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3.73 AVERAGE
3.73 AVERAGE
An amazing book with a powerful message to share. I read this in 24 hours. I am so excited to see what else Rebecca can come up with. I will carry Ranka with me for a very long time.
The idea is really interesting. I just wasn't invested at all... the writing felt immature. The characters are supposed to be in their late teens (I think?), but they read like middle schoolers trying to deal with adult problems.
This book had some very high highs, and some very low lows for me. Here and there there are passages that are redundant, feeling like the the author is trying to rephrase something that has already been said to try and force "beautiful moments". The plot is often convoluted with characters missing obvious things or creating conflict where there is none. This book has two big twists, the first with the Skra manages to feel both predictable for those characters and completely out of place in the over all plot at the same time. The second with Foldrey makes a lot more sense and is a much much better twists, however his ultimate ending is unsatisfying. The epilogue is perfect. There are moments throughout that truly made me smile, I'm a sucker for romance. The enemies to lovers subplot is overall well executed, minus when Ranka is forced to choose a side at the climax. This book tries to deal with topics like trauma, trust, found-family, and manipulative relationship, and while I admire the attempt and think some moments are quite strong, overall these issues come across very basically and with varying degrees of success. Ranka feels unfinished at times because of this. The fight scenes are good.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
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
DNF. Not sure if it was just the writing style, but I just couldn’t connect with any of the characters.
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Major points for wlw fantasy, but it was a bit too violent for me!
Thank you to NetGalley for this audio ARC.I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
I want to preface this by saying I requested this before the problematic themes came to light and I only listened to this to get it off my shelf.
To be honest I found this to be very basic. Some of the tropes in this, I typically like when they are done well but unfortunately that's not what happened here, I also found the worldbuilding lacking and just seemed to be surface level. There didn't seem to be much depth. The characters felt very flat and to be honest I just found the whole thing boring.
I want to preface this by saying I requested this before the problematic themes came to light and I only listened to this to get it off my shelf.
To be honest I found this to be very basic. Some of the tropes in this, I typically like when they are done well but unfortunately that's not what happened here, I also found the worldbuilding lacking and just seemed to be surface level. There didn't seem to be much depth. The characters felt very flat and to be honest I just found the whole thing boring.
Loved the three dimensional characters and the complicated choices they each had to make, both in the past and present of the story. Not a ton of world building but I don't think that could have been done in a standalone book like this anyway without totally overcomplicating it so I'm not mad about it. The soft queer romance was done really well and I was rooting for Ranka, Aramis, Galin, and Percy the whole time.
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
dark
inspiring
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated