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lightoferebus's review
- 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
4.0
Graphic: War and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Violence, Blood, Sexual content, Death, and Murder
Minor: Racism, Classism, Drug use, Alcohol, Child death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Mental illness, and Sexual harassment
drasticpear's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
1.0
Graphic: Sexual content and War
Moderate: Homophobia
Minor: Sexual harassment
bree_h_reads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Violence, and Blood
Moderate: Gore and Sexual content
Minor: Homophobia
mrshays'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
4.0
Graphic: War, Sexual content, and Violence
Moderate: Murder
Minor: Homophobia, Death of parent, Gore, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail
wildflowersnwhiskey's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
Graphic: Violence, War, Murder, and Sexual content
Moderate: War, Death, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, and Violence
Sibling death, sibling murderrobin_reads's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.75
This was a lovely read. Very enjoyable. The pacing was just right and the characters were lovely. No notes.
Graphic: Violence, Blood, and Death
Moderate: Death of parent, Murder, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Sexual content
Minor: Homophobia
crufts's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
But there's no time to think about that. With Zavrius's four siblings murdered in suspicious circumstances, the people are turning against their new ruler. Can Balen protect the king and do his duty to his country, or will Zavrius's reign be over before it starts?
The audio quality was good and clear, with crisp enunciation from the narrator.
However, he has an odd, sultry tone of voice which subtracts from the clarity of his reading. Very innocent lines like "Balen went stiff" (referring to his posture) land differently in this tone of voice.
When it came to reading out Zavrius's flirty double-intendres, the narrator absolutely nails it and I can't imagine anyone doing it better. The problem is that he has a tinge of this sultry Zavrius voice going all the time.
However, by the end of the book the narrator's tone has become neutral, without the sultry tone. This is much better and allows the dramatic ending of the story to land as intended.
> But [Character] had to disagree with that. "It's not the right decision," he said.
It's obvious that he's disagreeing based on his dialogue line. You don't have to tell us the same thing in the narration.
> [Character] was offended by the rude remark, perhaps because of her relation to the matter. "You're being very impolite," she snapped.
It's obvious from her dialogue that she was offended. There's no need to tell us.
> [Character] said "[dialogue]". It was unclear if he was reacting to [past event A] or [past event B].
Of course it's unclear. You don't have to explain this to us in the narration, we already know this.
Consider climactic battles such as Balen vs Thenlyss, Balen vs Alick or Zavrius vs Theo. If Balen had been told at the start of the story that Thenlyss and Alick were traitors and faced each of them off in a duel, nothing would have been different. Balen would have defeated the two of them all the same, because he beat them simply by being a better fighter. So what does it matter if he wins?
Similarly, before the story begins, Zavrius had already defeated his entire family in battle, Theo included. It's not like he needed to change or grow in order to be strong enough to defeat them again. So what does it matter if he beats Theo at the end? We already knew he could do it.
Just imagine if this happened in real life - say, the simultaneous assassination of Princess Diana, Prince Charles, Prince William, Princess Royal Anne, and Earl of Wessex Edward. The suspected enemy state would have been instantly banned and embargoed, no matter how much they denied the murders. Leaders across the kingdom would be calling for immediate declarations of war!
I just don't believe that the Rezwyns would be allowed anywhere in Uslef, let alone up close with the new King where they could assassinate him. The same objection applies for all other scenes where the Rezwyns were invited to Dynasty events.
Similarly, I found it odd that in scenes like the coronation ceremony, that nobody was calling the Rezwyns "savages", "bloodthirsty", etc for their supposed slaughtering spree. The attendees' comments were weirdly tolerant of these supposed murders, instead mildly saying things like "Oh, well, you know, they have that weird religion..."
Graphic: Body horror, Violence, Animal death, Cursing, Blood, Gore, Murder, and Sexual content
Minor: Xenophobia
Blood, gore, violence, murder, body horror: There is a fight scene which graphically describes a baddie burning to death from the inside. Another baddie dies due to his organs no longer being inside his body.Animal death: A horse is killed in battle, rather messily.
Sexual content: Lewd remarks and anatomical words are used in conversation between the protagonists. There are also two explicit sex scenes.
Xenophobia: The foreign Rezwyn Empire is treated with suspicion.
Funnily enough, there isn't really any homophobia. Several people denigrate Zavrius as a "flamboyant dandy", but nobody really cares that he's into guys. Similarly, when fellow paladin Alick teases Balen for his crush on Zavrius, the gender of his crush is irrelevant.
20sidedbi'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? It's complicated
3.75
Graphic: Blood and Sexual content
Moderate: Violence, Body horror, War, Murder, Grief, and Death of parent
Minor: Homophobia, Classism, Animal cruelty, Suicidal thoughts, and Sexual harassment
jaybird_reads's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
The book could have used some more editing (like a good editor and a couple more drafts could have brought it to 4-5 stars). A lot of the characters and world building fell flat for me, and while there was plenty of diversity in character design the female characters could have… talked to each other.
Nonetheless, I adored Zavrius and the plot twists had me dropping my jaw, so still pretty good! Potential was just greater than the actual execution.
Graphic: Sexual content
thecatconstellation's review
- 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
4.0
Graphic: Blood, Sexual content, War, Murder, and Violence