Reviews with content warning for Blood - Blood of Elves

Overall I enjoyed this book, enough so that I will be reading the next instalment of the series. Some of the scenes were quite dull, but the more enjoyable ones made up for it. It also suffers a bit from the “men writing women” problem that made me a tad uncomfortable, but it didn’t completely ruin the experience. It’s a decent fantasy read, if you enjoy that then this book will likely be enjoyable.

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shiveryteacup's review

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adventurous emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

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opinkb's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Loveable characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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adrreads's review

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adventurous lighthearted fast-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? It's complicated

4.75

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belladonnashrike's review

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adventurous dark mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes

4.5

the translation for this book is honestly so much better than the translated short stories. I enjoyed the stories, but after reading blood of elves I can tell why people critique them so often. this was much more engaging and I was really flying through it.

I loved that ciri & yen’s relationship was one of the focuses - I love them so much and I am glad to see a better relationship between them than what’s depicted in the show. I also enjoyed the political aspect of this book and it cleared up a lot of the politics that I was not entirely understanding from the netflix series. I do wish there was a map, though. it should be illegal for fantasy novels and series to not include a map!! idk where these places are!

I am APPALLED that tissaia demanded that all magicians be STERILIZED… when I watched the show I honestly just thought the transformation was so brutal it completely obliterated everyone’s reproductive organs or their hormones… I had no idea it was by design. this was such a small part of the book but I am STILL thinking about it.

what bugs me about the writing though is the emphasis on dialogue and not what is happening to the characters in their environment. oftentimes during a mini-monologue something happens between the speaker and another character or something changes in the environment that is never alluded to outside of the quotes. it’s slightly jarring at times. I have to really think sometimes about what exactly just happened because so many physical aspects and actions are just completely ignored, for whatever reason. if that weren’t the case I probably would’ve rated this five stars. I love the story & characters so much that my bias is definitellyyyy affecting the rating. but who cares I enjoyed myself

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