Song of the Six Realms

Nope.

Gothic romance? What gothic romance? This is supposed to be loosely based on Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca, but it ends up being a mess that is neither gothic nor romantic. It reminds me a lot of Daughter of the Moon Goddess. The vibes are vibing but the bland, repetitive writing muted it, the main character is insufferable, and the pacing is awful. For like half of the book nothing is going on, then suddenly a whole chunk of worldbuilding comes out of nowhere and crammed into the last few chapters.

I never knew a story could suffer from too much worldbuilding, but now I do thanks to this book. Great concept, poor execution. It's so unfortunate because the cover is gorgeous, but the story inside just never really comes to life.