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karambit's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Definitely a different feel from the first book + not as much focus on the action or intrigue, though I guess most of the people who love these books care more about the throuple than anything else. Don’t think the rules of the world were established very well + kept having to go back and reread to find out where they mentioned things.
Apparently every vampire in the castle could hear them smash through the stone walls but also all of their secret conspiracy talk was in the same room…and the courts are in different wings, but also they can all hear each other?? 😭 There’s a scene where Elke takes Remy to a loud place so no one can hear them speak, but then a minute later they just go back to the room and say everything they discussed in private where everyone can overhear them…So inconsequential but it was so distarcting every time it happened. Also Remy and Elke whispering in the cafeteria where presumably everyone would be able to hear them…?
The third “twist” villain just seemed like a hasty attempt to tie together the two books and was honestly not needed. I was almost moved by Remy’s relationship w/ his dad + the family scenes at the end, but it’s strange that he was even given a “redemption” in the first place when there’s a scene early on where Remy talks about how his dad is largely responsible for his sexual abuse??
I remember seeing a lot of comments talking about how Remy and Malekh don’t have a lot of connection between just the two of them, and I feel like that’d probably carry over into this. It just seems like a really wide jump from “I watched you kill my brother” to “Actually I was just horny the whole time 😋” like ?.,l,/..;’.’; Xiaodan was unconscious for so long I thought they’d bond more on their own. A lot of the foundations of their relationship in this seems to be Remy is insecure>Xiaodan/Malekh comfort Remy>they all have sex>Remy is insecure again. The focus on sex was a little funny though b/c usually idc about sex scenes but something about the way they’d go, “Omg these vampire court customs are so predatory! Btw did you know Xiaodan has a strap 🙀” made me laugh.
Wish the author had explored the themes of colonization more, b/c I think Ligaya’s story was definitely the most interesting, even if the vampires’ part in it had me a little confused.
The fanfiction vibes were about the same in this one (you could definitely see the remnants of internet speak), but it’s a fun book I guess if you don’t take it too seriously. Ending felt a little open, almost like there was going to be an epilogue and there just wasn’t. Also completely random, but I thought it was funny how there were almost no physical character descriptions for the majority of the book like what do they even look like 😭
Overall fine, thought it’d be a lot worse based on reviews. I was entertained reading it so that’s all that matters ig.
The third “twist” villain just seemed like a hasty attempt to tie together the two books and was honestly not needed. I was almost moved by Remy’s relationship w/ his dad + the family scenes at the end, but it’s strange that he was even given a “redemption” in the first place when there’s a scene early on where Remy talks about how his dad is largely responsible for his sexual abuse??
I remember seeing a lot of comments talking about how Remy and Malekh don’t have a lot of connection between just the two of them, and I feel like that’d probably carry over into this. It just seems like a really wide jump from “I watched you kill my brother” to “Actually I was just horny the whole time 😋” like ?.,l,/..;’.’; Xiaodan was unconscious for so long I thought they’d bond more on their own. A lot of the foundations of their relationship in this seems to be Remy is insecure>Xiaodan/Malekh comfort Remy>they all have sex>Remy is insecure again. The focus on sex was a little funny though b/c usually idc about sex scenes but something about the way they’d go, “Omg these vampire court customs are so predatory! Btw did you know Xiaodan has a strap 🙀” made me laugh.
Wish the author had explored the themes of colonization more, b/c I think Ligaya’s story was definitely the most interesting, even if the vampires’ part in it had me a little confused.
The fanfiction vibes were about the same in this one (you could definitely see the remnants of internet speak), but it’s a fun book I guess if you don’t take it too seriously. Ending felt a little open, almost like there was going to be an epilogue and there just wasn’t. Also completely random, but I thought it was funny how there were almost no physical character descriptions for the majority of the book like what do they even look like 😭
Overall fine, thought it’d be a lot worse based on reviews. I was entertained reading it so that’s all that matters ig.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Blood, Body horror, Death of parent, and Gore
Moderate: War, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, and Grief
Minor: Dementia, Fire/Fire injury, and Colonisation
thetaoakdown's review
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Body horror, Blood, Death of parent, and Murder
Moderate: Medical content, Alcoholism, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail
takarakei's review against another edition
slow-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? No
3.25
I’m being generous with 3.25 stars to be honest. It pains me to say that because I loved Silver Under Nightfall so much and I’ve told so many people to read it! and I still will…but as a stand-alone
The first half of this sequel wasn’t too bad, I was enjoying the banter between Remy and Malekh a lot. It was a tad spicier (still relatively closed door or just not graphic) but we do head into kink territory! The throuple relationship truly is the one saving grace in this book. However there wasn’t a ton more development persay, and there definitely wasn’t the same tension here from the first book.
I had such a hard time following this plot. There were a lot of new characters from different vampire courts introduced, but none of them felt distinct from each other so I couldn’t keep track of who was who and where their political loyalties were. It felt like there were multiple kind of plot twists (for lack of a better word) happening and the plot got really convoluted. I love political fantasies, but this was poorly done because it moved very slow and felt like a really different world almost from the first book. Idk there was a lot of new world building which seems strange for the second book in a duology.
The action scenes, which were so fun to read in the first book, in this were sparse and very quick. Every conflict seemed to be resolved too easily (this was a bit of my critique in the first book as well, but was exacerbated here). Monsters like weren’t the focus anymore??
It also definitely could’ve been at least 100 pages shorter.
And in the end his dad and mom weren’t actually bad? Like it was that the night king was ultimately at fault? I actually don’t understand it. I guess it’s nice that Remy reconciled with his dad but it didn’t necessarily feel earned?
The first half of this sequel wasn’t too bad, I was enjoying the banter between Remy and Malekh a lot. It was a tad spicier (still relatively closed door or just not graphic) but we do head into kink territory! The throuple relationship truly is the one saving grace in this book. However there wasn’t a ton more development persay, and there definitely wasn’t the same tension here from the first book.
I had such a hard time following this plot. There were a lot of new characters from different vampire courts introduced, but none of them felt distinct from each other so I couldn’t keep track of who was who and where their political loyalties were. It felt like there were multiple kind of plot twists (for lack of a better word) happening and the plot got really convoluted. I love political fantasies, but this was poorly done because it moved very slow and felt like a really different world almost from the first book. Idk there was a lot of new world building which seems strange for the second book in a duology.
The action scenes, which were so fun to read in the first book, in this were sparse and very quick. Every conflict seemed to be resolved too easily (this was a bit of my critique in the first book as well, but was exacerbated here). Monsters like weren’t the focus anymore??
It also definitely could’ve been at least 100 pages shorter.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood and Violence
Moderate: Child death, Dementia, Genocide, War, Sexual content, Colonisation, and Death
Minor: Abandonment, Sexual violence, and Toxic relationship
Toxic relationship/ sexual violence is talked about from a side characters pastsarrie's review
adventurous
dark
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
TL;DR: A pretty good wrap-up to a duology, but with some real unnecessary sexual content.
Overall I really enjoyed Court of Wanderers. This is the final book in the Reaper duology and wraps up Remy, Xiodan, and Malekh’s story. This follows Silver Under Nightfall pretty much immediately as Remy and Malekh take Xiodan to the safety of Malekh’s court headquarters and from there the three work to bring the courts together and to save everyone from the Night Empress.
We’ll talk about the things I really enjoyed first. Unlike a lot of people I do like the poly relationship here. Remy is dense, yes, but as far as a team goes I like them. They were fairly believable in their flaws and how they worked together. I also actually loved how Remy’s family was settled, no spoilers there but I enjoyed that neat tie up. The twist was good, I didn’t see that one coming or to that extent. I also enjoyed the different courts and their leaders.
The biggest issue I had was the sexual content. It was completely unneeded. I say that as someone who LOVES romance, and doesn’t mind sex in my books at all. The sex scenes were fade to black in that they were happening but no in depth details were revealed as they happened. Instead the characters talked about politics while having sex??? And there is a scene where sex is publicly performed for political reasons which felt like nothing more than a ‘tantalize’ moment but it was cold as a cold fish and ultimately felt unneeded. I can’t decide if it was included to be ‘spicy’ or too be sex positive, and either way I feel like it was clumsy and detracted from the story overall. The pacing, because of this being such a weirdly large part of the story, is off in the middle.
If you enjoyed Silver Under Nightfall this does wrap the story up. I enjoyed seeing that, but there are some issues, as noted. But if you want to see a satisfying conclusion it is worth following through.
4 out of 5 Creepy Healing Trees
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Violence, Xenophobia, and Blood
Moderate: War and Colonisation
kimwritesstuff's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
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? No
4.0
This book picks up right where Silver Under Nighfall ends. If you have not read the first book, stop reading this review because spoilers obviously.
Xiaodan is recovering after her battle with the Night Empress, and she still can't call the sun. Malekh is trying to help heal her while also finding out more about the mutations fighting with the Night Empress. And Remy is just happy to be here. Just kidding, Remy is dealing with the aftermath of finding out that the Night Empress is his mother somehow resurrected. He's also falling more in love with both Xiaodan and Malekh. On top of all that, there is a meeting at the Allpriory, and representatives from all the vampire courts will be there.
First, I love the healthy depiction of a throuple. There is so much loving respect between all three main characters, and the communication is so good. In any relationship, trust and good communication have to be pillars, and Rin does such a stunning job of depicting the trust between Malekh, Xiaodan, and Remy. The love story is more of a b-plot, and the main plot focuses on the Night Empress and the threat she poses to humans and vampires alike.
This book deals a lot more with the horrors of war, and we learn more about both Remy and his mother's heritage. We also see more of Remy's father and how he came to be the man he is. I love a good well-rounded character, and I think Rin does such an excellent job of making even the people we would consider to be villains seem human. Except Quinten Yost, he can die in a fire.
The only big qualm I had with this book is that there was so much back and forth trying to figure out who the bad guy was. It was clear the Night Empress had help; she literally had thousands in her coven, but no one leaped to the obvious conclusion (no spoiler). I felt like the characters could have spent less time traveling and making pit stops on the way to the Allpriory and more time with the history/lore of vampires. The politics once we get to the Allpriory could have been fleshed out more, as well as the names of the courts and their leaders. I felt like that added history would have added an extra layer. I didn't really care about the other courts because their characters just seemed to be hostile and conniving. I thought Rin did such a good job fleshing out side characters, except for here. The descriptions of the other courts and their grudges fell flat for me.
Overall, if you're a fan of the first book, I think you'll like this, and it does have a satisfying conclusion.
Thanks to NetGalley and Saga Press for the ARC. All opinions are my own.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence and Blood
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Sexual content, and Torture
mar's review against another edition
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
I hate to say this, as I honestly loved the first book, but Court of Wanderers did not live up to my expectations :(
The ending of Silver Under Nightfall is a great cliffhanger, leaving you with so many questions, so much tension between Remy, Xiaodan and Malekh - only for most of it to be easily resolved at the very beginning of this book, giving you little incentive to read onwards.
There isn't much of the mystery of book 1, with the focus instead placed more firmly on steamy romance and courtly intrigue - except the intrigue was rarely intriguing, and the romance lost a lot of its appeal to me when I realized the characters have become flat, predictable cutouts, any and all character development seemingly one and done after SuN. (If you're expecting some interesting, messy conflicts and friction between the trio, some further fleshing out of their flaws - not a wild hope to have in a "dark fantasy" book, I think - then bad luck.)
The very uneven pacing also made it a slog to get through, and the fight scenes that could've breathed some much-needed life into the plot felt bland and repetitive, especially in comparison to how incredibly memorable and hair-raising the fights in SuN were.
Overall, I'm afraid Court of Wanderers just lacks the charm of the first book - it felt more like reading mediocre fanfiction than a published sequel.
(Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC!)
The ending of Silver Under Nightfall is a great cliffhanger, leaving you with so many questions, so much tension between Remy, Xiaodan and Malekh - only for most of it to be easily resolved at the very beginning of this book, giving you little incentive to read onwards.
There isn't much of the mystery of book 1, with the focus instead placed more firmly on steamy romance and courtly intrigue - except the intrigue was rarely intriguing, and the romance lost a lot of its appeal to me when I realized the characters have become flat, predictable cutouts, any and all character development seemingly one and done after SuN. (If you're expecting some interesting, messy conflicts and friction between the trio, some further fleshing out of their flaws - not a wild hope to have in a "dark fantasy" book, I think - then bad luck.)
The very uneven pacing also made it a slog to get through, and the fight scenes that could've breathed some much-needed life into the plot felt bland and repetitive, especially in comparison to how incredibly memorable and hair-raising the fights in SuN were.
Overall, I'm afraid Court of Wanderers just lacks the charm of the first book - it felt more like reading mediocre fanfiction than a published sequel.
(Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC!)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Violence, Murder, and Blood
Moderate: Body horror and Gore
tifftastic87's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
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
4.0
I received an ARC of Court of Wanderers from NetGalley in exchange for a fair review.
Court of Wanderers wrapped up the threads of Silver Under Nightfall perfectly for a duology. The story started right where the last ended with Remy traveling to the Third Court with Xiaodan and Malekh. As the story unfolds we learn more about the Night Empress and the politics of the vampire courts. Other mysteries are introduced along the way with a bit of a locked room murder and people not being who they seem. As a whole it was a really enjoyable series to read and I liked the interpretations of vampires in Rin Chupeco's world.
Remy's character arc was nice to read as he increased in confidence in both himself as a person and in his relationship with Xiaodan and Malekh. The character of the Night Empress is also flushed out a bit more and we learn of her backstory and how she came to be. However, I felt Xiaodan and Malekh kind of faded a bit more into the background in this book and wished they had a bit more of their own storyline.
Overall, the pacing was sometimes difficult with many pages of worldbuilding after an intense action seen. The pace was never slow or fast but more of a stop and start, where I would have preferred a steady increase. I think that is the aspects of the romance plot coming through that while I enjoyed, seemed to somewhat slow the plot.
That being said I like how the romance unfolded and Remy, Xiaodan and Malekh all had things that they gained through their relationship in terms of character growth.
Lastly, I really enjoyed the horror elements of this duology. The creatures created were ghastly and their deaths gruesome and that kept me coming back for more.
Court of Wanderers wrapped up the threads of Silver Under Nightfall perfectly for a duology. The story started right where the last ended with Remy traveling to the Third Court with Xiaodan and Malekh. As the story unfolds we learn more about the Night Empress and the politics of the vampire courts. Other mysteries are introduced along the way with a bit of a locked room murder and people not being who they seem. As a whole it was a really enjoyable series to read and I liked the interpretations of vampires in Rin Chupeco's world.
Remy's character arc was nice to read as he increased in confidence in both himself as a person and in his relationship with Xiaodan and Malekh. The character of the Night Empress is also flushed out a bit more and we learn of her backstory and how she came to be. However, I felt Xiaodan and Malekh kind of faded a bit more into the background in this book and wished they had a bit more of their own storyline.
Overall, the pacing was sometimes difficult with many pages of worldbuilding after an intense action seen. The pace was never slow or fast but more of a stop and start, where I would have preferred a steady increase. I think that is the aspects of the romance plot coming through that while I enjoyed, seemed to somewhat slow the plot.
That being said I like how the romance unfolded and Remy, Xiaodan and Malekh all had things that they gained through their relationship in terms of character growth.
Lastly, I really enjoyed the horror elements of this duology. The creatures created were ghastly and their deaths gruesome and that kept me coming back for more.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Self harm, Death, Gore, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Alcohol, Blood, Cursing, Death of parent, Sexual content, Murder, and Violence
Minor: Terminal illness
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