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timinbc's review against another edition
2.0
So that's "romantasy," huh? My first, and last.
You're too old for Beauty and the Beast, because you keep thinking these thoughts about the Beast.
Maybe this is next.
First, 400 pages of them almost doing it. Then 160 of not-almost.
OK, considerable effort has gone into writing a fantasy around it. But it's very much the usual Regency stuff with Lords and gowns and balls and plots and betrayals. And the inevitable complete rotter who Has A Way To Make The Heroine Do What He Wants. Sigh.
And let's see, we have demigods, fae lords and lower ranks, vampires, werewolves, a hexed throne, and I probably skipped past a hippogriff or two, witches on brooms, a giant eye in the sky, and Camille talking to the flowers. You don't have to use them all, you know.
If the sex didn't get you, ahem—let me reword that—wasn't enough, there's some jolly violence near the end, but most of it is against non-humans, and if you can't go after them like Groundskeeper Willie after dandelions, there'd BE no fantasy.
Finally, if my rapid skimming served me well, (no, it isn't)
I do award a point for Camille being poised, self-possessed, strong, and doing only what she wants to do. WITHOUT being that annoying Plucky Girl type.
There's an audience for this type of book, and the author wasn't writing for me, so don't consider my rating as suggesting you won't enjoy it. Just don't read it out loud to Mom.
You're too old for Beauty and the Beast, because you keep thinking these thoughts about the Beast.
Maybe this is next.
First, 400 pages of them almost doing it. Then 160 of not-almost.
OK, considerable effort has gone into writing a fantasy around it. But it's very much the usual Regency stuff with Lords and gowns and balls and plots and betrayals. And the inevitable complete rotter who Has A Way To Make The Heroine Do What He Wants. Sigh.
And let's see, we have demigods, fae lords and lower ranks, vampires, werewolves, a hexed throne, and I probably skipped past a hippogriff or two, witches on brooms, a giant eye in the sky, and Camille talking to the flowers. You don't have to use them all, you know.
If the sex didn't get you, ahem—let me reword that—wasn't enough, there's some jolly violence near the end, but most of it is against non-humans, and if you can't go after them like Groundskeeper Willie after dandelions, there'd BE no fantasy.
Finally, if my rapid skimming served me well,
Spoiler
Camille discovers that SHE has magic powers, too, isn't that a surPRISE?I do award a point for Camille being poised, self-possessed, strong, and doing only what she wants to do. WITHOUT being that annoying Plucky Girl type.
There's an audience for this type of book, and the author wasn't writing for me, so don't consider my rating as suggesting you won't enjoy it. Just don't read it out loud to Mom.
lpoza's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
fireforferrets's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
pslovekelli's review against another edition
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? It's complicated
4.0
elskabee's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
2.0
I really wanted to like this! I read the synopsis and heard good reviews and thought I finally found the Romance Fantasy for me! But overall I didn't enjoy this. I did like it at the start but it was all a steady downhill from there.
I was going to do a 'things I liked vs things I didn't' but I struggled to think of anything I liked by the end, so this is going to be more of a rant than intended.
Problem #1 - Pacing and Progression
This is probably the thing that ruined it most for me. At over 500 pages, I just found it to be a slog by the two-thirds mark. The plot felt very repetitive and there wasn't enough character development either, so nothing was really holding my attention. I nearly DNF'd but I waited SIX MONTHS to get a copy from the library so I persisted when normally I wouldn't.
There are A LOT of new locations we go to, and a lot of them are described in more detail than I would like and when that happens every few chapters, I got really sick of hearing about marble and drapes and paintings and sculptures etc. constantly.
Aside from the repetitiveness of the book, I also felt that the plot meandered a lot. While there was a clear goal of "win the game" it was hard to know how much progress we were making and most of that time, the progress didn't feel rewarding. It felt very episodic in nature, and would probably make a better TV show with this kind of pacing.
I thought the relationship progression was also poorly done. THERE IS NO ROMANCE. It is purely about how much they want each other's bodies and maybe a bit of mutual respect and that's it. And it's hard to be invested only in how much they want to fuck each other's brains out when the fantasy plot is so high stakes. AND THEN to insult the readers a the very end we get told that "oh now envy is so sweet and mushy and we do all these romantic things together" WHERE WAS THAT IN THE ACTUAL STORY. We could have had Camilla helping Envy slowly open up, but we see NONE of that. It doesn't feel rewarding to see their happy ending because we never saw them making emotional connections. The ONLY times they opened up to each other was when they would trade information with each other, not because they trusted each other all that much, but that they needed info to progress or understand the game.
Even the fantasy plot suffered from this laziness. "Oh we need to go through this evil forest to prove you worthy of this place" and then like a few pages later "actually we've been here long enough because I randomly decided we had and will give no explanation as to why now I can magic us out of here and continue the plot." I'm so mad. Going through a forest that tempts you with different sins and having to prove yourself worthy could have been really cool, but as soon as she passes the lust test we're outtie. WHAT???????
While there were some aspects of the plot and characterisation I liked at times, overall it just became frustrating and the bad overshadowed the good.
Problem #2 - The Mystery
Both characters have a lot of secrets they're trying to hide from each other. This is dual perspective to the fun and tension should come from us knowing what they're hiding from each other and wondering when the other character is going to work it out or tell each other etc. For example, at the start we know that Envy is a demon but Camilla thinks he is human. Comedy! Intrigue! Tension!
Instead we don't know most of their secrets for most of the book. Actually we kind of know what's going on with Envy, meanwhile everything to do with Camilla isn't revealed until the end and then has to retcon a bunch of stuff because we were in her head but couldn't know her secrets. LAZY! Lying to the reader in order to have a reveal later is bad writing in my opinion. It either shows you don't respect your readers, or you're really bad at planning ahead.
And most of this would have been fixed if either we as the reader knew what she's keeping secret from Envy OR we only had it from Envy's perspective.
Problem #3 - The Writing
This is the most subjective gripe. I just don't care for this writing style. At first it read a bit like a historical romance and that was fine, but it lost that as it went on and became very cheesy. It was also a little too on the nose in general, especially in terms of telling rather than showing, especially when it came to how they were feeling and their opinions of each other. I didn't jive with the dialogue most of the time, I don't know if I could tell you why though.
VERY repetitive writing. Early on I was ready to DNF if she mentioned "hunter green" one more fucking time. Also, if you're going to talk about vampires biting femoral arteries all the time, maybe you should also have an idea what happens when a femoral artery is punctured! I think most of the other examples I blocked out of my head.
Okay I think I got most of it off my chest. If you can't tell, I don't recommend this. This seemed to be one of the better romantasy books going around and if that's the case, then maybe this genre isn't for me.
I was going to do a 'things I liked vs things I didn't' but I struggled to think of anything I liked by the end, so this is going to be more of a rant than intended.
Problem #1 - Pacing and Progression
This is probably the thing that ruined it most for me. At over 500 pages, I just found it to be a slog by the two-thirds mark. The plot felt very repetitive and there wasn't enough character development either, so nothing was really holding my attention. I nearly DNF'd but I waited SIX MONTHS to get a copy from the library so I persisted when normally I wouldn't.
There are A LOT of new locations we go to, and a lot of them are described in more detail than I would like and when that happens every few chapters, I got really sick of hearing about marble and drapes and paintings and sculptures etc. constantly.
Aside from the repetitiveness of the book, I also felt that the plot meandered a lot. While there was a clear goal of "win the game" it was hard to know how much progress we were making and most of that time, the progress didn't feel rewarding. It felt very episodic in nature, and would probably make a better TV show with this kind of pacing.
I thought the relationship progression was also poorly done. THERE IS NO ROMANCE. It is purely about how much they want each other's bodies and maybe a bit of mutual respect and that's it. And it's hard to be invested only in how much they want to fuck each other's brains out when the fantasy plot is so high stakes. AND THEN to insult the readers a the very end we get told that "oh now envy is so sweet and mushy and we do all these romantic things together" WHERE WAS THAT IN THE ACTUAL STORY. We could have had Camilla helping Envy slowly open up, but we see NONE of that. It doesn't feel rewarding to see their happy ending because we never saw them making emotional connections. The ONLY times they opened up to each other was when they would trade information with each other, not because they trusted each other all that much, but that they needed info to progress or understand the game.
Even the fantasy plot suffered from this laziness. "Oh we need to go through this evil forest to prove you worthy of this place" and then like a few pages later "actually we've been here long enough because I randomly decided we had and will give no explanation as to why now I can magic us out of here and continue the plot." I'm so mad. Going through a forest that tempts you with different sins and having to prove yourself worthy could have been really cool, but as soon as she passes the lust test we're outtie. WHAT???????
While there were some aspects of the plot and characterisation I liked at times, overall it just became frustrating and the bad overshadowed the good.
Problem #2 - The Mystery
Both characters have a lot of secrets they're trying to hide from each other. This is dual perspective to the fun and tension should come from us knowing what they're hiding from each other and wondering when the other character is going to work it out or tell each other etc. For example, at the start we know that Envy is a demon but Camilla thinks he is human. Comedy! Intrigue! Tension!
Instead we don't know most of their secrets for most of the book. Actually we kind of know what's going on with Envy, meanwhile everything to do with Camilla isn't revealed until the end and then has to retcon a bunch of stuff because we were in her head but couldn't know her secrets. LAZY! Lying to the reader in order to have a reveal later is bad writing in my opinion. It either shows you don't respect your readers, or you're really bad at planning ahead.
And most of this would have been fixed if either we as the reader knew what she's keeping secret from Envy OR we only had it from Envy's perspective.
Problem #3 - The Writing
This is the most subjective gripe. I just don't care for this writing style. At first it read a bit like a historical romance and that was fine, but it lost that as it went on and became very cheesy. It was also a little too on the nose in general, especially in terms of telling rather than showing, especially when it came to how they were feeling and their opinions of each other. I didn't jive with the dialogue most of the time, I don't know if I could tell you why though.
VERY repetitive writing. Early on I was ready to DNF if she mentioned "hunter green" one more fucking time. Also, if you're going to talk about vampires biting femoral arteries all the time, maybe you should also have an idea what happens when a femoral artery is punctured! I think most of the other examples I blocked out of my head.
Okay I think I got most of it off my chest. If you can't tell, I don't recommend this. This seemed to be one of the better romantasy books going around and if that's the case, then maybe this genre isn't for me.
franstaffs'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? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
gh0st_wolf's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
4.0
pagetraveler's review against another edition
dark
emotional
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
3.75