This story started strong, I truly enjoyed seeing ersella develop and repent for being a terrible mother. I enjoyed seeing her character interact with vincente. The depiction of post partum depression was great imo, however…everything else was lacking. they set up so much potential for her politically just for everyone to diminish her for being a woman, which in the end she gave into all because she “loved” her family? Vincente even accepted being disowned for her and the author throws that all away to set up a three chapter “resolution” for their relationship, which was terrible and had no substance other than what i thought was going to be her recovering from being with an emotionally abusive man. Vincente had nothing to do with the ending either…he had helped ersella throughout the whole series, just for him to end it off on “the man who was terrible to us both is actually worth it”.
The conclusion for Ersellas sister was terrible. She was abused by her husband, used by her brother and father, but was used to resolve Harzens execution because the king was actually in love with her?! She didnt get shown any respect, and was only used for her son even though she was apparently so important that she “caused” time to go back for her sister she cared for.
It felt like this author built up these characters, then turned around, decided they wanted to resolve everything all at once, then turned everyone into morons who did all of this for love?? Harzen was basically just a bad guy but not really, seeing as how he caused the most turmoil in the story, yet is the only one who came out unscathed? The only turmoil he felt was whether his obsession with Ersella made her sad or not.
Im upset this story was as bad as it was because it truly didnt have to be. The political aspect only felt like it dragged on because the author forced the romance in there and made Ersellas development relapse at any opportunity, then used Vicente to build her up again, or used Harzens tiny amount of basic decency to make us feel like he “truly cared for her”. Dont recommend this to anyone who values a decent relationship, story building, or ending. The after story of what happened before she time traveled had a stronger sense of character development than anything in the main story. ╮(￣▽￣)╭
