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maddydactyl's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
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? It's complicated
4.75
I loved this book so much. The development of feelings between the different love stories was completely brilliant - one set falling harder and faster, and the other set fighting it every step of the way. Rat King was truly terrifying, and I loved the use of magic throughout. Also loved the resolution with Drosselmeyer! Did not go how I expected it to at all.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Slavery, Blood, Kidnapping, Death of parent, and Murder
Minor: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Sexual harassment
I loved this book so much. The development of feelings between the different love stories was completely brilliant - one set falling harder and faster, and the other set fighting it every step of the way. Rat King was truly terrifying, and I loved the use of magic throughout. Also loved the resolution to the Drosselmeyer situation! Did not go how I expected it to at all.skylisonline's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
fast-paced
- 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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content and War
Moderate: Sexual harassment
robinwritesallthethings's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
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? Yes
5.0
What It’s About: A massively creative, very horny, much darker retelling of the Nutcracker ballet with a gender-swapped Sugar Plum Fairy.
Spice Level: Uh, I need a new scale of spice to describe this book, because it took things to levels of hot I’ve never read before.
Realism: Generally, I don’t like retellings, because I think many of them rely too heavily on the original and don’t deviate enough to make it interesting, but I have to say that this one incorporated everything from the source material and made it its own unique story. Everything fit. The plot made sense, the lore made sense. It’s just good, y’all.
Trope Alert: Enemies to lovers, slow burn, friends to lovers.
Trigger Warnings: There is some serious CNC in here, so skip it if you’re not into that. It is dark romance, so there’s some mentions of sexual assault and also some torture. And this last one isn’t really a trigger warning, but the Rat King is gross, dude.
Final Thoughts: I read this book because it was recommended to me by a Kindle achievement for their reading challenge. I decided to read it because I thought the title was a fun play on the whole fantasy Court of Blah and Blah thing that’s been so popular lately. I had no expectations, yet so many were met. Further proof that sometimes you find exactly what you were looking for even though you had no idea what that was. I will be busy trying all of Kenney’s books now.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Sexual content, Torture, Kidnapping, and Murder
Moderate: Blood, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Rape and Sexual assault
doahdancer's review against another edition
lighthearted
relaxing
slow-paced
- 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? No
2.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Confinement, Death, Misogyny, Sexual content, Slavery, Blood, Trafficking, and Sexual harassment
bluejeanbabys's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual assault, Sexual content, Blood, and Sexual harassment
foldingthepage_kayleigh's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Way spicier than I normally read but overall I had a great time with this one. It was fast-paced and kept my attention throughout, which is saying something because I read this over the holidays in the middle of being busy prepping for Christmas and other winter gatherings. I will say, that even though it’s marketed as a Nutcracker retelling, it reads more like ACOTAR with the lightest sprinkling of characters from The Nutcracker, so adjust your expectations going in that it might not be as Nutcracker-y as you were expecting. Overall, I would recommend this one if:
- You’re looking for an easy book to read during busy times.
- You’re a romantasy fan
- You love smut and spice
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Death of parent
kamrynkoble's review
adventurous
dark
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
3.0
Well, I saw someone post this on Instagram as a fun little Christmas read . . . Whew!
This was fun and moved quite quickly. The plot and world was quite interesting. While the characters felt shallow, I enjoyed this and will probably read the next one. It’s a fast, spicy KU book if you’re in the mood for a palette cleanser.
This was fun and moved quite quickly. The plot and world was quite interesting. While the characters felt shallow, I enjoyed this and will probably read the next one. It’s a fast, spicy KU book if you’re in the mood for a palette cleanser.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content and Blood
Moderate: Death, Rape, and Sexual harassment
Minor: Death of parent
coffeepotoo's review
lighthearted
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
i didn't like it very much. i actually thought the worldbuilding was fairly imaginative and it wasn't as cisnormative as this genre tends to be but the pacing gets extremely rushed early on and there's a lot of iffy misogynistic implications regarding one of the main characters and her love interest. the "enemies to lovers" thing is extremely forced and based on pretty much nothing, so i just found that aspect of the book incredibly frustrating.
if you're really into this genre and you'd like it with some more interesting worldbuilding you might enjoy this, but personally by the end i just kinda felt exhausted. definitely not a plot-heavy book, and the plot itself gets wrapped up very quickly once both the main couples are together. i could see someone enjoying this book but i really did not.
if you're really into this genre and you'd like it with some more interesting worldbuilding you might enjoy this, but personally by the end i just kinda felt exhausted. definitely not a plot-heavy book, and the plot itself gets wrapped up very quickly once both the main couples are together. i could see someone enjoying this book but i really did not.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Kidnapping, and Sexual harassment
Moderate: Rape
gattolinos_nerdy_nook's review
adventurous
dark
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? It's complicated
4.0
This book. Who would have thought we needed a Nutcracker retelling with so much spice and smutty goodness.
I really enjoyed the characters and story (I mean the nutcracker is a classic). My only wish was either the book needed to be longer or maybe one book for each sister. I couldn't get enough of them and I wanted more. Clara and Louisa felt different from each other. Each having their own unique strengths to each other.
I really loved the characters separately, but I wish we could have had a bit more time to see them develop together. Having since finished the book I have learnt that there is a sequel so I hope to see that development. I cannot wait for A court of heart and Hunger to come out.
I really enjoyed the characters and story (I mean the nutcracker is a classic). My only wish was either the book needed to be longer or maybe one book for each sister. I couldn't get enough of them and I wanted more. Clara and Louisa felt different from each other. Each having their own unique strengths to each other.
I really loved the characters separately, but I wish we could have had a bit more time to see them develop together. Having since finished the book I have learnt that there is a sequel so I hope to see that development. I cannot wait for A court of heart and Hunger to come out.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Violence, and Sexual harassment
Moderate: Gore
Minor: Death of parent
skyelareine's review
adventurous
dark
funny
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Sexual violence and Sexual harassment