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bea__reads's review against another edition
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
Almost nothing happened for the majority of this book. It could be a lot better, given that the world is interesting and the characters have a lot of potential. But the pacing is so off and it got boring, which really made it hard for me to connect with the characters or to care about their relationships.
While it was slightly gratifying (but also rather boring) to be right about so many of the plot twists, I honestly just don't see the point in reading 600+ pages or listening to 28+ hours just to get 10 good chapters in at the end. This also has the unfortunate effect of making some plot twists seem really obvious while others come out of left field.
Plus, I can't stand the (pretty major spoiler)soulmates trope and the way it's handled here really rubbed me the wrong way. (Again, I think this is a pretty big spoiler to know what the trope is) I usually avoid the soulmates trope because it's often based heavily in amatonormativity and pretty much by definition excludes asexual and/or aromantic identities, as well as polyamory and other non-monogamous relationships (unless intentional efforts are made to expand the soulmate concept, which did not happen in this book). Unfortunately, I didn't realize that this trope was going to be a thing before recommending this series to my book club 🥲
This series is not for me. My book club loves it, but I think I'll be skipping book 3 when they read it later this year. 🙃
While it was slightly gratifying (but also rather boring) to be right about so many of the plot twists, I honestly just don't see the point in reading 600+ pages or listening to 28+ hours just to get 10 good chapters in at the end. This also has the unfortunate effect of making some plot twists seem really obvious while others come out of left field.
Plus, I can't stand the (pretty major spoiler)
This series is not for me. My book club loves it, but I think I'll be skipping book 3 when they read it later this year. 🙃
Graphic: Cursing, Blood, Sexual content, Death, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, and Violence
Minor: Acephobia/Arophobia
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