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harleyrae's review against another edition
3.0
This was fine. Very middle of the road for me. Not sure if I’ll continue on with the series or not.
qkat's review against another edition
3.0
The characters didn’t capture me and the book is way too slow. I don’t think I will continue with the series. This really makes me sad because I was looking forward to reading this book.
marcellaluna_author's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
thenovelmaura's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
A solid start to a trilogy! The vibes here are Shadow and Bone, but make it diverse and get rid of the problematic romance. I loved seeing a half-Asian protagonist show off her skills in some epic fight scenes! We do start the series at an interesting point in time, with Sirscha having already finished the bulk of her training to be the queen's Shadow. Her royal spy training sequences and the formation of her relationship with key characters like Saengo and the prince are all shows as flashbacks. This may be why it takes longer than usual to feel a connection with the characters and to really understand the complex world. But since I'm writing this review after I finished reading the full trilogy, I do appreciate the groundwork that Lee has laid out and how the political and magic systems are so well thought-out even in this initial book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and Violence
steph_sosa's review against another edition
Okay, so this is my first DNF this year, and I’m not sure I will pick the book back up.
The main character feels so copy-paste. A female secret assassin is a typical storyline, and it can be done okay or it can be done boringly. This felt like the latter. I can’t say anything about the female MC’s personality (I already forget her name whoops) since I only got to experience 67 pages worth of it. But judging by where I left the story at it seemed predictable as to what would happen. She gets some rare power that no one else has and comes off like a Mary Sue, right? At least that’s what I was picking up so far. The shaman/elemental thing could have been more interesting if the magic system was flushed out a bit more. Once again, I didn’t finish it so I don’t know anything, but I personally am sick of simple terms being reused and would have loved to see some fresh fantasy words come out from the author. The cover art is really pretty, and overall the writing was okay. My only issue was the plot, I was not drawn in as much as I would have liked. Maybe in the future I will give the book another go, but right now I’m going to move on from it.
The main character feels so copy-paste. A female secret assassin is a typical storyline, and it can be done okay or it can be done boringly. This felt like the latter. I can’t say anything about the female MC’s personality (I already forget her name whoops) since I only got to experience 67 pages worth of it. But judging by where I left the story at it seemed predictable as to what would happen. She gets some rare power that no one else has and comes off like a Mary Sue, right? At least that’s what I was picking up so far. The shaman/elemental thing could have been more interesting if the magic system was flushed out a bit more. Once again, I didn’t finish it so I don’t know anything, but I personally am sick of simple terms being reused and would have loved to see some fresh fantasy words come out from the author. The cover art is really pretty, and overall the writing was okay. My only issue was the plot, I was not drawn in as much as I would have liked. Maybe in the future I will give the book another go, but right now I’m going to move on from it.
brendalovesbooks's review against another edition
2.0
I finished this a couple of days ago. I didn't love it. Here are my not at all detailed notes that I took while reading:
-awkward world building through dialogue
-nothing seems to be happening
-so much telling instead of showing, and I don't know why I should care
-at one point it was like a laundry list of what had happened to the people she had run into
-very little emotion to the story, and what little was there was very repetitive
-awkward world building through dialogue
-nothing seems to be happening
-so much telling instead of showing, and I don't know why I should care
-at one point it was like a laundry list of what had happened to the people she had run into
-very little emotion to the story, and what little was there was very repetitive
sanne6je's review against another edition
4.0
3.5⭐️
The book starts off with like 6 pages of names and places you should know. I find that very off putting. There was no map whatsoever, while the world layout was really important in this book. I didn’t want to go backt o the first 6 pages to find out what what was and to understand the book better because in my opinion, the book should be clear enough that it doesn’t need instructions.
Still, the story is fast paced, action packed with badass characters. I so hope book 2 has more romance because I’m a sucker for fantasy romance.
The book starts off with like 6 pages of names and places you should know. I find that very off putting. There was no map whatsoever, while the world layout was really important in this book. I didn’t want to go backt o the first 6 pages to find out what what was and to understand the book better because in my opinion, the book should be clear enough that it doesn’t need instructions.
Still, the story is fast paced, action packed with badass characters. I so hope book 2 has more romance because I’m a sucker for fantasy romance.
swampbooks's review against another edition
2.0
Unfortunately this book fell flat for me. Nothing felt like it was completely written out. There wasn’t much depth to the characters and the world building really only established that there was, in fact, a world, and the queen of their land hates magicians. The story focuses solely on the adventure, which unfortunately isn’t usually my cup of tea.
Sirscha is too generic of a main character. She had a rough upbringing, trained to be a spy/assassin, is now super good at it, and is the “chosen one” of super special powers that no one else has. This can be fine if it’s handled well, but since we don’t get to actually see much of her rough upbringing or training she feels like a Mary Sue.
At least the cover art is cool
Sirscha is too generic of a main character. She had a rough upbringing, trained to be a spy/assassin, is now super good at it, and is the “chosen one” of super special powers that no one else has. This can be fine if it’s handled well, but since we don’t get to actually see much of her rough upbringing or training she feels like a Mary Sue.
At least the cover art is cool
issa_her's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
thebookworm_queen's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
A dark fantasy filled with elemental magic, love it! My favorite part of the story are the friendships. The two of them are funny and butt kicking warriors. There is also an amazing world created with an interestingaguc system that is a bit difficult to follow at times but I am ready to see what is next in book 2!