YA Buddy Readers' Corner ♥ discussion

Divided by their order. United by their vengeance.

Iraya has spent her life in a cell, but every day brings her closer to freedom - and vengeance.

Jazmyne is the Queen’s daughter, but unlike her sister before her, she has no intention of dying to strengthen her mother’s power.

Sworn enemies, these two witches enter a precarious alliance to take down a mutual threat. But power is intoxicating, revenge is a bloody pursuit, and nothing is certain - except the lengths they will go to win this game.

This Jamaican-inspired fantasy debut about two enemy witches who must enter into a deadly alliance to take down a common enemy has the twisted cat-and-mouse of Killing Eve with the richly imagined fantasy world of Furyborn and Ember in the Ashes.

Witches Steeped in Gold (Witches Steeped in Gold #1) by Ciannon Smart will be our 5th GBR for July 2022.

Please read at your own pace, and hide any spoilers ☺ You are welcome to join at any time during the month ☺

Happy Reading Everybody!

Pre-Reading Questions -

Anybody got any thoughts on this one before we start?

Has anyone read anything similar to this before?

Anybody read anything else by this author previously?

I have planned to read this some time already, but now I think is finally the time. :)

Chapters 1-10 (view spoiler)[I am confused on what is going on. The author sort of throws you into the plot and the world without any explanations which I find confusing. Maybe it will get better as the story progresses. (hide spoiler)]

abookwormsgarden wrote: "Chapters 1-10 [spoilers removed]"

(view spoiler)[I am so happy that I am not the only one feeling like that!! I almost DNF this and I do it almost never. The beginning was so frustrating & confusing. Plain awful. (hide spoiler)]

Johanna wrote: "abookwormsgarden wrote: "Chapters 1-10 [spoilers removed]"

[spoilers removed]"

(view spoiler)[ I appercaite the usage of complex words, but I feel it is making the story feel clunky. I also wish we had more of the explaination of the magical system. (hide spoiler)]

abookwormsgarden wrote: "Johanna wrote: "abookwormsgarden wrote: "Chapters 1-10 [spoilers removed]"

[spoilers removed]"

[spoilers removed]"

(view spoiler)[My problem is that nothing is really explained and that makes this so confusing. There is so much that you should know about the history, world and as you said the magical system (hide spoiler)]

Part 1: (view spoiler)[ The world and magical system has so much potential, but nothing is being explained. And I am having a difficult time figuring out the poltical systems, which seems to be the main focus of the book. I think another issue is the dual perspectives as the readers do not get much time with each of the main characters. I do think Jazmyne is more fleshed out character. (hide spoiler)]

Part 2 + 3 (view spoiler)[ I am going to be really honest I do not remember a single thing that I read in these two parts. Except the death of Jazmyne's mother and Pirates. Pirates? So Pirates make sense with the enviornment, but feel unnecessary? The story already has so much going on and a lot of it is not very fleshed out. (hide spoiler)]

Final Thoughts (view spoiler)[ Overall, I really enjoyed the concept of the book and I am very disapointed I did not enjoy it as much as I thought I would. I honestly would have enjoyed if the book was more fleshed out. I wanted to know more about the magical systems. I wanted to know more about the poltical systems. (hide spoiler)]

Part 3
(view spoiler)[At this point I felt like NOTHING was happening (hide spoiler)]

Finished
(view spoiler)[This was one party of boredom to be honest. How can there this amount of pages where almost nothing happens. I am happy for all those who loved this but I just couldn't have cared less. And what was that great twist someone said there were? I was so bored at the end that I think I missed that "great twist" somehow xD (hide spoiler)]

abookwormsgarden wrote: "Part 2 + 3 [spoilers removed]

(view spoiler)[Thank you!! I am so happy that I wasn't only one who has lost interest at this point!! I was also somehow surprised for pirates and wondered where they had come from xD (hide spoiler)]

abookwormsgarden wrote:

Final Thoughts [spoilers removed]"

(view spoiler)[Exactly!! So many pages and only the unimportant things were explained! (hide spoiler)]