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lqvekanej's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Moderate: Blood and Violence
lacrimaeignis's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Blood
Moderate: Violence, Death, and Murder
natashaleighton_'s review against another edition
- 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
5.0
I loved the cynical, prickly and unapologetically cunning Violet who is willing to do whatever it takes to survive—even if it leaves her at loggerheads with the Crown Prince, Cyrus. And although she’s definitely a flawed character I couldn’t help myself from rooting for her—and hoping that she and Cyrus would just give in to all the that delicious sexual tension, curse be damned.
It does have similar vibes to The Cruel Prince or Serpent & Dove with a sprinkling of Briar Rose/ Beauty and The Beast elements that I really enjoyed, but it is a completely original story so don’t expect too many similarities.
The pace was surprisingly fast despite how lush the world and character building was and I honestly think it could’ve been longer if only so I didn’t have to leave Gina Chen’s gorgeously crafted world.
Trust me, if you love your fairytales dark, and dangerously twisted then you’re going to absolutely love this.
Graphic: Blood, Misogyny, Racism, Body horror, Classism, and Sexism
Moderate: War and Violence
betweentheshelves's review against another edition
- 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
3.5
The central romance might have been the best thing about this book. There is a lot of court intrigue, but sometimes I had difficulty following it. This might have been becuase I listened to the audiobook, though. The narrator was great, but sometimes I don't pay quite as close attention, so maybe I missed something plotwise.
While I don't think this necessarily needed to be a series, I do understand where the author wants to go with the story. I am kind of interested in seeing what happens next, so I might pick up the next book when it comes out. We'll see!
Graphic: Body horror, Death, and Blood
Moderate: Sexual content, Self harm, and Violence
Minor: Emotional abuse
lizgriffinwords's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Moderate: Gaslighting and Violence
Minor: Death of parent and Sexual content
luckykosmos's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Moderate: Violence
Minor: Xenophobia and Homophobia
kels_18's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Blood, Death, Injury/Injury detail, and Self harm
Moderate: Violence, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Gaslighting
Minor: Cursing
hannianne17's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Stayed for the angst and the brooding angry prince.
Fell in love with the sarcastic, self-serving, and iconically hilarious antiheroine.
Representation: Asian main character, lesbian princess, brown bisexual scholar, and the male love interest is red-headed.
Trigger Warnings: self-harm for magic rituals (cuts hand), themes of racism (towards the main character and her friend from the royals), cursing, and gore/violence.
This book literally pulled me out of a reading slump. I appreciated it so much. I love books that have antiheroines. I think I might relate to them a little too much.
I think most of all, I fell in love with the way Violet had to fight for herself and her ability to be vulnerable. Fear of vulnerability and shame are really hard emotions to write well and this author nailed it. Violet was constantly at war with herself about what she wanted and what she equated with survival so she could feel safe.
You watch as she struggles to be enough to emotionally support herself, but she's still whole all on her own. And I think that is a very important and hard distinction to write. I've seen far too many authors write characters that try to balance their hyper-independence by making them completely mold themselves to the male love interest. At the end of the book, Violet was still herself. She was still secure in who she is.
Violet also challenges the idea that we must do what's "right" instead of what's right for ourselves. We've been taught to never bat an eye about a king that makes selfish decisions based on his greed. I think it's time the seers, witches, scholars, and fairies of the world have the ability to do the same without judgement in order to protect themselves from the destruction created by the greedy kings of the world.
There's also the exploration of privilege. Violet acknowledges how Cyrus doesn't have to worry about his reputation or his place in the court. Cyrus pushes her to stand up to his father, but he's completely tone deaf about how that will impact Violet's career. She's doing what she feels she must to protect herself physically and to protect her reputation.
But the quote that got me?
"If the fates control our future, I don't understand to what end...The fates judge us. If we are generous, honest, not too chatty, placable, forgiving, they might twist our threads so we find love and earn our heart's weight in gold...But I don't believe in anything that supposes it knows me better than I know myself."
I'm going to say it again... "I don't believe in anything that supposes it knows me better than I know myself."
The religious trauma inside me was leaping for joy.
I've always been a character development reader. This ticks all of my boxes. All of the characters have arcs and display growth. Some more drastic than others.
AND THE CLIFF HANGER?! OMG I was screaming.
I can't wait to read the next one.
Moderate: Self harm, Racism, Violence, and Gore
oatesy's review against another edition
2.0
Graphic: Violence and Blood
azrah786's review against another edition
4.25
CW: violence, blood, injury, self harm, body horror, gore, death, death of parent, murder, emotional abuse, racism, sexual content (non-explicit)
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A fast paced, dark fairytale story following an unapologetic, self-serving seer with a penchant for twisting the truth; a just as headstrong and arrogant crown prince she is always butting heads with and a prophecy that ties the two of them and the fate of the kingdom together.
Now none of these two leads are the most likeable of characters and you want to just shake the both of them on various occasions but their banter? *chef’s kiss* This isn’t your usual enemies to lovers pairing, they have more of a hate to “oh no these intense feelings I have for you and the fact that you get me plus are really attractive is messing with my head” going on and I couldn’t get enough of it.
Though the spotlight is very much on Violet - the control and power she has over her own destiny and her role as primary seer of a kingdom hanging in the balance. I was absolutely enraptured by the curse elements in the story and Chen beautifully wove the tensions of the foretold prophecy and political situation together that I just couldn’t put the book down!
The worldbuilding and magic are super fascinating however, they are an already established element of the story and weren’t expanded on as much as I had hoped. Also there were also some great side characters that I can’t help but wish had more page time.
That aside I really enjoyed this one and need the sequel yesterday!
If you like morally grey characters that aren’t always likeable and all the fairytale vibes with a dash of darkness then this book is for you!
Final Rating – 4.25/5 Stars
Graphic: Death, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Self harm, Violence, Gore, and Murder
Moderate: Sexual content and Death of parent
Minor: Emotional abuse and Racism