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3.88 AVERAGE
3.88 AVERAGE
This book was pretty great. I think I enjoyed the first book better, just because I loved watching Zaria and Kirwyn's romance bloom, but this book was also ripe with many twists/turns. I think this book was less enjoyable to read because of how doomed and hopeless Zaria felt throughout about the first 3/4 of the book. I also liked watching Zaria mature. She makes mistake but learns from them. She's feisty in a way that's not overly cheesy/ common of YA female protagonists. A lot of this book felt like Zaria had to play political chess in the castle, which made the story a page turner.
Spoilers!
Meeting Laz, I hated him. I still do. I could see the author subtly writing attraction into his interactions with Zaria which was honestly UNCOMFORTABLE, given how absolutely horrible he was to her. I love a good villian, enemies to lovers kind of story, but to me, Laz was just too mean and I had a hard time believing she could like someone who said/did such horrible things. Don't get me wrong, Laz's character was interesting but I largely found him unforgivable. It will be interesting to see if we learn more about him in book 3. Jul's was nice...but lets agree that nice is a bit boring. Basically, both brothers paled in comparison to Kirwyn.
When Zaria was reunited with Kirwyn it felt like pushing through the first 3/4 of the book was worth it. Elora is so good at making Kirwyn feel like "home" to Zaria, and I love the moments they had together - despite them being few and far between. I was honestly on the verge of tears when Zaria was demanding Kirwyn "couoldn't" save her. All of Zaria's emotion turmoil was really well-captured, and I felt like all of her confusion, anger, longing, and unconditional love came alive in the story.
I'm excited to see what book 3 has to hold! Hopefully Kirwyn and Zaria make it out alive, the Elowan's are saved, Juls finds someone else to fawn over (lol)... and Laz gets eaten by a shark!
Spoilers!
Meeting Laz, I hated him. I still do. I could see the author subtly writing attraction into his interactions with Zaria which was honestly UNCOMFORTABLE, given how absolutely horrible he was to her. I love a good villian, enemies to lovers kind of story, but to me, Laz was just too mean and I had a hard time believing she could like someone who said/did such horrible things. Don't get me wrong, Laz's character was interesting but I largely found him unforgivable. It will be interesting to see if we learn more about him in book 3. Jul's was nice...but lets agree that nice is a bit boring. Basically, both brothers paled in comparison to Kirwyn.
When Zaria was reunited with Kirwyn it felt like pushing through the first 3/4 of the book was worth it. Elora is so good at making Kirwyn feel like "home" to Zaria, and I love the moments they had together - despite them being few and far between. I was honestly on the verge of tears when Zaria was demanding Kirwyn "couoldn't" save her. All of Zaria's emotion turmoil was really well-captured, and I felt like all of her confusion, anger, longing, and unconditional love came alive in the story.
I'm excited to see what book 3 has to hold! Hopefully Kirwyn and Zaria make it out alive, the Elowan's are saved, Juls finds someone else to fawn over (lol)... and Laz gets eaten by a shark!
3.5/5 not as good as the first one, but still pretty good
I found this installment quite interesting and devoured it quickly despite it being over 600 pages in length. It was layered and well executed enough to keep me invested, flipping through pages eager to find out where things would go from here.
The story hasn't been predictable and although the first portion wasn't as action packed as the later half, it didn't feel slow or boring. I like that the author let the story breathe and didn't rush it needlessly. I'm having fun with what the story is and am invested.
Although... I have a feeling that in book #3 Laz is going to be something of a sudden love interest, based on just one final scene between them in this tale, which makes me worried that all this Kirwyn-Kirwyn-Kirwyn heavy emotional center is going to be discarded and ultimately feel pointless, but we'll see what happens in the next installment.
I hope it's not like that; that the dark broody one doesn't get suddenly become her true love romance out of nowhere. It's happened before, so here's to hoping the author didn't trip at the finish line.
The story hasn't been predictable and although the first portion wasn't as action packed as the later half, it didn't feel slow or boring. I like that the author let the story breathe and didn't rush it needlessly. I'm having fun with what the story is and am invested.
Although... I have a feeling that in book #3 Laz is going to be something of a sudden love interest, based on just one final scene between them in this tale, which makes me worried that all this Kirwyn-Kirwyn-Kirwyn heavy emotional center is going to be discarded and ultimately feel pointless, but we'll see what happens in the next installment.
I hope it's not like that; that the dark broody one doesn't get suddenly become her true love romance out of nowhere. It's happened before, so here's to hoping the author didn't trip at the finish line.
adventurous
dark
slow-paced
Strong character development:
Yes
Oke vermakelijk maar niet super interessant
adventurous
challenging
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
adventurous
medium-paced
This book was pretty great. I think I enjoyed the first book better, just because I loved watching Zaria and Kirwyn's romance bloom, but this book was also ripe with many twists/turns. I think this book was less enjoyable to read because of how doomed and hopeless Zaria felt throughout about the first 3/4 of the book. I also liked watching Zaria mature. She makes mistake but learns from them. She's feisty in a way that's not overly cheesy/ common of YA female protagonists. A lot of this book felt like Zaria had to play political chess in the castle, which made the story a page turner.
Spoilers!
Meeting Laz, I hated him. I still do. I could see the author subtly writing attraction into his interactions with Zaria which was honestly UNCOMFORTABLE, given how absolutely horrible he was to her. I love a good villian, enemies to lovers kind of story, but to me, Laz was just too mean and I had a hard time believing she could like someone who said/did such horrible things. Don't get me wrong, Laz's character was interesting but I largely found him unforgivable. It will be interesting to see if we learn more about him in book 3. Jul's was nice...but lets agree that nice is a bit boring. Basically, both brothers paled in comparison to Kirwyn.
When Zaria was reunited with Kirwyn it felt like pushing through the first 3/4 of the book was worth it. Elora is so good at making Kirwyn feel like "home" to Zaria, and I love the moments they had together - despite them being few and far between. I was honestly on the verge of tears when Zaria was demanding Kirwyn "couoldn't" save her. All of Zaria's emotion turmoil was really well-captured, and I felt like all of her confusion, anger, longing, and unconditional love came alive in the story.
I'm excited to see what book 3 has to hold! Hopefully Kirwyn and Zaria make it out alive, the Elowan's are saved, Juls finds someone else to fawn over (lol)... and Laz gets eaten by a shark!
Spoilers!
Meeting Laz, I hated him. I still do. I could see the author subtly writing attraction into his interactions with Zaria which was honestly UNCOMFORTABLE, given how absolutely horrible he was to her. I love a good villian, enemies to lovers kind of story, but to me, Laz was just too mean and I had a hard time believing she could like someone who said/did such horrible things. Don't get me wrong, Laz's character was interesting but I largely found him unforgivable. It will be interesting to see if we learn more about him in book 3. Jul's was nice...but lets agree that nice is a bit boring. Basically, both brothers paled in comparison to Kirwyn.
When Zaria was reunited with Kirwyn it felt like pushing through the first 3/4 of the book was worth it. Elora is so good at making Kirwyn feel like "home" to Zaria, and I love the moments they had together - despite them being few and far between. I was honestly on the verge of tears when Zaria was demanding Kirwyn "couoldn't" save her. All of Zaria's emotion turmoil was really well-captured, and I felt like all of her confusion, anger, longing, and unconditional love came alive in the story.
I'm excited to see what book 3 has to hold! Hopefully Kirwyn and Zaria make it out alive, the Elowan's are saved, Juls finds someone else to fawn over (lol)... and Laz gets eaten by a shark!
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
mysterious
sad
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:
Yes
"No one in the world could stop the sun from burning. And no one could stop me either."
The way that I'm obsessed with this series.
The court politics.
The angst.
The drama
This book serves.
And there are multiple love interests (which is one of my favorite tropes):
-> her first love, her demon-boy (aka Mr. "Savagely Handsome")
-> the boy she's forced to marry, the young king
-> the boy she hates to love and loves to hate, the bully prince
Ahhhh it's like a tug-o-war with her heart and I love it.
Side note: I also love that one of the love interests is described as not being conventionally attractive, and yet he's alluring anyway. In Lida's words, he's "ugly-hot".
Speaking of, the friend group is also everything <3
Overall:
This is one of those rare books that I feel was just made for me and I just want to read it over and over again. It's definitely more plot-heavy than the first book in the series, and it's a darker YA. We get to see Zaria turn into a schemer, even though she's still a hopeless romantic at heart. I felt ALL the emotions. What a rollercoaster.
This series is being slept on. Go read it and let's fangirl together.
The way that I'm obsessed with this series.
The court politics.
The angst.
The drama
This book serves.
And there are multiple love interests (which is one of my favorite tropes):
-> her first love, her demon-boy (aka Mr. "Savagely Handsome")
"When I met Kirwyn… I will never be the same, never. I am marked, Jesi. Not with any tattoo or scar, but inside,” I said, beating my breast. “Like – like the rings of a tree. You know how if you cut a tree, you can see where each ring marks a year of its life? And the circle may be thick or thin to record some indication of a drought or some other severe circumstance at a given time? It’s like that, inside me. Wherever time is kept inside our bodies, if you cut me open and looked, I’d bear the mark on my soul from my days and nights with Kirwyn.”
-> the boy she's forced to marry, the young king
"My apologies," he said stoically, evenly. "I'm a bit taken aback. I was told to expect someone...more..." he struggled to find the right word, "...reserved."
"Well, I was told to expect a god," I shot back.
-> the boy she hates to love and loves to hate, the bully prince
I felt desire for my friend: I told my want, my want did end. I felt desire for my foe: I told it not… my want did grow.
...
I finally understood why his cruelty hurt so much. Because I knew Laz was poison, yet a foolish, naïve part of me wished he wasn’t.
Ahhhh it's like a tug-o-war with her heart and I love it.
Side note: I also love that one of the love interests is described as not being conventionally attractive, and yet he's alluring anyway. In Lida's words, he's "ugly-hot".
Speaking of, the friend group is also everything <3
“You save me, I save you"
Overall:
This is one of those rare books that I feel was just made for me and I just want to read it over and over again. It's definitely more plot-heavy than the first book in the series, and it's a darker YA. We get to see Zaria turn into a schemer, even though she's still a hopeless romantic at heart. I felt ALL the emotions. What a rollercoaster.
This series is being slept on. Go read it and let's fangirl together.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
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:
Complicated