Reviews tagging 'Murder'

Bound to the Shadow Prince by Ruby Dixon

4 reviews

marie_thereadingotter's review against another edition

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adventurous slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

I received this book from NetGalley for review

I went into this book with zero exceptions, I’ve heard of Ruby Dixion before. But I didn’t think to look up who that was before requesting this book. Ice Planet Barbarians, so this book is technically part of the omega-verse. Would’ve liked to know that before hand. 

That being said, this book was fine. I did skim over the copious amount of smut scenes, since this type of “intimate” scene isn’t my cup of tea. But I liked the banter between the characters before they started having sex. It was amusing and realistic. But the sex scenes, as the book neared the end, often happened at such odd times in my opinion (Shortly after the FMC was almost SA’d for example). It just felt out of place. 

The world-building was pretty weak at times. The magic was very glossed over, to the point where I’d prefer zero explanation over the flimsy descriptions that were given. The dynamic of being locked in a tower for years, didn’t make sense to me. They were given more supplies, during that time, but other than that, there are no windows and the door is bricked shut… It’s not very clear why exactly they had to be locked in complete darkness either. My suspension of disbelief was broken even more by the fact that they would’ve run out of air, even with the slight breeze under the door. It just didn’t make sense to me. Why couldn’t they have one of those windows that you can’t even stick your arm through. Or why they couldn’t have lights. I also didn’t understand why the country the FMC was from wasn’t a Matriarchal society, especially if the women born from their bloodline are supposed to be important. It was just another trope this book had that I’m tired of seeing. Sexism for the sake of sexism. 

The characters were, meh. I didn’t care for any of them. There was an attempt to make them multi-dimensional, but it just came across as them being inconsistent. I also saw the twist to Candra’s “cursed blood” a mile away. Something else that bothered me throughout the book is the over use of the swear “dragon shite”  It was the only swear used… and it got old fast. 

Ultimately, the two main problems with this book are 1) it is way too long, and 2) there’s too many twists. The final 10% was just bonkers, where another 10+ twists happen in a very short span. The conclusion also came abruptly compared to the rest of the book, where things moved so fast they felt glossed over. 

This book was both gratuitous in sex and violence, and also very silly.
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kristiparille's review against another edition

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mysterious slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.0

This book was so bad I cannot believe I didn’t DNF it. The female lead is insufferable, so annoying and spoiled. The sex is incessant and not in the good way. Also, there was lots of knotting which is just not my vibe. The plot was so slow and detailed for no reason, it could have been SOOOO much shorter. 21 hours of listening was painful, even with me listening on over 2x speed (no I’m not exaggerating). 

Also was sooooo disappointed with how much fat shaming was in this book. Candra constantly referred to as the “pudgy” and therefore less pretty and desirable sister was so rude and unnecessary

Top it all off with a pregnancy trope and was so checked out.

Don’t waste your time 
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hgriz511's review against another edition

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adventurous dark medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

 This book was fun. I do feel like it dragged a bit longer than necessary. This book was over 500 pages and probably could have been edited down 100 pages or so. However, I liked the main relationship in this and the twist at the end was good. It was a bit predictable at times but in a way that made me want to get to the end to have all my questions answered. I was curious about a new Ruby Dixon book after Ice Planet Barbarians. This was certainly different but I’m glad I got my hands on it. She really is one of the spice queens. And it was my first Knotted Romance and I can’t say I’m mad about it lol. 
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brennaa's review

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adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense 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

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