Nein, einfach nur nein
Kiera Cass, Promised, Sauerländer, 2020.
Dear Daisy,
here I am. And I finally got my hands on The Betrothed by Keira Cass that was released this week. As the English version isn’t available at the moment, ...
Kiera Cass, Promised, Sauerländer, 2020.
Dear Daisy,
here I am. And I finally got my hands on The Betrothed by Keira Cass that was released this week. As the English version isn’t available at the moment, I purchased the German edition (“Promised”) published by Sauerländer. And let’s just say, I wasn’t too sad, that I ‘had’ to get this one: it’s got the most gorgeous cover I own (Bravo, Zero Werbeagentur!): It immediately reminided me of Ms. Cass’ Selection series, as it once again features a girl in a gorgeous, floating dress on the cover. Only this time, shimmering golden details have been added. It’s STUNNING! Had I not been anticipating this release so much already, the cover would have totally made me get it.
But what is it actually about? A question I didn’t ask myself until after I purchased the novel (which might have been a mistake on my part). Let’s help you avoid making the same mistake: The story focuses on Hollis, who lives at the royal court of Coroa (nope, not Corona. Though, yes, that’s what I kept reading as well). She has somehow managed to draw King Jameson’s attention to herself, but has lost her heart to another young man. This comes straight from the blurb, so don’t worry, I don’t intend to spoil anything (else) for you.
It sounds a bit like The Selection series, doesn’t it. Only it really isn’t. And not in a good way. I desperately wanted to love this book, but even trying as hard as I could – I didn’t. And I’d like to explain to you in a bit more detail how that came to be.
Whereas The Selection is set in a dystopian world that is connected to ours in some ways, this story takes place in an unnamed time and place. We don’t really learn a lot about the world where the story is taking place, but one quickly gathers that it is set in a time that is comparable to our middle ages. Only with even more mechanisms in place to suppress women. Adultery and divorce aren’t just frowned upon but persecuted and culprits are even sentenced to death. And of course, men who claim such things about their wives to rid themselves of them are the ones judges believe. This is not necessarily what happens to the protagonist Hollis, but it frames her story and probably gives you a pretty good idea of the kind of world she is living in (if it’s still unclear: it’s a bloody patriarchy, if there has ever been one.)
We get thrown right into the story as Hollis, who is our first-person narrator, is getting ready for a meeting with the King. Helping her is Delia Grace, her maid/best friend – I’m still not sure, which of the terms is more appropriate. Only after a time we lean how Hollis, who has been living in the castle for a long time, has recently attracted the king’s attention (which I liked). In the meantime, we are left to follow her around her daily life in the castle. And boy, that was exhausting. Not because her life is. It really isn’t. All she does all day is wear pretty clothes, whine about her parents’ expectations and think about becoming even richer than she already is. She is such a spoilt brat that I had real difficulties to keep reading; just the amount of time spent talking about dress colours only for her to pick gold every single time. But I kept hoping for some sort of character development. It didn’t happen. She really wasn’t a great protagonist and I couldn’t identify with her at all. Also, how the majority of the other characters praised her for being kind and lovable is beyond me. She remained childish, arrogant and dumb throughout the book. Just take her parents: even when they are finally making an effort to accept their daughter for what she is, she just whines about how annoying they are afterwards. Or take the fact that she knows that her mail might be intercepted – and she still puts vital information in it. Also, she is incredibly disrespectful towards other cultures. Even when she claims to have learned her lesson, she still laughs openly about their traditions.
But how about the other characters, you might ask. Surely there must be some decent ones. Unfortunately, I found almost all of them to be flat and formulaic. Hollis’ parents were among the worst. They were solely used as narrative devices and in that insanely boring.
It was repeatedly claimed how charismatic and strong and just the King is. But I didn’t see any of that. He still wants to go to war; but, of course it makes him a better person, that it’s not out of petty reasons, but only if he is to gain something… And his relationship to Hollis is, I don’t even know how to start. He’s patronising and actually just wants her as an emblem (I know the book talks about this); but he is also extremely weak and has no backbone whatsoever; at times she can just do whatever the hell she wants, no matter how rude, he will keep throwing around stiff remarks to flatter her in his undying devotion (what is his undying love even based on?). The ‘tests’ he puts her through are absurdly ridiculous. I don’t know what emotions he is supposed to evoke, but I was just irritated.
I felt that there would have been some potential with Delia Grace, though. She had some interesting layers to her, that were revealed throughout the book. Were they used as major plot twists, though? Nah. They were just casually revealed with Hollis immediately drowning all possible conflict in the generosity of her heart. It was infuriating. The only character that I somewhat enjoyed reading about was Queen Valentina. She had depth to her and was interestingly constructed.
Now, you may wonder, how it can be that I haven’t mentioned the love interest thus far. Well, this is exactly what the book does: Some of the things advertised in the blurb actually only happen about halfway through. And to be quite frank, they don’t make any sense to me. None of the two crushes Hollis develops do. You could argue that she only felt affection towards the king for his wealth, but what about this other guy? She falls in love with his blue eyes and that’s enough to leave everything behind? I realise that she was scared of the responsibilities her being the Queen would have brought with it. But none of this felt authentic when reading it.
And I think this might be my biggest issue with this book. The characters didn’t touch me and neither did the story. Things were just claimed to be certain ways, but it didn’t make me believe it. Take that devastating incident towards the book: Yes, it’s claimed that Hollis is heartbroken, but it made me feel absolutely nothing. She moved on right to the next thing. Maybe a non-first-person-narrator could have helped but the way it was written was (besides repetitive at times) not convincing. Also, I felt like there was absolutely no narrative besides the love triangle. Yes, some political issues were mentioned, but Hollis cared so little about them that they had might as well have been left out completely. She went right back to talking about diamonds and dresses and left me yelling at my book.
Also, I don’t quite know who the target audience for this novel is. When I purchased it, I thought, it was going to be similar to The Selection. But while that series also touches upon real-world issues, this novel felt more like a historical romance novel than a YA one. Though, I don’t know if the chaste portrayal of things fits in with the market’s current development. Either way, I’d definitely not recommend it to younger readers. The way women’s rights are portrayed reminds me of dystopian novels such as The Handmaid’s Tale – only here, none of the characters seem to mind in the slightest. I realise, this is the way things were in the past, but putting this out as an ideal to teenagers is absurd. Though, I guess, if you’re into reading historic (romance) novels you this might be just your cup of tea. I’m just really not.
Another thing I quickly want to mention is the author description included in the German edition. The very one, where Ms. Cass mentions that if she could choose any crown to wear it’d be one made of the tears of happiness from her readers. Sorry to disappoint, but in this case it was more like tears of frustration, as I was more than once just about to throw the book in a corner and to never pick it up again; thank you Sauerländer for the gorgeous cover, which was the only thing keeping me from doing so. However, I was quite disappointed by the translation of the Acknowledgements. Ms. Cass directly addresses her readers, but it has been translated addressing only female readers. While I know, that the majority of them will in fact be female, I found it disappointing that male ones were completely left out.
For me this book was like Hollis. A gorgeous cover but not much on the inside. Hence, I’ll most likely quit the series here, but for anyone still interested: The sequel will be release next spring.
Love, Daffy