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emma2578's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
relaxing
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? Yes
4.0
I absolutely loved the atmosphere of New Orleans, the author did an amazing job of romanticizing the city through description. Celine was an amazing strong headed lead character, I often found myself admiring her wits throughout the novel. As for the romance, I prefer Micheal over Bastien, but I can see why so many people would disagree. The antagonist was compelling, and left me shocked during his reveal. Overall I really enjoyed this book, and look forward to reading the next book in the series.
Content Warnings
Minor: Abandonment, Blood, Violence, Stalking, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Rape, Murder, Misogyny, Kidnapping, and Gore
stormywolf's review against another edition
dark
hopeful
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? Yes
4.0
Audiobook Read by Lauren Ezzo
Unabridged Length: 13.2 Hours
Listened at 2x Speed
Read my full review at The Wolf's Den
Overall, I have no complaints. A stellar narration, nailing tons of accents and emotions, was enough to put this production in my recommendations, to say nothing of its value as a pronunciation guide. With the emoting, especially in horror and action scenes, the volume and speed of reading does go up a bit, so that's something to keep in mind if you're not reading along, or at an increased playback speed. But if you're looking for an audio that offers a solid voice performance, this one should definitely be on your short list.
Unabridged Length: 13.2 Hours
Listened at 2x Speed
Read my full review at The Wolf's Den
Overall, I have no complaints. A stellar narration, nailing tons of accents and emotions, was enough to put this production in my recommendations, to say nothing of its value as a pronunciation guide. With the emoting, especially in horror and action scenes, the volume and speed of reading does go up a bit, so that's something to keep in mind if you're not reading along, or at an increased playback speed. But if you're looking for an audio that offers a solid voice performance, this one should definitely be on your short list.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood and Death
Moderate: Body horror, Rape, Sexism, Cursing, Gore, Murder, Stalking, and Violence
Minor: Alcohol, Death of parent, Kidnapping, Racial slurs, and Racism
ana24gs's review against another edition
reflective
slow-paced
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
“A goddess did not concern herself with the triflings of men”
I really liked the book. Although I think that it could have been a little longer, that way it would be much better. It met some of my expectations, it did not meet others, but it remains in my mind as a good memory.
I really like the premise of the book, Celine is a girl with a dark secret that forces her to escape from Paris, to move to New Orleans and start a new life leaving the tragedy in her past, but tragedy follows her to New Orleans where she is immersed in a world of dark creatures.
As I already mentioned, I liked the book, from the premise to the characters it seemed very solid, but I did not believe the relationships between the characters, specifically any that involved my beloved Sébastien Saint Germain. And that's my biggest problem, the book should have been longer and I think there would have been more time to show Bastien's relationship with his “family” (La Cour des Lions).
Celine, the main character, seemed very interesting, I liked her very much. She is a girl who wants to live life to the fullest, she doesn't want to be limited. And in this book we see her moving toward accepting and understanding her past.
But we return with my last comments against this book, I did not like how the conflict was resolved in the end, neither of the two conflicts was resolved as I would have liked, but well. I guess that's the magic of reading a book, sometimes things don't work out the way we'd like.
⚠️SPOILERS⚠️
Sébastien Saint Germain: Aka, the reason why I got forty heart attacks while reading the book. He had me at his feet from the moment I read his name, and then I saw his attitude, and fcgvhbjnkml, what can I say, what a man really, what a man. As I said at the beginning, it is unfortunate that being a character with so much potential I felt that Renée did not take advantage of it, the relationship that I liked the most where he was involved, apart from the one he has with Celine, is the one he has with Odette, I felt that sibling relationship. The lack of depth in his other relationships made me care very little if another member of the order died and that Nigel's betrayal felt very neh. I must also say that I feel somewhat dumb because throughout the book I thought that Sébastien was a vampire, only to find out at the end that he was not, and I don't know if that's how it was supposed to be or I'm just very clueless when reading (what is most likely). I swear that when he almost dies, I die.
Celine: I think what I like the most about her is that I empathize with her discomfort, she killed a man, and obviously killing is not right, but that man was going to hurt her and she had every right to fight at any cost. Her internal monologue seems very interesting to me, not only because of her thoughts of whether it was okay to kill him or not, but also her desire to have power, to be able to generate a desire of respect for her in people just by standing in front of them and I think that I feel the same in that regard.
I proceed to complain about the final reveal:
I hope you know that I liked when Nigel capture Celine and Bastien came looking for her, a lot. But the reveal that came with that part was disappointing, I honestly thought Michael was the bad guy, and I guess maybe it was a very obvious choice and Renée wanted to do something unexpected, but I don't know, I feel like it was very out of nowhere. Perhaps in the second book I understand the sister's intentions better, because I still do not fully understand her motivations for doing everything she did.
The final deal:
I hate, I HATE, when one of the protagonists loses his memory, I hate it, I don't like it at all. And now, I will have to read the second book to see how Celine either recovers her memories in a mystical way, or falls in love again with Sébastien. I really refuse to read her relationship with Michael (he does not seem like a bad guy, but he is very insistent).
Although there are things that I did not love, I do not consider it a bad book, so I plan to continue reading those that follow, although I know what the third one is going to be about and it demotivates me a bit, but let's see how the second goes.
“We forget our dreams, but nightmares linger with us evermore”
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Death, Stalking, and Violence
Moderate: Sexual assault
princess_azula's review
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Gore, Misogyny, Murder, Racism, Stalking, and Violence
Moderate: Cursing, Sexual assault, and Sexual content
Minor: Racial slurs
nebraskanwriter's review
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Violence, Stalking, and Racism
Minor: Rape
ashlightgrayson's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- 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
I found the characters the most interesting part of this story. If you have a preference for more action packed books that are fast paced, this book may not be for you. There is a lot of mystery and intrigue involving mysterious murders occurring in New Orleans in the late 1800s. There is a significant amount of time, especially in the first half of the book, dedicated to character development and their relationships with each other. I think this was a good choice because by the time you find out more about the murders you are emotionally invested in what happens to the characters. There are a lot of mixed and ethnically diverse characters from different countries in the story. In a lot of books with historical settings most characters, if not all, are white, so it was great to see the existence of people of color not be something that was ignored. In fact, most prominent characters in the story are mixed race/people of color. They also aren't represented as servants or of a subservient class. I think with historical fiction a lot of authors ignore the fact that there were people of color in the past who were: white passing, were freed slaves, or had enough privilege or power to be able to live in certain social circles. It was refreshing to see a lot of these characters struggle with their racial identity within the context of the book's time period. It gives a very realistic depiction of what that must have been like for a lot of mixed race people. I was easily able to relate to it as mixed Afro-Latinx person myself.
The characters have flaws and feel like real people. They also have different levels of privilege and there is a particular part in the book where a character's privilege is pointed out. This scene in the book was one of my favorites because it appropriately made it clear that this individual had not recognized their privilege before the inciting incident in this scene. Despite this, it is clear that they are not a bad person because of it. A lot of people in real life don't recognize their privilege until they are called out on it, and it just means they made an honest mistake. Ahdieh did an amazing job giving nuance to both characters in the situation while still making social commentary within the story.
There is more than one perspective in the book and it switches back and forth between the main characters and the murderer in question. The perspective you get from the murderer makes the villain incredibly compelling and is part of what kept reeled into the story. Despite the slow pacing, the perspective from the villain was like an intermittent reminder that there was a looming danger within the story. You also don't get enough hints to accurately be able to point out an obvious culprit for the murders, so the story left me at the edge of my seat the whole time.
As for the romance, the slower pacing let us get to know Celine and Bastian really well. Both of them have interesting backstories and the historical context of the story plays a role in their decisions they make about the relationship. I like that the historical context wasn't ignored because it helped me stay invested in the story. Bastian is also just charming and likeable and his interactions with Celine are always fun to see.
Overall, if you're into murder/mystery and historical fiction, this is something I think you would enjoy. Don't expect vampires to be in the forefront of the book, it is something that is mostly in the background. They aren't completely ignored, but this also isn't something I would call a vampire book.
The characters have flaws and feel like real people. They also have different levels of privilege and there is a particular part in the book where a character's privilege is pointed out. This scene in the book was one of my favorites because it appropriately made it clear that this individual had not recognized their privilege before the inciting incident in this scene. Despite this, it is clear that they are not a bad person because of it. A lot of people in real life don't recognize their privilege until they are called out on it, and it just means they made an honest mistake. Ahdieh did an amazing job giving nuance to both characters in the situation while still making social commentary within the story.
There is more than one perspective in the book and it switches back and forth between the main characters and the murderer in question. The perspective you get from the murderer makes the villain incredibly compelling and is part of what kept reeled into the story. Despite the slow pacing, the perspective from the villain was like an intermittent reminder that there was a looming danger within the story. You also don't get enough hints to accurately be able to point out an obvious culprit for the murders, so the story left me at the edge of my seat the whole time.
As for the romance, the slower pacing let us get to know Celine and Bastian really well. Both of them have interesting backstories and the historical context of the story plays a role in their decisions they make about the relationship. I like that the historical context wasn't ignored because it helped me stay invested in the story. Bastian is also just charming and likeable and his interactions with Celine are always fun to see.
Overall, if you're into murder/mystery and historical fiction, this is something I think you would enjoy. Don't expect vampires to be in the forefront of the book, it is something that is mostly in the background. They aren't completely ignored, but this also isn't something I would call a vampire book.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Murder, Racism, Stalking, Sexism, and Racial slurs
Minor: Slavery and Gore
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