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kassia_skor97's review against another edition
5.0
This was SUCH a good sequel to The Kinder Poison!! Natalie Mae’s world of magic in this book is amazing and such a unique magic system! I enjoyed reading up on Kasta, Jet, Melia, Marcus and Zahru, and this book had me hooked until the very last page!! I can not wait until the third book comes out later in 2022!!
jacqiesbooks's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- 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
4.5
karadee07's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-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
5.0
marci_travels's review against another edition
4.0
This is the sequel to The Kinder Poison (see my earlier review).
The stakes continue to rachet ever higher as the siblings and Zahru fight for the throne of Orkena and coming war with their neighbors.
But as powerful magic corrupts, absolute magic corrupts absolutely.
Kasta and Jet continue to overcome their childhood as the pawns of their father and King. Kasta, a brilliant scientist, has come back from the Crossing challenge a changed man. Jet, a soldier and a man of compassion is still always reaching for the high road. Zahru, now wearing the mark of the Gods, is elevated to a co-heir apparent, and the youngest sibling, Shakira, remains on the desert, her parents and the people of Orkena mourning her.
Zahru's newfound magic and power corrupts her thinking, and we watch as she continues to grab for more power, more ways to hurt Kasta, the co-heir apparent. She hides her villainy from Jet, the one person who seems to have any control over her. Throughout her adventures and her actions, she descends into the monster she has accused others of becoming.
I won't give away anymore because I don't want to slip into spoilers, but this is a great book to watch how power corrupts, to see how people can lie to themselves until they believe their own lies, how we as humans make allowances for our poor choices without granting grace to others.
The stakes continue to rachet ever higher as the siblings and Zahru fight for the throne of Orkena and coming war with their neighbors.
But as powerful magic corrupts, absolute magic corrupts absolutely.
Kasta and Jet continue to overcome their childhood as the pawns of their father and King. Kasta, a brilliant scientist, has come back from the Crossing challenge a changed man. Jet, a soldier and a man of compassion is still always reaching for the high road. Zahru, now wearing the mark of the Gods, is elevated to a co-heir apparent, and the youngest sibling, Shakira, remains on the desert, her parents and the people of Orkena mourning her.
Zahru's newfound magic and power corrupts her thinking, and we watch as she continues to grab for more power, more ways to hurt Kasta, the co-heir apparent. She hides her villainy from Jet, the one person who seems to have any control over her. Throughout her adventures and her actions, she descends into the monster she has accused others of becoming.
I won't give away anymore because I don't want to slip into spoilers, but this is a great book to watch how power corrupts, to see how people can lie to themselves until they believe their own lies, how we as humans make allowances for our poor choices without granting grace to others.
eniahreads's review against another edition
slow-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? No
3.5
I loved Zahru in book one, but damn how she was so bothering me in this book! She was horrible, stubborn, plainly bad, and clearly she's becoming the villain of the story and it, to be honest, chocked me to read that.
It's clearly a filler book, because nothing much happens, we stay at the castle (?), and it's basically only Zahru becoming close to paranoid trying to remove Kasta and be the one and only queen. She takes too much taste of the power and likes it, her personality changes too much and way too fast - reminding here we're less than a full month between the start and ending of this book.
But somehow it still kept my interest in the story and how things happened, and I still like Kasta so much. So I will be reading the next and last book of this series, but truly hoping Zahru finally stops dancing from one feet to the other and start acting like the true villain she's becoming or have her own redemption arc, because my eyes hurt from rolling.
It's clearly a filler book, because nothing much happens, we stay at the castle (?), and it's basically only Zahru becoming close to paranoid trying to remove Kasta and be the one and only queen. She takes too much taste of the power and likes it, her personality changes too much and way too fast - reminding here we're less than a full month between the start and ending of this book.
But somehow it still kept my interest in the story and how things happened, and I still like Kasta so much. So I will be reading the next and last book of this series, but truly hoping Zahru finally stops dancing from one feet to the other and start acting like the true villain she's becoming or have her own redemption arc, because my eyes hurt from rolling.
jesssantdos's review
3.0
I wanted to like this more. There was very little character progression, Ave a lot of backwards moving. I wish it touched on processing trauma and working on human relationships more.
miranda__'s review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
katreadsalots's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0