2.5 stars. The beginning was pretty confusing, and it took me a while to get used to the italic writing. I wish the author just decided on one point of view, instead, this book is written in both first person and in third person. Honestly the synopsis just explains the whole book. The book wasn't really what I was expecting, Arthur didn't even die until the middle of the book and those "seven years of hardship" were literally just skimmed over. I just skimmed the ending because I didn't feel like reading pages worth of italics.