After struggling for almost a week to get through this book, I finally did it! Now I know my current state of being is partly to blame for my feelings towards this book, but wow. What a bland, boring book.Firstly, the premise is pretty impressive and the first few pages of this book are quite good. Aria is not as dumb as some YA female protagonists. I liked that she wanted to learn to defend herself and be useful rather than stay back and be the damsel in distress seeking to be rescued all the time. So i'll say Aria is a fairly strong character. But it bothers me that she lost someone who was supposedly close to her and her reaction was "oh". Is she made of granite? This book is weird . Seriously, I get that it's paranormal/dystopia and it's meant to be unusual, but this was just freaking over-the-top strange. Too much but nothing was happening. One second the author's describing Aether storms, the next the Realms, then it's back to Aria and Peregrine(this name is a big NOPE!)'s friendship/romance. There wasn't really a plot. Just a lot of situations.It was never explained how our world came to be the world it was, and that always annoys me. There were just too many unexplained things and really, the ending had me rolling my eyes. Really tired of big-shot, powerful people putting their trust in teenage girls. Are you telling me one of your skilled, professional workers wouldn't be able to do the task you're assigning to a teenager? This idea has been used so many times, I'm just done with it.Aria and Perry's relationship was awkward at best. I preferred it when they hated each other. But of course the blurb and the genre tells you they'll fall in love. Whilst I think Perry's gifts are clever and cool, although eventually I got sick of being reminded of them, can I just point out that he only stopped seeing Aria as a pest when she got her first period? That scene will scar me forever.Basically Perry finds Aria and Aria's all "omfgg im dying" and Perry SNIFFS the air and guess what he finds out? Aria's menstruating and she smells like violets and apparently that's what menstruation smells like. So Aria's like "wtf i don't period" and Perry's now thinking "*BONER ALERT* Aria is..... A GIRL!!!" Apparently Perry didn't realise this before Aria got her period. So after that Perry keeps talking about her feminine menstrual scent and loving it and wanting to bury himself in it and Aria, well I don't even know.Some shit happens but still, nothing really ever happens. The pacing is ridiculously slow from start to finish. I never connected with any of the characters. This is due to the writing, because I'm sure I could have felt something for Aria or Perry but the way it's written, they never really come aliveI'm giving it 2 stars because I'm feeling polite tonight. But seriously, aside from the period scenting thing, this is the most forgettable book I've read. I just finished it and I've already forgotten 95% of what happens.
