The Antidote ARC Review! | A Sorta DNF…But Wait!

Hi friends! It’s review time!!! But first I’d like to thank Edelweiss and HarperTeen for an ARC of this book, in exchange for my honest opinion!

Let us begin.

That cover stuns me every time. ANYWAYS on with the real summary: This follows a girl who has to keep her magical abilities secret, because in this world magic = bad*. BUT her best friend, who also just happens to be the crown prince, is deathly ill and magic might be the only cure.

*why is magic in books either “OMG THEY HAVE MAGIC LET’S BE FRIENDS” or “OMG THEY HAVE MAGIC LET’S KILL THEM”

I sadly DNF’d this 80 pages in.

But wait!

Before you scribble this off your list, just hear me out. You see, despite the rather low ratings on Goodreads, this isn’t a bad book. However, it’s appeal lies in only a certain audience, hence why for a lot of people this wasn’t all that great.

If you’re someone looking to transition from middle-grade into YA, this would honestly be one of the first books I’d point you towards! Also if you’re relatively new to fantasy and want something simple, somewhat predictable, to start you out.

Some reasons why I wasn’t a fan:

• The characters were juvenile and annoying IMO
• The writing was not the level of sophistication I usually look for in a book
• I lowkey predicted everything that happened in the short time I read it whoops
• not enough food
• again: the characters and their interactions DIDN’T MAKE SENSE

You know when characters don’t really do anything that actually furthers the plot? They just sorta wander around, think to themselves “hey there’s a problem we need to solve…let’s wait a couple of days and see if it’ll solve itself while we go pick plants” and then whatdoyaknow someone’s dead.

So that was annoying.

But I do think that the slowing down of the plot allowed for greater world-building, which would be really helpful for many people. Personally, I found the plot too simple, the world too cliche, for me to really enjoy the reading experience. That’s not to say you won’t like it! But if you read a ton of fantasy, or you’re used to the generally darker and more convoluted side of YA, this may not be your speed.

So what makes this unique?

Uh…not much. If you’re well-versed in fantasy and it’s tropes, then you’ll not find very much that’s brand-new here. But if you’re new, well, this might be super special!

So that’s it! Tell me your thoughts!