worth the read)

memorable moments (spoilers):

• ch 10: exorcising kaisa
  • i loved this scene because this is when agnieszka and kaisa bare their souls to each other. basically the context is kaisa was taken by the woods and 'corrupted' and they need to get the evil magic from the woods out of her. the reason why i love it is because part of the cleansing sequence is that the two can see through each other and they see their inner feelings and wishes for the other and its real raw. there's terror, envy and even hatred for each other but they overlook that because the love they have for each other is stronger and an experience like that would've only made them closer becaUSE GOD DAMN it really made my heart hurt to see their true feelings for each other and then they keep on keepin' on BECAUSE THEIR BOND IS STRONGER THAN ANY OF THOSE NEGATIVE FEELINGS HSFJKHKSKSJDBK Y'ALL I AM CRYING JUST READING OVER IT AGAIN
• ch 11 (pg 156 - 159): spur of the moment kiss
  • the dragon is teaching agnieszka how to use her magic by creating an illusion of a flower (?) and it starts off with their magic mixing together to create a simple illusion but as soon as they succeed they keep going and create a whole god damn garden and the description for that part of the scene was so beautiful and when it comes to the kiss it's all
    • "Well," I said after a moment, inconsequentially, "I suppose it did /work/." He stared at me, outrage dawning, and I started laughing, helplessly, almost snorting: I was dizzy with magic and alarm. "You intolerable lunatic," he snarled at me, and then he caught my face between his hands and kissed me.

more ramblings (spoilers): imo in terms of romance the build up was SOOO GOOD but then it didn't proceed much after that. this is defs a book i would be able to speed read because of how good it started out and i liked the dynamic between the protag and the romantic interest but then the book literally ended without a satifying ending between them ?? hell-fucking-O ?? so schewpid honestly. and also there's the problem of this older man falling for a younger woman (bcaus hes immortal) so it's a whole twilight type thing where ur like "uhhh isn't this wrong ?? cpu ??" but go with it anyways cause i can't fuckin rewrite the book ykno ?? i will also add that the romance in this book is akin to the romance you would find on wattpad written by 14 year old 1D fans. it really romanticises an abusive sort of relationship where the guy isn't nice at all and straight up abusive in the way he talks and acts and it turns out that "he's just misunderstood" and then when he realises his feelings he doesn't know how to deal with them and instead becomes no better or worse of a person, the protag just learns how to cope with his behaviour. unfortunately for me, i enjoyed their dynamic AHAHAHAHA but i was completely let down with where their relo went because again: he did not better himself and was shite. i would've enjoyed it if there was redemption through a change of character and actions but instead the book gave this guy redemption through a reveal of his true intent which is "i'm actually a protector of this village" there really isn't a way to save the romance in this book at all and with how bad the dynamic was between the two i'm kinda happy that the romantic plot of the story flopped tbh