Reviews

2.5 stars.

So much potential but it just ended up being messy. I had no connection with any of the characters, the pacing felt off, and the found family element (my absolute favourite trope) could have been so so much stronger. This was one of my most anticipated new releases and I am so disappointed.

mageaxe's review against another edition

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2.75

This book is like a slightly more mature version of, "Rawr I'm so random :3"
This book is like the author put a bunch of cool things in a blender and mixed them up, but didn't lay any foundation for them to make sense in the world she created.
This book is like a D&D campaign, and it became more fun to read it when I thought about it that way.
This story being a D&D campaign is the only explanation for some of the cartoonishly absurd situations that happen, for the cheesy characters, and for the heist plan that sounds exactly like the kind of ridiculous, dumbass plan me and my D&D group would come up with. It also explains how often the "rule of cool" is used in the world building and story.

The world building has a cool vibe, but if you dig even a little bit it has 0 depth.
There are so many logistical questions. Nothing makes sense if you think about it at all beyond your initial, "oh, fun" reaction.
The tea house was supposed to be important, but we spent almost no time in it.
The heist was absurd and ended in the most underwhelming way possible.
The romances were so forced and took up way too much time.
STOP 👏 HAVING 👏 LOVE 👏 INTERESTS 👏 NOT 👏 RESPECT 👏 PREFERRED 👏 NAMES 👏 It's not cute, it's disrespectful!! It's a major red flag!!!
There were no character arcs. Except Flick, no one grew or changed or developed in any way.
Laith, the kitten, and the random connection to the Sands of Arawiya duology were completely pointless and added nothing to the story, except to create even more logistical questions that go unanswered.
The plot was pointless because we didn't get anywhere. If anything, we're worse off than before.

Forgetting it's a bank holiday????
COCONUT WATER AS A BLOOD REPLACEMENT?? WHAT DO YOU MEAN???

The writing is decent and there were fun moments, but the only things I find myself thinking about afterwards are the things I didn't enjoy, and the things that made no sense at all. I was going to give this 3 stars, but the more I think about it, the more it feels like a 2.75 or 2.5.

brittney_reads's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

ambersapphire98's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

wickeddelights's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging funny mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

I am giving this book 3 Stars because I still got a good amount of enjoyment out of this book, but I feel like this could have used a few more rounds of edits and way more time planning.

It felt like a gender-swapped retelling of Six of Crows where one character was swapped out for an Astarion insert. 🙃

The premise was sooooo promising 😫
Artherian retelling but make it anti-colonization? ❤️Love it.
Vampires? ❤️Hell yes.
Excaliber turned into a gun? ❤️ Super cool.
A Tea shop that turns into a blood bar at night? ❤️ Amazing idea, I was so excited for this part.

But we spent *barely* any time at the tea shop. Yes, Arthie and Jin's motivation for doing what they did was with the shop in mind, but I feel like such a cool setting was totally tossed aside in favor of just under 200 pages of preparation for this plan that once we got down to it felt really rushed at the end.

The romances also felt strangely paced. There was a love-triangle-esque will they-won't-they situation with Arthie/Matteo and Arthie/Laith. The scales tip more towards Laith, things start to happen and then Arthie sends Laith away for obvious reason, but then literally on the same page as Latih leaving after him and Arthie have their moment Arthie walks out of her room and runs into Matteo and two pages later he is caressing her cheek, and she's leaning into it with a low simmer in her belly.
And Jin and Flick were an instant and obvious future pairing. Jin is described in a manner that makes him seem like a ladies man and yet it felt like he was instantly all in on Flick.

I loved how much Jin and Arthie clearly cared about each other though, but the amount of secrets between them felt so odd after how much time they've known each other. I was so glad to see Flick become a part of the family and get the love and respect she deserves as well.
It was an entertaining read, I just think it needed *more* in a lot of places, and I'm interested to see where the sequel takes it.

Also I will just say the coconut reveal at the end absolutely killed me.

Content Warnings

lessie32's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious

Loveable characters? N/A
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.0

aristocratic_alcoholic's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

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