I listened to Rose in Chains by Julie Soto on audio, and it took me a while to figure out why I wasn’t vibing with it the way I expected to. I’ve read Soto before and loved her work, so I went in thinking this would be a sure thing. It’s a romantasy with all the right bones: enemies to lovers, magical rebellion, emotional stakes. But I kept zoning out. The central relationship felt weirdly familiar, but it wasn’t hitting.
Then someone casually said, “You know this started as Dramione fanfic, right?” And suddenly it all made sense. That dynamic I couldn’t quite get behind wasn’t just familiar. It was fanfic-familiar. And once I knew that, I couldn’t stop comparing it to Manacled.
And look, Manacled is one of the best things I’ve ever read. It’s not even fair to bring it into this conversation, except my brain didn’t give me a choice. That book lives in a locked box in my psyche labeled “DO NOT COMPARE, NOTHING WILL SURVIVE” and unfortunately Rose in Chains walked right into it. I don’t think anything else can come close when it comes to Dramione-style tension, so anything that feels even vaguely adjacent just ends up suffering by comparison.
To be fair, this book is good. The story is compelling. The writing is solid. The narration is excellent. The characters are fully formed. But it didn’t move me. I never quite felt the connection I wanted to. And once I started seeing the ghost of Manacled between the lines, it was kind of over.
Three stars. No shade at all to Julie Soto. This is just what happens when you write something that echoes something unforgettable.
Member discussion