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adventurous
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Emotional abuse, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief
adventurous
dark
mysterious
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Lacked any real character development. The romance had no basis either. And the pacing felt off and made things a bit confusing.
Content Warnings
Minor: Child abuse, Physical abuse
adventurous
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Undoubtedly beautiful prose and an interesting fantasy premise that blends a modern setting with an old world dark fairytale vibe (via portal doors). Overall, however, the story, pacing, and character development just didn't click for me.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Emotional abuse, Blood, Cannibalism
Moderate: Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, Classism
Minor: Alcohol
adventurous
slow-paced
Diverse cast of characters:
No
“Do you really believe the curse isn’t real? That the divine never touches you? That the wheeling cosmos is but an abstract of chemicals? Do you not hear the stars sing, little dreamer?”
The proooooose 😍
"She is glory. She is devastation. And she is hungry."
If you loved the imagery of The Starless Sea or wished The Starless Sea had a plot? This is the book for you.
"What joy it will bring us to see you undone."
This was a cover buy, & I have zero regrets, but ½ a point off because I once again fell into the quicksand trap of a gothic book & took nearly a week to read it 🫠
"From nothing, to nothing.”
The proooooose 😍
"She is glory. She is devastation. And she is hungry."
If you loved the imagery of The Starless Sea or wished The Starless Sea had a plot? This is the book for you.
"What joy it will bring us to see you undone."
This was a cover buy, & I have zero regrets, but ½ a point off because I once again fell into the quicksand trap of a gothic book & took nearly a week to read it 🫠
"From nothing, to nothing.”
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, Abandonment
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Mental illness, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This book has a very strong atmosphere, it is very lush and beautiful. The prose is lovely, overall the writing is really good and never falters throughout the story. The style in which the book is told is also very well done, with the occasional chapter being told as though it’s a fairytale pulling you further into this world. The concept is fascinating and the worldbuilding is extremely interesting. The characters are all done well, they are interesting whole people who have many and oftentimes conflicting motivations. I loved the Everly brothers, they were so fun to read about and my heart ached for them. The romance is fine, the characters have good chemistry, it just needed a little bit more. At least for me, this book did nothing extraordinary, I’m sure it will be something extraordinary for others, but not me. I was left wanting more, more details on the worldbuilding, a longer epilogue, some more concrete endings. For me this book felt like it had missing pieces, nothing massive or glaring, but a few small ones. Overall this is a good fantasy book that is worth a read. I really like Georgia Summers writing style and will be reading more of her books in the future.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Blood
Moderate: Child abuse, Gore, Violence, Abandonment
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I received an eARC of this book for review from Redhook Books via NetGalley, all opinions are my own.
This isn't for me. Summers writes an interesting and complex world using beautiful prose. Unfortunately, that world ends up feeling like a sparsely populated open world video game - pretty at the surface level but no real depth or life. The real disappointment for me was the distanced writing style which offered no chance to connect with really understand the characters. There was also the repeated tendency to summarize large chunks of time in breezy paragraphs that give the reader no real sense of character development. I saw it compared to The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue and Practical Magic, and I agree. If you like either those two books, give this one a chance.
This isn't for me. Summers writes an interesting and complex world using beautiful prose. Unfortunately, that world ends up feeling like a sparsely populated open world video game - pretty at the surface level but no real depth or life. The real disappointment for me was the distanced writing style which offered no chance to connect with really understand the characters. There was also the repeated tendency to summarize large chunks of time in breezy paragraphs that give the reader no real sense of character development. I saw it compared to The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue and Practical Magic, and I agree. If you like either those two books, give this one a chance.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, Gaslighting
adventurous
mysterious
slow-paced
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
It is so intentionally vague. Like it was trying for interesting and mysterious but it ended up being annoying instead.
It's hard to engage emotionally with the writing because it feels like we don't really know the characters. Violet is always on the move yet it still feels like nothing is happening. The world feels barely built, Violet doesn't enter this world of x and y described until 40% in, and even then it's mostly vaguely describing her going places. Even if what happens was relevant, the writing is so vague it makes it feel completely irrelevant and like a waste of time.
It gets better when the main characters interact or are in conflict with each other, but they are barely near each other until 80% into the book, and it improves after that point.
The way the story progresses feels like instead of finding out things with Violet, when we reach a certain percentage we get deemed worthy to unlock a bit of the backstory. And most of the time its something most characters already knew but was kept vague from us.
Sometimes it feels there was so much going on that nothing had time to develop properly so everything was half assed instead.
Aleksander and Violet had so little on page time together before 80% that we just get told there are feelings in narration and see almost none of it.
It was a bit derivative. And for all this talk of traveling to other worlds we never really get to see any of them. Some character vaguely travel them at the end but we don't see any of it, which is a shame.
Also, there is a lot of children being harmed here, but as everything, it's done vaguely. If still, if a problem proceed with caution.
Lots of children and babies being stolen to be used as sacrifices and Aleksander being raised abusively .
It's hard to engage emotionally with the writing because it feels like we don't really know the characters. Violet is always on the move yet it still feels like nothing is happening. The world feels barely built, Violet doesn't enter this world of x and y described until 40% in, and even then it's mostly vaguely describing her going places. Even if what happens was relevant, the writing is so vague it makes it feel completely irrelevant and like a waste of time.
It gets better when the main characters interact or are in conflict with each other, but they are barely near each other until 80% into the book, and it improves after that point.
The way the story progresses feels like instead of finding out things with Violet, when we reach a certain percentage we get deemed worthy to unlock a bit of the backstory. And most of the time its something most characters already knew but was kept vague from us.
Sometimes it feels there was so much going on that nothing had time to develop properly so everything was half assed instead.
Aleksander and Violet had so little on page time together before 80% that we just get told there are feelings in narration and see almost none of it.
It was a bit derivative. And for all this talk of traveling to other worlds we never really get to see any of them. Some character vaguely travel them at the end but we don't see any of it, which is a shame.
Also, there is a lot of children being harmed here, but as everything, it's done vaguely. If still, if a problem proceed with caution.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child abuse, Blood
Minor: Child death, Abandonment
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
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:
Complicated
I just kept waiting for something to happen. And waiting. And waiting. And waiting. Then it did. And it was anticlimactic.
Somehow I was both gripped and bored. And I have so many questions. Why do we get no closure about Marianne? What is the point of the scholars? What do they do?
My big thought for this book was “everything could’ve been avoided if…” because there was no fantastic, powerful, dynamic ending that left me satisfied. It just…ended.
And then I realized why.
The characters.
They are so flat and impossible to connect with. I’m not sure where or why I thought this had a romance aspect but don’t be misled, it does not. And romance aside (or lack there of), the characters had no personalities. Violet had the basic tenets of a fantasy FMC: brave, stubborn, curious. But so does my toddler’s Llama Llama red pajama book. And Aleksander, gosh. COWARD. Spineless, useless MMC. Kick him to the curb.
I did enjoy the CONCEPT, not plot, but concept. I felt like the idea was there and just poorly executed. The whole book left me curious and wanting more which is why I gave it 2 stars (it was going to be 3) but just ultimately unsatisfied at the end.
Also. GOSH READ THE TRIGGER WARNINGS PLEASE. My mom heart almost DNFd. That was ROUGH! Like DARK fantasy I wasn’t expecting.
Somehow I was both gripped and bored. And I have so many questions. Why do we get no closure about Marianne? What is the point of the scholars? What do they do?
My big thought for this book was “everything could’ve been avoided if…” because there was no fantastic, powerful, dynamic ending that left me satisfied. It just…ended.
And then I realized why.
The characters.
They are so flat and impossible to connect with. I’m not sure where or why I thought this had a romance aspect but don’t be misled, it does not. And romance aside (or lack there of), the characters had no personalities. Violet had the basic tenets of a fantasy FMC: brave, stubborn, curious. But so does my toddler’s Llama Llama red pajama book. And Aleksander, gosh. COWARD. Spineless, useless MMC. Kick him to the curb.
I did enjoy the CONCEPT, not plot, but concept. I felt like the idea was there and just poorly executed. The whole book left me curious and wanting more which is why I gave it 2 stars (it was going to be 3) but just ultimately unsatisfied at the end.
Also. GOSH READ THE TRIGGER WARNINGS PLEASE. My mom heart almost DNFd. That was ROUGH! Like DARK fantasy I wasn’t expecting.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Kidnapping
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
This book had so much potential and some beautiful writing at times but I just could not get into it. I think my main issues were the structure, lack of world building and the 3rd person narrative. This is a story about a woman who is trying to end a curse on her family and there’s a magical world. Sounds super cool, like it would have lots of adventure and an exciting pace to end the curse by a timeline. But I found myself bored a lot of times and the pacing would speed up and slow down a lot when it should have been ramping up. The characters didn’t really feel fleshed out and would sometimes do something that didn’t make any sense or we would hear about something they did off page. I couldn’t get invested in any of the characters at all, the world was interesting but not explained in an understandable way. I think if the structure of the book had been tweaked a bit it could have made a difference. While this has beautiful descriptive writing and an interesting concept and magical world it didn’t quite succeed in creating the magic of The Night Circus or Addie LaRue which it has comparisons to. I’m sad because it did have some cool concepts that I haven’t seen in other fantasy books but it just didn’t deliver for me,
Thanks to NetGalley and Redhook Books for granting me access to the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review
Thanks to NetGalley and Redhook Books for granting me access to the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Blood
Moderate: Kidnapping, Abandonment
Baby murder.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Violence, Murder