When I read the blurb for this book it was something that I was really excited to read, I mean Snow White-esque story that includes vampires? I am so on board for that!
Then I read it.
I know that a lot of books take there time to get to the point where you feel like the plot is going somewhere, but not with this book.
I was reading a book and I was bored.
I didn't care for the characters, or when I did it was because I was in a rage with them.
Our heroine of the tale, or maybe our Snow White of the tale, is Irena a princess who was doted by her father for years until she was ten years old, when her father remarried and her step mother came into the picture.
Irena is just a bland character, she's smart, she knows languages, she loves books, but that it. Oh, and she's also infatuated with Damien, her tutor and guardian.
Damien is the vampire, he's been alive for four hundred years at this point. He's an interesting character, he does have an interesting back story - though it could have been told better than it was; like Damien was literally telling us what was going on instead of the author taking that story and giving it it's own chapter for the readers to read and see it from Damien's view point at the time.
Jan is the man who is the head of the Treasury for Irena's father, he is also the man who Irena is engaged to marry. He's about 40 years old when she is ten, which will make him about 50 when she has to marry him when she is 20. He is just a bad character, at first I though he would be a throw-away character, but he stays on for the rest of the book. I didn't like the way he was essentially abusing Irena mentally, he seemed to forget that Irena is 20 years old and doesn't have the life experience that many think she should have, not to mention she was never really raised to be a queen, many were hoping that her father and step mother would have a prince who would rule the kingdom.
The Queen is a bland character, to begin with she does seem like a stereotype of being evil and vein, then near the end of the book we learn it was all a misunderstanding. This could have been dealt with so much better had the author put the view points of Irena and Damien as each chapter and switched them each time.
That was another thing that annoyed me. The points of view; Damien was first to speak to the readers and then it switched to Irena before switching back to Damien again. This was something that should have continued through-out the book, giving the reader something different to read, to see exactly what was happening with Damien instead of that last chapter right at the end which was a bit of a cop-out to give everyone some kind of closure and let people rest easily.