★★☆☆☆
From Goodreads:
For two years, her memories were lost.
For two years, she believed a lie.
For two years, thousands of lives rested in her hands. But she didn't even know.
Because she can't remember her past, Rose Kristal thinks she is an ordinary girl until her sixteenth birthday. On that day she discovers she is far beyond ordinary. On that day she remembers what she had forgotten. Now with thousands of people in peril, Rose needs to take back what has been stolen from her.
Second by second, time ticks down and challenges pile up as Rose struggles to reclaim her kingdom from a vile tyrant. One who is determined to vanquish her. And to make matters more complicated, she is falling for a kind guy with a deadly secret.
But Rose's biggest fear—losing the one she loves to the prophecy.
She finds a diary in her locker at school. Deciding to read, she first finds something unbelievable, a diary about fairies! And then she sees it, the entry is signed with her name, a name combination not so often seen.
You have a few weeks to save a kingdom from an evil fairy, so what is your first course of action? Enrol into a magical school that is almost abandoned entirely? The story begins very quickly without lengthy introductions. Then we enter a lull before rushing to the very end. As a more middle-grade fantasy than fantasy, the story is more simplified than it could have been. There was potential for a few pages of more info in the middle parts at least.
There were some issues in the time continuum in the plot. A few skips in time and some 'boring travelling time' was fogged over giving the reader a sense that the characters were moving more quickly than they actually were. Then later the reader would realise that they aren't still halfway to their destination or that they travelled for a few days longer than what was originally told and still are already there. One skip can be forgiven, but when it becomes a regular activity it's not okay. I want to know about the late-night discussions, about the food hunts or the shed tears around firepits.
Speaking of skipping. There were a few times when skipping an explanation stuck out like a sore thumb. For example, when Rose visits Astella the first time, she encounters a colourful swirl in the middle of a forest. Then in next sentence, without anyone explaining anything about the said swirl or there having been any thought process written out she somehow knows that it must be a portal! How?
Rose Kristal's character turns sixteen at the beginning of the book. The same time her memories begin to resurface again. There isn't any significant character development in the book outside developing as a fairy and gaining more power through magic. Rose was, in the beginning, a very unsure young girl who rather gave up than pursued her dreams. She lacks the natural curiosity we are used to finding in the female protagonists in books nowadays.
What struck me with this book was that I had no emotional connection with the characters, and some of them annoyed me from time to time, but still, I enjoyed the story. I wanted to know what happened next. I had the thirst for more, for the future.
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