Publication: September 13th 2011 by Delacorte Press
Source: Library Book
Goodreads Summary: These violent delights have violent ends
And in their triumph die, like fire and powder,
Which as they kiss consume.
-William Shakespeare, ROMEO AND JULIET
Juliet Capulet didn't take her own life. She was murdered by the person she trusted most, her new husband, Romeo Montague, who made the sacrifice to ensure his own immortality. But Romeo didn't anticipate that Juliet would be granted eternal life as well, and would become an agent for the Ambassadors of Light.
For seven hundred years, Juliet has struggled to preserve romantic love and the lives of the innocent, while Romeo has fought for the dark side, seeking to destroy the human heart. Until now.
Now Juliet has found her own forbidden love, and Romeo, O Romeo, will do everything in his power to destroy their happiness.
Secrets unfold and surprises abound in Stacey Jay's powerfully dark romance, which reunites literature's most tragic couple.
Goodreads Page
My Thoughts:
I have pretty much the same opinion as everyone else who read this book and liked it, it was really good... but the ending.
I personally like retellings of classics so the concept of Romeo and Juliet actually being enemies was an interesting twist to me. I liked the characterization and I liked the plot mostly. It didn't lag or get boring for me at all. I loved the twists in it such as Juliet realizing who Ben really was and the truth about his glowing aura. There are many other things I liked about it but I can't say them without giving spoilers.
However, the whole premise of "Ambassadors of Light" vs. "Mercenaries of the Apocalypse" was a little difficult to understand. There's not much of an explanation of it given throughout the book, mostly because Juliet herself doesn't seem to know much about the forces that she fights for and against and she has this acceptance that she doesn't need to know. I also didn't understand exactly what fueled the Mercenaries power. It's said that by convincing a true lover to murder their true love, it fuels the Mercenaries' power. But then the lover who committed the murder also has to take up the Mercenaries' cause and become a Mercenary of the Apocalypse by surrendering their soul. But then if the Ambassadors of Light step in and are able to help the lovers fall into true love, the Mercenaries can no longer touch them or convince one of them to murder the other. It doesn't make much sense to me honestly. What would prevent the Mercenaries from still being able to convince true lovers to hurt one another? What exactly fuels the Mercenaries' power: the soul surrendered or the murder committed? Maybe it's because I've read very few fantasy books, but this lack of logic thing and lack of explanation is difficult for me to get into. I did like elements from the fantasy side of the book such as how souls shine different colors of auras, but I think fantasy books probably just aren't for me.
And then the ending. The ending just didn't make sense. I don't want to give any of the plot away, but it made it even more difficult to understand the Mercenaries' cause and power when Juliet finds out what really happened when she and Romeo died. It took a lot away from the book and it kind of made the whole plot seem void. It also made the reasons for both of them joining the opposite sides of Light vs. Dark less realistic, especially in Romeo's case. His reasoning made no sense at all when we find out what actually happened on his side. There is also an "information dump," for lack of a better phrase, at the end. After very little explanation given of the whole Light vs. Dark thing, there's a massive dump of information given at the end that leaves very little time for processing it before the book is over. The ending was also pretty cheesy in many ways which I won't explain because of spoilers. After the information dump, Romeo and Juliet each come to their own endings; however strange and, once again, unexplained they were. I did like their individual endings though.
Totally random side-note: I wish that there hadn't been any of Romeo's POV in the book. It's very, very little and really not needed in my opinion. I think it took away from the book.
Although I had some major qualms with the book, I did really enjoy it so I still gave it 4 out of 5 stars. It was an easy, quick read that I found interesting and engaging.
Likes: Characterization. Stuck to the spirit of Romeo and Juliet. The way the characters ended up individually.
Dislikes: Poorly explained Light vs. Dark. Information dump at the end. Some typos and grammar errors.
Overall:
Recommend? Yes. But definitely not for hardcore fantasy lovers. This book won't do much for you there.
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