Ribbon

Just another superhero origin story. It's well written but doesn't break any new ground and it's generally forgettable. Most of the characters are very simple - the rock star girl has music themed one liners, the Irish brawler tells tall tales, the younger girl is cuddly, etc. The main character is just another Peter Parker type.

Even though the Zodiac Legacy is prose, it's easy to picture the comic book panels throughout.

Expect lots of fight scenes and no conclusion at the end of the first book.

Say goodbye to that idealized view of Regency England! We're going to hear about hygiene, health care, food safety, women's rights, worker's rights, and so much more! Courtney doesn't play along with her change of circumstance very well, leading to SO MANY cringe-worthy moments.

Reveka would like to solve the Twelve Dancing Princesses mystery, but she's not one of the princesses or a suitor. She's just an herbalist's apprentice who'd make good use of the monetary reward offered to not-suitors who tackle the puzzle. The Princess Curse is from a rare outside perspective and all the herbalism is pretty neat.

Unfortunately none of the characters have much personality. Everyone has the same voice and the only characters with any personality traits at all are relatively minor characters. And only two come to mind.

Young women are sold into reproductive slavery and, for some reason, shown off like purebred dogs while they incubate. They wear pretty dresses and show off their talents as commanded by their owners, who are varying degrees of abusive. It's a screwed up system and Violet is motivated by “get out” and, eventually, “break the system”, which worked well for Hunger Games. She would also like to help her childhood friend escape. Except she meets a hot guy she can't have and suddenly can't do anything but moon over him and screws everything up because he's so nice and attractive.

This is one of the “Pretty Dresses Dystopia” subgenre books, like The Selection. I think it's better written than The Selection but the forced romantic plot is a lot less forgivable.

It ain't Beauty and the Beast. Or The Selection. Or a harem anime. But there are certainly moments that made me think of each. I would have rated this higher if the tone were more consistent. Most of the time it fits the setting and characters perfectly but the occasionally “modern teen” lines rip me right out of the story. Based on the final chapters, I worry the next book will have a lot more of those lines.