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musebeliever's review
adventurous
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
I listened to the audiobook. For me, this hits the spot of an entertaining book that is very easy to follow without insulting my intelligence.
I enjoyed the plot, the tropes and the writing. I enjoyed the world-building. I am a sucker for the fantasy trope of millennial old civilizations coming back to haunt us.
I did roll my eyes on half a dozen occasions at how women are sometimes used in the book. Cue a woman's tragic demise to feed a man's very sad background story (×2). Cue women immediately disliking each other because they want the same man. 🙄 Asha is a cool character but she somehow has no women friends while the bromance be bromancing. The two other women characters that are interesting are only love interests. Sadly, not a drop of queerness has blessed this book.
Despite this, I really think this is a very well written YA book. I would continue the serie if I find the rest of the book series on sale.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror and Violence
Moderate: Sexual violence and Sexual assault
sissizc's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Blood, Murder, Vomit, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Death, Death of parent, and War
goeagles91n's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: War, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Death, Murder, Violence, Confinement, and Gore
Moderate: Self harm
1_800_fuck_off's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
in all its glory, this book should be a five-star read for me. the world-building, the story-telling, the plot, the writing style—all of it! amazing! i’d love to continue the series, and i will as soon as i find the time to go pick the rest of the books up, but i can’t shake off the feeling that there was something missing.
i think it had to do with the connections the characters shared with one another. something was lacking. i would read how they would feel, but i wasn’t able to connect with it. it didn't feel genuine, though i’m not sure why. perhaps because it appeared that a character would place less importance on a long-standing close friendship than on a recent romantic possibility? i have no idea. i still thought the characters were fantastic, though. they were all so charming in their own unique ways, and they all had such endearing traits.
the fact that the book's major plot twist was actually rather obvious toward the end of the book was another element that i felt was a little bit lacking. i'm not sure if that was the author's intention, but when it became clear thatcaeden was tal'kamar , i wasn't shocked, surprised, or even flabbergasted hehe.
additionally, even though the book kept me entertained as i read it, it never really enthralled me, and i'm not sure why. this book fulfills every mark i enjoy in a high fantasy book featuring cisgender, heterosexual protagonists. nonetheless, i’m eager to get into the next two novels in the series.
i think it had to do with the connections the characters shared with one another. something was lacking. i would read how they would feel, but i wasn’t able to connect with it. it didn't feel genuine, though i’m not sure why. perhaps because it appeared that a character would place less importance on a long-standing close friendship than on a recent romantic possibility? i have no idea. i still thought the characters were fantastic, though. they were all so charming in their own unique ways, and they all had such endearing traits.
the fact that the book's major plot twist was actually rather obvious toward the end of the book was another element that i felt was a little bit lacking. i'm not sure if that was the author's intention, but when it became clear that
additionally, even though the book kept me entertained as i read it, it never really enthralled me, and i'm not sure why. this book fulfills every mark i enjoy in a high fantasy book featuring cisgender, heterosexual protagonists. nonetheless, i’m eager to get into the next two novels in the series.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gaslighting, Bullying, Death, Murder, Violence, Blood, Grief, and Hate crime
there’s too many to remember im sorry these are just the main ones i do rememberklambson's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Blood, Violence, Death, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Self harm, Torture, and War
nerdkitten's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Injury/Injury detail, Xenophobia, Grief, Murder, Death of parent, Gore, Suicide, Violence, Blood, and War
Moderate: Self harm, Confinement, Stalking, Body horror, Vomit, Genocide, Bullying, and Child abuse
Minor: Ableism, Physical abuse, Rape, Kidnapping, Alcohol, Abandonment, Child death, Excrement, Medical content, and Suicide attempt
autumnrh's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
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? It's complicated
4.0
A very good story, it was very interesting to see how everything flowed and connected to the end. One of the things I didn’t like about it though is that all the action scenes are done way too fast. It makes it a bit boring when you’re amping to see the magic system I’m action but the fighting is over within a page and half. It also does a good job of making want to commit to the rest of the series to simply find out what the heck is going on.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, and Violence
sami_not_sammi's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
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
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Blood and Violence
Minor: Classism
bebby92's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, War, Violence, and Blood
donatio's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
I did love the heavy world-building, that there was not as much romance as in many other books and I agree with all the people who say that the females were better-crafted than the male ones.
Yet this book felt quite slow to me and as if nothing much happens. The time skips seemed to skip over important parts and it all seems quite "easy" as in the prota could always find a solution right away and there were many points when they could just TELL that someone was trustworthy, too often in my opinion. Furthermore I have not been able to really bond with the characters, their grief for example did not affect me.
You can tell that it is a debut and not up there with Samantha Shannon or V. E. Schwab but I am intrigued enough to read the next books.
Yet this book felt quite slow to me and as if nothing much happens. The time skips seemed to skip over important parts and it all seems quite "easy" as in the prota could always find a solution right away and there were many points when they could just TELL that someone was trustworthy, too often in my opinion. Furthermore I have not been able to really bond with the characters, their grief for example did not affect me.
You can tell that it is a debut and not up there with Samantha Shannon or V. E. Schwab but I am intrigued enough to read the next books.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Gore, Grief, Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, War, Classism, Death, Death of parent, Genocide, Fire/Fire injury, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Blood, Body horror, Child death, and Medical content