While reading this book, I discovered one important thing about myself: I like friendships, and if a book can’t even give me that… then what am I even doing here?

Castle of Lies features a cast of royalty, near-royalty, adopted royalty, and even some diverse elves, and all of them spent the first half of the book trying to kill each other and just being downright rude and not friendly at all. There was a heck load of back stabbing going on, and I didn’t like it, friends! I am not a backstabby person!

Less than 30 pages in, there had already been several POV changes. It already felt like too many characters, and most of them didn’t have distinct enough personalities for me to differentiate them.

At this point, I also didn’t really care about any of the characters. They were all at each others’ throats or trying to back-stab each other, and that not exactly my type of book. I want friendship, I want romance, but I don’t want a story in which all the character have secret plans to ruin each others lives. (I don’t know, I just wasn’t feeling it.)

Things didn’t start to pick up until page 55 or so. And even then… eh.

I wasn’t really into this story. Maybe it just wasn’t my type, but I also think that the first half was fairly hard to follow or care about. The ending was okay, but even by then, I did not care much for the characters. A lot of the elements in this book were not what I was looking for in a Fantasy YA. I think that others, who appreciate fast-paced action/arguments and strange kingdoms, might like this book better than I did.

I loved the blurb of Castle of Lies, as I'm a fan of fantasy with elves and court intrigue. However, I struggled to empathise with the characters as there are a number of different points of view we follow. I really dislike stories with more than 3+ multiple POVS. This is a fault entirely my own and that is why I have not finished this story.

However, the concept of the story is interesting. I liked the elves and how they seemed to pick their gender during their life. I was interested in Sapphire's journey. The humans on the other hand; Thelia, Corene and Percival etc, seemed petty. It made it hard to believe if they had ever been friends in the first place as none of them seemed to like each other very much at all. If you enjoy reading books with a lot of POVS or it simply doesn't bug you like me and are looking for fantasy novels with more LGBT themes then this is likely the book for you.

I wanted to enjoy this based on the description it sounded so good, but for me it just didn’t do it. I couldn’t connect with the characters, found them unlikeable and didn’t really care what happened to them. It’s confusing at times and I think the characters were confused generally. Sadly not for me couldn’t hold my interest.

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a free copy for an honest opinion

I am a sucker for scheming and machinations but this felt really juvenile and more a bitter young girl taking revenge against a "frenemy".

I couldn't even continue to read it because it just bored me.

I think it has heaps of potential in terms of the plot. The idea of elves being mainly evil and conquering humans and plots to overthrow power and gain Royal titles sounded good but I couldn't push past 20% to get anywhere.

Reading other reviews that state their is sustained daily, incestuous sex between cousins, caricatures of native peoples, misrepresentation of LGBTIQ characters, alcoholism and violence I really did not think it worth my time to push past the desire to DNF.

I loved this story! I immediately wanted to read more about this world, the inhabitants, and their magic. I definitely want to be first on the list for any sequels and I think that this world could span a lot of books. I will say that the use of "they" to identify a single elf was confusing at first

Castle of Lies seemed promising but fell short. I could not get interested enough to keep going. I skimmed through this one. Thanks to NetGalley for an arc in exchange for an honest review.

I actually really enjoyed this book. I liked how all of the main characters were incredibly flawed. I’m only giving it four stars out of five because I feel like the world building could’ve been a little better fleshed out. Also, I’m not sure what naming convention the author was using, but I really hated all of the names except Thelia’s. (that took me a while to get around.)

All in all, it was an enjoyable read, kept me turning the pages, and I read it all in one sitting. I’m not dying for a sequel to it, though. Maybe this is a 3.5/5. Still pretty good, as I’m not easy to please, ha!

This book has a very slow start. It took me a while to get into this new world and story. It did pick up at the end, but it was as if the author had a remote control button because she sped through the rest of the book so fast, I hardly knew what was happening.

I also found it a bit difficult with all of the POV changes, maybe I am just not used to that in my books. So it is a subjective opinion from me. And most of the characters kind of mush into the same characteristics. No one really stood out to me and I never really rooted for anyone. Maybe because most of the characters were jerks... but I digress.

This books should also be noted as having a lot of trigger warnings for younger people. I am a 28-year-old nurse so not much shocks me anymore, but I can see some of the things that happen in the book bothering others.

I am not really interested in reading the sequel, this book just did not captivate me enough.

I expected a bit more from this book. However, it did keep me reading, wanting to know what will happen to the main characters. I liked Tgelia and Percival and Sapphire.

Some of the things that happened, was a bit over the top, even for a fantasy novel. The characterisation of the elves also fell flat at times and no clear indication was given about the real reason for the invasion and why magic is dangerous.

All in all I enjoyed the book, but definitely expected more. Thanks #Netgalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read the book.

Due to reading other reviews, I don’t think I will be reading this book since I don’t feel comfortable with certain aspects of it.

So I didn’t really enjoy this one unfortunately. It took me forever to read because it just didn’t capture my attention at all. I didn’t feel connected to any of the characters at any point in the story. I almost DNFed it but pushed through.
I felt like this book had a lot of promise, but just didn’t do much. I liked the take on the elves being the “evil” and keeping the humans prisoner in the castle. I didn’t like all of the POVs (I think there were at least 5). It would switch POVs in the same scene so I would forget who I was reading because several of them felt almost like the same person.
The thing that bothered me the most was the elf whose POV we get (Sapphire) has not decided whether to be a male or female, so is referred to as “they” or “them.” It was very confusing when, for example, it said “they jumped out the window” but it was only Sapphire. It made any scene with Sapphire in it so hard to read.
Several of the characters were very cruel to the point where I dreaded any scene they were in. Also, there are cousins who are in love which is weird.
I am assuming from the ending that this book is the first in a series, and unfortunately I don’t think I will be continuing on.

I felt as if the book started off relatively slow and then, once the story actually started to pick up, it went much too fast. It felt as if the story could have been expanded on throughout a series instead of being condensed into one novel. I dont think the author took enough care to put more detail into the world-building. The character development was also lacking, at best. The characters gave little to no indication that what was happening to them affected them at all. Considering how much suspense, betrayal, politics, and magic is in the book, I'm surprised at how little the characters seemed to be affected by anything. However, I do like the concept. It reads somewhat like YA novel, and I rarely find unique YA novels. The lore is original, and I like the Classic Fantasy feel that the book had with the elves and the magic system. I dont know if this book was supposed to be the first in a sequel, but I think that if the author takes more time and care with the flow of story in future works, then all will be good.

Book tw: mentions and threats of rape, violence, disfiguremisia, anti ace/aro/sex work content, incest (cousins), alcoholism and generally lots of drinking, explicit sex.

I asked for it because YA castle intrigues with queer teenagers sounded amazing. I was told one character was demisexual (Thelia) so I was super excited to see how that'd play out.

Unfortunately, this book doesn't deliver on ... pretty much everything? It's not *awful*, but there was really very little to keep me interested. 'Court intrigues' here is synonymous with 'petty teenage romance plots', and it's hard to really dig these characters when they have so little depth. They eventually develop a bit of it, especially Bayled who grows from the most bland love interest into an actual person, but that's ... it. I guess if CASTLE OF LIES was just very standard fantasy tropes mixed with undeveloped characters, I might have given it three stars.

I wish that was it, though, but apart from the polyamory, so much of the representation within CASTLE OF LIES is ... let's go with lackluster. The nonbinary character is, of course, the non-human one (the elf). Parsifal hits so many Promiscuous Bisexual flags it's not even funny, and he's only beautiful when people see 'past' his disfigurement. The elves as a whole are exotified constantly and frequently felt like Native caricatures.

Then there's Thelia, the demisexual character. I'll keep this short. The ace was of course the most manipulative of them and was described as 'cold' and 'heartless' by others. Yikes. In the first half of the novel, Thelia is established as a generally sex averse person, with the exception of the Baron, with whom she developed attraction. It's a Big Deal that he was the one she felt comfortable kissing. That was all fine, but the characterization flies out the window to ham-fist sexual encounters with <spoilers>Sapphire first (a kiss), then Parsifal (daily sex for comfort!! with her cousin!)</spoilers>. Thelia never reflects on how different this is from previous experiences, never questions anything, and it's essentially like she was never previously described as anything close to demisexual or sex averse. It was incredibly off putting to have her identity vanish like this. It read like demisexual people just ... become allosexual, and like sex averseness or sex repulsion are only present when sexual attraction is absent. While I can imagine several stories where this could be respectfully explored, CASTLE OF LIES unfolds without any introspection, except perhaps that Thelia is a better person now that she loves and has sex. Good message there. /sarcasm

Overall, CASTLE OF LIES was a bust on all accounts for me, and I'm really disappointed for all the lost potential.

As usual I needed time to get into the story, especially since Castle of Lies is one that involves an entirely new world and is told from the perspective of four different characters: Thelia, Parsifal, Bayled and Sapphire. We follow the characters as they are faced with an evil overtaking by elves who want to purge the city from all Magic. Unfortunately I never managed to immerse myself completely. A multitude of different plots and ruses were wound together and there was too much going on at the same time. It seemed overly complicated in setup, but lacked in depth. A very strange paradox of you ask me.

In my opinion this novel was trying too hard to resemble great series like Game of Thrones and Throne of Glass, but it never even got close to reaching that level. Especially since two of the characters that told the story were constantly in the same place. This added only confusion as to who was speaking at the time, especially with so many changes in point of view. Additionally, none of the characters got enough page time to truly develop them properly. This left them flat and cliché and made the story unimaginative.

Finally, there was the involvement of the elf Sapphire, who was constantly referred to as ‘them’ instead of ‘him’ or ‘her’. Apparently, in a strange reference to gender neutrality, this elf never choose whether it was male or female and therefore had to be referred to as ‘them’. It was very difficult to wrap my mind around the fact that it was still just one person, not more as the plural ‘them’ would suggest.

This story could have been great, unfortunately it wasn’t in my opinion.

This was a DNF halfway through the book. Most of my reason for DNF-ing is due to the flat characters whose personalities we are told about rather than shown. And even though the characters are in trouble and being invaded, most of what we hear about is the conflict going on between the four main characters. The fact that the POV changes too quickly between each POV character only serves to distract from the story, and I feel like it would have been a better story overall if it had stuck with the same character the whole time.

A fantasy reminiscent of Game of Thrones. Although the characters are unlikeable, they are some of the most interesting I’ve read.

Conceptually, Castle of Lies is promising. It aims to - and successfully does - deliver a new plot-line that’s not a generic trope. Based on a MC who strives (and always has) for power, and follows routes to gain it, the main plot twist leaves you wanting more. Character development couldn’t done with some tweaking and more focus, but the overall theme and compilation of the novel was satisfying.

I'm not well-versed in high fantasy, but this one has all the secrets and schemes of a good drama plus delightfully haunting, original magic reminiscent of Beauty and the Beast, but with more teeth. A thrilling ride adorned with growth, humor, and characters you can root for.

DNF at 12%

I'm not a big fan of present-tense writing for novels. That was a turn-off for me right from the start. However, I could have gotten used to it if the book had been worth reading.
The author switches perspectives every 5 paragraphs, between at least 5 different people. It's annoying getting tiny snippets of each person's story one at a time like that. Multiple POV is a fine strategy, but you can't switch between scenes like a TV show.
The writing is completely void of any descriptive elements. It's entirely Dialogue (internal and external) and Actions, all smashed together with no adjectives at all.
The characters are fine, but you don't get to know them at all because they just switch again and again like lightening. The plot is fine, but pretty rushed along. The pacing is terrible, just fast-forward all the way. Everything happens one after another with no pauses or explanations in between.
I would have called this a rough draft that needs a lot of work, not something publishable.
I received this as an ARC book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I wanted to like this so much more than I did. There's just so much going on, constant switching of POV, tons of new rules and subplots being added in. Don't even get me started on the loose ends. So many unanswered questions that could have been be answered, tons of subplots that lead to nothing, the character development needing more work. Felt like it could have used several rounds of deeper editing.