The writing was very stilted and weird, and the plot itself was a little silly. The book felt more like an outline of a draft than a finished story.

The world building didn't work well either, I actually had to double check that this book was the first in the series, since the way everything was described so generically made it seem like a book in the middle of the series with only a quick brush up of past books.

It was so odd that huge events were just mentioned casually in one sentence and never explained in any detail. Nothing was believable and the characters felt flat to me.

Rating: 2/5 Stars

I received a copy of this novella, in exchange for an honest review. In an attempt to revive my score on Netgalley I promised myself I would revisit a few of the review copies I never got around to last year. Arranged, was one of these copies. I went into this remembering little about why I requested a copy so I went in with fairly neutral expectations; there was no eagerness or reluctance to get started. Either way, I was sadly disappointed.
If I'm honest there wasn't much I liked about the novella. The premise was interesting and with a fair bit of work the plot could really be moulded into something worth reading. Other than that though, Arranged really fell flat.
The plot as I said had potential but there were a lot of inconsistencies and the fantasy/sci-fi/dystopia genre blend felt like it was trying to do too much in too little time. The world building (or lack thereof) just made everything feel disconnected and inconsistent. It made the world feel unbelievable so I just wasn't invested in anything that happened. I agree with a lot of what other reviewers have said already: the whole Novella reads like a first draft.
The characters were really plain, and our main character was more flippant and inconsistent than a faulty light switch and it made her seem spoilt and uninteresting. I'm not saying that all characters have to be perfect, but if you don't give your characters rules and if they don't fit into the personality you're trying to build for them there's no way I'm going to be interested in anything they have to think or say.
In terms of writing style, Crane did an O-K job but there really wasn't anything fantastic to say. Crane does a lot of telling and not a lot of showing, her style is very rudimentary and plain which meant I wasn't invested in putting a lot of time into reading the novella itself and she often mixes modern colloquialisms with a clear attempt at "posh fantasy English." It was just a very jarring and boring read.
My biggest problem with the novella is the way it attempts to tackle racism. The approach is very messy and really doesn't read very well in terms of how it goes about trying to represent divided peoples eventually coming together for a greater good. It seems to disregard context and histories; and labels actual human to human racism as insignificant in comparison to fairy to human racism. You also get references to "half-breeds" and other animal centred discussions, some ableist use of the term "crazy" and a really uncomfortable reference that implied that fairy men were "slight and soft," in contrast to human men. It could just be me but the word's historical use as a slur against gay men just felt...I don't know, off I guess? Like Crane was trying to repurpose a stereotype that was actually used against queer men. The whole approach put a really sour taste in my mouth.
I can't say I'll continue with the series, but I hope you found this review insightful and I'll see you next time!

Yeah, not a fan on this one. Not even going to bother with a review.