Isabelle Werro

Yeah.

Throwing you into that trial.

And I think as a plot device, it gives you a very easy way to establish character bonds, gives you some high stakes development.

It gives you action and interest and helps you build the world and everything.

Do you think this book did those trials well?

You can take this one first.

I'll train for two days and now I am really good with the sword.

We just need to show everyone that we're special.

That's true.

But I also cannot deal with a useless protagonist.

anymore and maybe i think that's maybe why i never really uh got bella yeah but i kind of love about marin is that she is actually yeah she's not just like i'm coming here and i'm already amazing with a bow or whatever like she is just scrappy scrappy she's scrappy and she's got grit yes and trauma coming into it um and that's not just ignored and then fixed immediately it carries through yeah the book really really well i think

Yeah, I agree.

The other thing you mentioned was sort of that introduction of the second love interest, as it were.

So obviously the love triangle, also a classic part of this genre.

And we come in, we have a sort of an established relationship with someone and then enter onto the scene, dark broody man, Stark, who immediately hates her and won't meet her eyes and gives her a somewhat condescending nickname.

And you go, oh, yes.

Hello.

This is going to happen at some point, but when?

That's the fun part.

And what I think this book did well was taking that, and I almost didn't know where it was going to go the whole way.