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cmitchell2781's review against another edition
4.0
This did not end the way I expected, and I cant wait to read the next book, because what the heck just happened?
leekleek's review against another edition
3.0
Summary for future self with lots and lots of spoilers:
century long war between people who believe in gods and people who blood let themselves to get their own magic and reject the gods.
nadya can speak to gods and grew up in monastery and meets sexy M character guy who tricks her like 18 times yet never actually lied to her. hes an escaped vulture thing (hes hot I like him). they go off to go kill enemy king.
other pov was the prince (of king above are trying to murder) who i never really liked but also didnt dislike. he finds out his dad wants to kill him, so eventually he works with above 2 to kill king.
prince becomes a sort of god. M tricked them all and turns into a dragon monster thing.
nadya is pissed but also has her own powers now and the gods wont talk to her anymore.
the end.
century long war between people who believe in gods and people who blood let themselves to get their own magic and reject the gods.
nadya can speak to gods and grew up in monastery and meets sexy M character guy who tricks her like 18 times yet never actually lied to her. hes an escaped vulture thing (hes hot I like him). they go off to go kill enemy king.
other pov was the prince (of king above are trying to murder) who i never really liked but also didnt dislike. he finds out his dad wants to kill him, so eventually he works with above 2 to kill king.
prince becomes a sort of god. M tricked them all and turns into a dragon monster thing.
nadya is pissed but also has her own powers now and the gods wont talk to her anymore.
the end.
jyeetreads's review against another edition
2.0
3/5 stars
This book is the definition of "first half almost had me not gonna lie..."
(as in, almost dnf-ed, then it did kinda got me hooked)
Let's start with the pros:
- Very UNIQUE and ENTERTAINING plot/concept/world that builds on slavic folklore. The world building is pretty good!
- All the mysteriousness of everything, and the way the characters question the very things the reader is questioning was a nice "meta" touch that keeps you on the edge of your seat.
- I also appreciate the unique characters with each their own little quirks and moral grey-ness... they surprised me in a good way :)
and now the cons:
- Though I thought the plot/world/concept were super cool, I feel like the execution definitely could have been better. The plot and character development, as others have mentioned, is kinda spotty and weird.
- Those noticeable plot holes or weird pacing were most evident at the beginning of the book. I understand it is Duncan's debut novel and that it's a YA with YA tropes/mishaps, but dang I was close to dropping the book after reading the first 120 or so pages.
- At first, I also felt that the mc's were rather unconvincing and hard to get behind (particularly our protagonist Nadya), as well as the relationships that were forming (the main romantic development is a lil random/rushed imo). Spotty, spotty, spotty.
HOWEVER, as everything continued to develop, I can say that it did GET BETTER and somehow, I managed to look past the spottiness. Then, the book became quite entertaining and had me on the edge of my seat, thoroughly invested. Despite all the cons, I soon developed a soft spot for the characters, and now I HAVE to get that second book to know of their fates.
If you can get over the YA cheese and the fact that it is an imperfect debut novel, and you like slavic folklore and the sound of a "unique and dark fantasy world with interesting leitmotifs", then I think you'll enjoy this book and all it's twists and turns!
This book is the definition of "first half almost had me not gonna lie..."
(as in, almost dnf-ed, then it did kinda got me hooked)
Let's start with the pros:
- Very UNIQUE and ENTERTAINING plot/concept/world that builds on slavic folklore. The world building is pretty good!
- All the mysteriousness of everything, and the way the characters question the very things the reader is questioning was a nice "meta" touch that keeps you on the edge of your seat.
- I also appreciate the unique characters with each their own little quirks and moral grey-ness... they surprised me in a good way :)
and now the cons:
- Though I thought the plot/world/concept were super cool, I feel like the execution definitely could have been better. The plot and character development, as others have mentioned, is kinda spotty and weird.
- Those noticeable plot holes or weird pacing were most evident at the beginning of the book. I understand it is Duncan's debut novel and that it's a YA with YA tropes/mishaps, but dang I was close to dropping the book after reading the first 120 or so pages.
- At first, I also felt that the mc's were rather unconvincing and hard to get behind (particularly our protagonist Nadya), as well as the relationships that were forming (the main romantic development is a lil random/rushed imo). Spotty, spotty, spotty.
HOWEVER, as everything continued to develop, I can say that it did GET BETTER and somehow, I managed to look past the spottiness. Then, the book became quite entertaining and had me on the edge of my seat, thoroughly invested. Despite all the cons, I soon developed a soft spot for the characters, and now I HAVE to get that second book to know of their fates.
If you can get over the YA cheese and the fact that it is an imperfect debut novel, and you like slavic folklore and the sound of a "unique and dark fantasy world with interesting leitmotifs", then I think you'll enjoy this book and all it's twists and turns!
mubangak's review against another edition
4.0
SPOILER WARNING!
I originally was planning to give this book three/three and a half stars however the last four chapters bumped it up to a solid four. I'm going to breakdown the characters, plot, magic system, romance and writing so buckle up folks.
PLOT
The story follows a seventeen year old cleric named Nadya who is blessed by the gods and can communicate with them and use their power when she asks. She is the one who is supposed to end a century long war between her country (Kalyazi) and the second country (Tranavia). She's supposedly the most powerful person alive, and with the help of a boy named Malachiasz (yeah you're going to pronounce his name wrong 100%. I heard the real pronunciation on youtube and I lost my crap) and the high prince Serefin Meleski, she will attempt to kill the king of Tranavia.
Now *clears throat* sounds interesting right? A bloody war, a rotten king, a divine girl. I feel like the plot was good, it was interesting and captivating and the world building was actually quite nice. Even though the plot was good, it was messy and I think that was the whole point. The plot, to me anyway, mirrored the chaos going on around these three characters. No one knew who to trust, Nadya was having an identify crisis, Malachiasz was growing darker with every page and Serefin was confused and lost. Now, because of this messiness, I felt lost sometimes and didn't even understand the character motivations. It was like the plot blurred half way into the book. I really wish Emily had clarity in the madness just for our sakes because honestly the madness was great but I felt like I was losing my mind.
Secondly, I feel like the background of the plot should have been explored more. Two countries are at war, one country (Kalyazi) is religious and devoted to the gods and the other (Tranavia) has defected from the gods and chosen their own path of blood magic and heresy. Okay but why? What happened before the war, why did Tranavia break away from religion, why are they even fighting against Kalyazi? There was a whole century war going on and I had no idea why it even started. Maybe it will be explored in the rest of the series I'm not sure, I am aware that this is the first book of three with the third due to come out in 2021 so I'm hoping we get more information as the story progresses.
CHARACTERS
Nadya
Oh my sweet, innocent little Nadya. I'm going to break down her strengths and weaknesses.
Overall, I enjoyed her character. She's an orphan girl blessed with too much and controlled by the gods she serves. She was powerful and strong, she had a hard head and knew herself (mostly) and really that's all I have to say about her strengths because I found more weaknesses. First off, there was a scene where she's fighting against a blood mage but she's pretending to be a blood mage and all of a sudden she kills the girl and Serefin is like wow she's so clever and brutally cold and powerful why isn't she at the front fighting. In that moment I thought boy are we looking at the same girl right now???? which Nadya are you looking at? Emily really wanted us to believe Nadya was this ruthless, powerful, badass girl but I literally did not see it. Maybe it was the way she wrote that scene (which I'll get into later on) but Nadya does not come across as that kind of person. She's strong, yes. Powerful, yes. But when Serefin said that I had to put the book down lmao. I've read powerful and strong female characters and Aelin Ashryver Whitethorn Galathynius is still holding the crown. I really wanted more from Nadya, I felt like her development could have been sooooo insane. She was brought up devoting herself to the gods, she was taught to never go against their will and here she was committing heresy, falling in love with a monster and learning the gods are not what she thought there were. THERE WAS SO MUCH OPPORTUNITY TO EXPLORE HER CHARACTER ARC!!!
I thought hey, she's been thrown into this destiny maybe she will learn that only she carves her own destiny. No...not at all. Maybe in the next few books that will happen but really and truly, I loved her but not the way I have loved and cried for other characters. She wasn't as fleshed out, I wanted to know more about her life and background. And don't get me started on how whiny she became half way through, every single page she reminded us that Malachiasz was a monster who didn't deserve to live like sis he's trying so hard right now please cut him some slack. We get it, you hate him but also love him. She was just holding it against him the entire book, reminding him that he was a monstrosity and that he was a liar but she was shoving her tongue down his throat? *Sigh* Chile, Anyway...
Malachiasz
I loved his boy. I love him. So much. With my whole heart. He was written so beautifully that I loved him even after his betrayal and that is a good thing! If an author can write a villain in a way that the reader still sympathises and likes them, they've written a top notch villain. Malachiasz is clearly taken from the darkling (if you like shadow and bone) but he is twisted enough that if he was a mirror, you'd see a deformed reflection of the darkling and Malachiasz. I'm hoping we get more info about Malachiasz's background because honestly, he was great. He was well written and in depth. He gave enough but not enough, he gave us breadcrumbs and my goodness the plot twist at the end was why I gave it four stars instead of three. His nature is gothic and beautiful, he's written so poetically that his aesthetic is just breath-taking.
Serefin
I did love Serafin too. In fact, I loved all the minor characters more than Nadya which is odd. His power at the end was soooooo lovely, unique and divine that I could go on and on about. We see him as his horrid, ruthless general who has killed many and I'm not going to lie I was kind of afraid of him in the beginning, but then we see his journey and we see a side of him that's charming and clever.
MAGIC SYSTEM AND ROMANCE
I lowkey don't know how the magic system works. I understand the blood magic side of it, but in terms of Nadya's power I haven't got a clue. There was a scene at the end where she 'brought down a pillar of power over the king' and I was like she what? I don't know how she works it, It's from the gods yes but in terms of how it is materialised....who knows. It's cool, though. The divine magic isn't like any magic I've come across before. A lot of magic systems I've come across are hard magic but Nadya's is kind of soft but also hard. Even though it's all up in the air, It is a cool system.
Romance. I loved Nadya and Malachiasz howeverrrrrrrrrr I didn't see the development in their relationship. She saw this boy once and suddenly her knees are about to buckle, he calls her little bird and she's intrigued by him. It felt kind of forced, there was no development. Slow burn romances are great and I feel like their relationship would have done well with slow burn enemies to lovers. I would have liked there to be some kind of hatred with subtle hints that they both cared about each other's well being or bonding over mutual trauma or something like that. I feel like Emily should have made us like them both individually first, given hints that they are good for each other, and then brought them together. I feel like the slow burn should have started in book one and then solidified in book two.
WRITING
The pacing was very rushed in places. Some parts the writing was absolutely stunning. Towards the end, the description was poetic and captivating. Especially the epilogue scene with Malachiasz. I loved that scene so much. In other places, the writing was all over the place. In fight scenes, I feel like Emily could've slowed down and explained more because I had zero clue what was happening. Who threw what, who attacked who. It was all very quick and snappy. She also didn't spend long on the characters especially the minor ones.
(Spoiler) There was one character called Zaneta who ended up BETRAYING Serafin and I know that was meant to be a shock and it was, but it would've been a bigger shock of she spent time fleshing her out. For example, in Nevernight by Jay Kristoff, Ashlinn betrays Mia and the entire ministry and I was SHOOK when I read that part. Why? because we spent the entire book loving her. She befriended Mia and Tric, we liked her, she was a good friend and suddenly boom, she betrays everyone. She was an unlikely traitor why? BECAUSE WE TRUSTED HER. Zaneta should have been the same. Emily should have built her up, she should have made us like her and trust her. She should have been close to Serefin, in fact she should have been trying to help Serefin with the issue. THAT would have been a twist. If she was helping Serefin figure out what his father was planning but all along had been plotting against him, that would have knocked my socks off. Even though the betrayal was shocking, It would've been worse if we as readers trusted and loved her.
In conclusion, I enjoyed the book but I wish it was more fleshed out.
I originally was planning to give this book three/three and a half stars however the last four chapters bumped it up to a solid four. I'm going to breakdown the characters, plot, magic system, romance and writing so buckle up folks.
PLOT
The story follows a seventeen year old cleric named Nadya who is blessed by the gods and can communicate with them and use their power when she asks. She is the one who is supposed to end a century long war between her country (Kalyazi) and the second country (Tranavia). She's supposedly the most powerful person alive, and with the help of a boy named Malachiasz (yeah you're going to pronounce his name wrong 100%. I heard the real pronunciation on youtube and I lost my crap) and the high prince Serefin Meleski, she will attempt to kill the king of Tranavia.
Now *clears throat* sounds interesting right? A bloody war, a rotten king, a divine girl. I feel like the plot was good, it was interesting and captivating and the world building was actually quite nice. Even though the plot was good, it was messy and I think that was the whole point. The plot, to me anyway, mirrored the chaos going on around these three characters. No one knew who to trust, Nadya was having an identify crisis, Malachiasz was growing darker with every page and Serefin was confused and lost. Now, because of this messiness, I felt lost sometimes and didn't even understand the character motivations. It was like the plot blurred half way into the book. I really wish Emily had clarity in the madness just for our sakes because honestly the madness was great but I felt like I was losing my mind.
Secondly, I feel like the background of the plot should have been explored more. Two countries are at war, one country (Kalyazi) is religious and devoted to the gods and the other (Tranavia) has defected from the gods and chosen their own path of blood magic and heresy. Okay but why? What happened before the war, why did Tranavia break away from religion, why are they even fighting against Kalyazi? There was a whole century war going on and I had no idea why it even started. Maybe it will be explored in the rest of the series I'm not sure, I am aware that this is the first book of three with the third due to come out in 2021 so I'm hoping we get more information as the story progresses.
CHARACTERS
Nadya
Oh my sweet, innocent little Nadya. I'm going to break down her strengths and weaknesses.
Overall, I enjoyed her character. She's an orphan girl blessed with too much and controlled by the gods she serves. She was powerful and strong, she had a hard head and knew herself (mostly) and really that's all I have to say about her strengths because I found more weaknesses. First off, there was a scene where she's fighting against a blood mage but she's pretending to be a blood mage and all of a sudden she kills the girl and Serefin is like wow she's so clever and brutally cold and powerful why isn't she at the front fighting. In that moment I thought boy are we looking at the same girl right now???? which Nadya are you looking at? Emily really wanted us to believe Nadya was this ruthless, powerful, badass girl but I literally did not see it. Maybe it was the way she wrote that scene (which I'll get into later on) but Nadya does not come across as that kind of person. She's strong, yes. Powerful, yes. But when Serefin said that I had to put the book down lmao. I've read powerful and strong female characters and Aelin Ashryver Whitethorn Galathynius is still holding the crown. I really wanted more from Nadya, I felt like her development could have been sooooo insane. She was brought up devoting herself to the gods, she was taught to never go against their will and here she was committing heresy, falling in love with a monster and learning the gods are not what she thought there were. THERE WAS SO MUCH OPPORTUNITY TO EXPLORE HER CHARACTER ARC!!!
I thought hey, she's been thrown into this destiny maybe she will learn that only she carves her own destiny. No...not at all. Maybe in the next few books that will happen but really and truly, I loved her but not the way I have loved and cried for other characters. She wasn't as fleshed out, I wanted to know more about her life and background. And don't get me started on how whiny she became half way through, every single page she reminded us that Malachiasz was a monster who didn't deserve to live like sis he's trying so hard right now please cut him some slack. We get it, you hate him but also love him. She was just holding it against him the entire book, reminding him that he was a monstrosity and that he was a liar but she was shoving her tongue down his throat? *Sigh* Chile, Anyway...
Malachiasz
I loved his boy. I love him. So much. With my whole heart. He was written so beautifully that I loved him even after his betrayal and that is a good thing! If an author can write a villain in a way that the reader still sympathises and likes them, they've written a top notch villain. Malachiasz is clearly taken from the darkling (if you like shadow and bone) but he is twisted enough that if he was a mirror, you'd see a deformed reflection of the darkling and Malachiasz. I'm hoping we get more info about Malachiasz's background because honestly, he was great. He was well written and in depth. He gave enough but not enough, he gave us breadcrumbs and my goodness the plot twist at the end was why I gave it four stars instead of three. His nature is gothic and beautiful, he's written so poetically that his aesthetic is just breath-taking.
Serefin
I did love Serafin too. In fact, I loved all the minor characters more than Nadya which is odd. His power at the end was soooooo lovely, unique and divine that I could go on and on about. We see him as his horrid, ruthless general who has killed many and I'm not going to lie I was kind of afraid of him in the beginning, but then we see his journey and we see a side of him that's charming and clever.
MAGIC SYSTEM AND ROMANCE
I lowkey don't know how the magic system works. I understand the blood magic side of it, but in terms of Nadya's power I haven't got a clue. There was a scene at the end where she 'brought down a pillar of power over the king' and I was like she what? I don't know how she works it, It's from the gods yes but in terms of how it is materialised....who knows. It's cool, though. The divine magic isn't like any magic I've come across before. A lot of magic systems I've come across are hard magic but Nadya's is kind of soft but also hard. Even though it's all up in the air, It is a cool system.
Romance. I loved Nadya and Malachiasz howeverrrrrrrrrr I didn't see the development in their relationship. She saw this boy once and suddenly her knees are about to buckle, he calls her little bird and she's intrigued by him. It felt kind of forced, there was no development. Slow burn romances are great and I feel like their relationship would have done well with slow burn enemies to lovers. I would have liked there to be some kind of hatred with subtle hints that they both cared about each other's well being or bonding over mutual trauma or something like that. I feel like Emily should have made us like them both individually first, given hints that they are good for each other, and then brought them together. I feel like the slow burn should have started in book one and then solidified in book two.
WRITING
The pacing was very rushed in places. Some parts the writing was absolutely stunning. Towards the end, the description was poetic and captivating. Especially the epilogue scene with Malachiasz. I loved that scene so much. In other places, the writing was all over the place. In fight scenes, I feel like Emily could've slowed down and explained more because I had zero clue what was happening. Who threw what, who attacked who. It was all very quick and snappy. She also didn't spend long on the characters especially the minor ones.
(Spoiler) There was one character called Zaneta who ended up BETRAYING Serafin and I know that was meant to be a shock and it was, but it would've been a bigger shock of she spent time fleshing her out. For example, in Nevernight by Jay Kristoff, Ashlinn betrays Mia and the entire ministry and I was SHOOK when I read that part. Why? because we spent the entire book loving her. She befriended Mia and Tric, we liked her, she was a good friend and suddenly boom, she betrays everyone. She was an unlikely traitor why? BECAUSE WE TRUSTED HER. Zaneta should have been the same. Emily should have built her up, she should have made us like her and trust her. She should have been close to Serefin, in fact she should have been trying to help Serefin with the issue. THAT would have been a twist. If she was helping Serefin figure out what his father was planning but all along had been plotting against him, that would have knocked my socks off. Even though the betrayal was shocking, It would've been worse if we as readers trusted and loved her.
In conclusion, I enjoyed the book but I wish it was more fleshed out.
hannahhbic's review against another edition
3.0
"Terrible people doing terrible things" is an easy way to describe this book, but it's got a lot more depth than that. It's super addicting and enthralling. Can't wait for whatever comes next!
votesforwomen's review against another edition
3.0
Okay so this was bloody (so so so bloody wow I couldn't get over the amount of blood in this story) and dark and Russian and had so many elements that I loved....and yet in the end it felt kinda vapid?
This story has three main characters. There are side characters, too, but admittedly, they don't matter all that much. There were a few who bordered on important, but for the most part, the story was told by three characters.
-Nadya, who has a full name I cannot spell. She was a fierce OP little Slytherin who didn't want to kill people but will totally stab you if you get in her way. She could communicate directly with the gods! And then they give her magic! So...that much of the magic system is explained xD Other than that...I didn't love her. She was fine as protagonists go, but...eh.
-Serefin (I kept reading it Seferin or even Severin...the names/spelling in this book kind of broke my brain a little.) was the prince of the country that's fighting a Holy War against Nadya's country. He was also stabby, but he was a softy underneath and liked to get drunk and spent a lot of time with his close friends and was probably an ENTP, because he was outgoing but also quiet and liked to run from his problems. He was probably my favorite of the three. I enjoyed him greatly.
-Malachiasz (I really hope I spelled that right because I don't feel like going to get the book to check) is the Bad Monster Boy who's violent and out to kill everyone but! Conflicted! And HAWT! *fans self because that's what I'm supposed to do* I know there were maybe two moments where I genuinely believed he was hawt, and he occasionally took me in with his lies, but for the most part...eh. If you've read one book with a supernatural monster boy, you've read them all.
Let's talk about the magic system, though. The two countries, Nadya's country and Serefin's country, are at war because of the divine orders they serve. Nadya's country has a pantheon of gods, and she's the last person in the country able to do magic from them (she's called a cleric). And then in Serefin's country, we have "blood mages", who have special book thingies that if you bleed on them and crinkle the paper they do MAGIC THINGS. Like create spikes! Or set things on fire! Or kill people! Fun times for all! I wish I understood the rules of using them because those were never laid out clearly!
(Oh, and also, there was a LOT of slashing fingers and wrists and bleeding and other gory stuff that made me grimace and cringe because I CANNOT DO THE BLOOD OKAY. BLOOD IS NOT GOOD FOR MY BRAIN. TAKE IT AWAY FROM ME PLEEEEEASE.)
The King, too, didn't make a ton of sense. I mean, I'm all for evil fathers, but at the same time...we only got about two pages of screen time with the king where he acted like a slightly hassled ruler, distant from his son but not all that cruel, before suddenly learning that HE'S A CRUEL TYRANT AND WANTS TO KILL EVERYONE. So like...is there consistency? Not here.
My personal pet peeve: Duncan could NOT use commas for anything. It was so distracting, I swear. 50% of the time I was crying because the sentence went on forever and needed commas. 50% of the time I was crying because the sentence should've been four or five sentences and was a bunch of phrases strung together. This happened on almost every page. HELP ME.
Also...me no likey the cliffhanger. I'm currently wishing that this book were a standalone because it totally could've been. But alas.
3.5 stars, I think? Some of the description was genuinely beautiful and I liked the main characters okay. And on top of that, Wicked Saints really held my attention. But in the end...eh. Just another fantasy book, really. At this point, YA fantasy is all starting to feel the same.
This story has three main characters. There are side characters, too, but admittedly, they don't matter all that much. There were a few who bordered on important, but for the most part, the story was told by three characters.
-Nadya, who has a full name I cannot spell. She was a fierce OP little Slytherin who didn't want to kill people but will totally stab you if you get in her way. She could communicate directly with the gods! And then they give her magic! So...that much of the magic system is explained xD Other than that...I didn't love her. She was fine as protagonists go, but...eh.
-Serefin (I kept reading it Seferin or even Severin...the names/spelling in this book kind of broke my brain a little.) was the prince of the country that's fighting a Holy War against Nadya's country. He was also stabby, but he was a softy underneath and liked to get drunk and spent a lot of time with his close friends and was probably an ENTP, because he was outgoing but also quiet and liked to run from his problems. He was probably my favorite of the three. I enjoyed him greatly.
-Malachiasz (I really hope I spelled that right because I don't feel like going to get the book to check) is the Bad Monster Boy who's violent and out to kill everyone but! Conflicted! And HAWT! *fans self because that's what I'm supposed to do* I know there were maybe two moments where I genuinely believed he was hawt, and he occasionally took me in with his lies, but for the most part...eh. If you've read one book with a supernatural monster boy, you've read them all.
Let's talk about the magic system, though. The two countries, Nadya's country and Serefin's country, are at war because of the divine orders they serve. Nadya's country has a pantheon of gods, and she's the last person in the country able to do magic from them (she's called a cleric). And then in Serefin's country, we have "blood mages", who have special book thingies that if you bleed on them and crinkle the paper they do MAGIC THINGS. Like create spikes! Or set things on fire! Or kill people! Fun times for all! I wish I understood the rules of using them because those were never laid out clearly!
(Oh, and also, there was a LOT of slashing fingers and wrists and bleeding and other gory stuff that made me grimace and cringe because I CANNOT DO THE BLOOD OKAY. BLOOD IS NOT GOOD FOR MY BRAIN. TAKE IT AWAY FROM ME PLEEEEEASE.)
The King, too, didn't make a ton of sense. I mean, I'm all for evil fathers, but at the same time...we only got about two pages of screen time with the king where he acted like a slightly hassled ruler, distant from his son but not all that cruel, before suddenly learning that HE'S A CRUEL TYRANT AND WANTS TO KILL EVERYONE. So like...is there consistency? Not here.
My personal pet peeve: Duncan could NOT use commas for anything. It was so distracting, I swear. 50% of the time I was crying because the sentence went on forever and needed commas. 50% of the time I was crying because the sentence should've been four or five sentences and was a bunch of phrases strung together. This happened on almost every page. HELP ME.
Also...me no likey the cliffhanger. I'm currently wishing that this book were a standalone because it totally could've been. But alas.
3.5 stars, I think? Some of the description was genuinely beautiful and I liked the main characters okay. And on top of that, Wicked Saints really held my attention. But in the end...eh. Just another fantasy book, really. At this point, YA fantasy is all starting to feel the same.
bratzdoll444's review against another edition
2.0
i mean it’s alright (heard some weird shit about the author)
brendalovesbooks's review against another edition
3.0
I'm having a hard time rating this book. On the one hand, I did enjoy it, and plan to continue with the series. But it feels like it was lacking in depth and detail. I don't know if the book was just too short for the story it wanted to tell or what. I felt like I was just getting potato chips when what I wanted was a loaded baked potato.
joana_stormblessed's review against another edition
DNF at 50%
Didn't care about the story or the characters. I was not enjoying the audiobook and I simply don't care about any of it.
Didn't care about the story or the characters. I was not enjoying the audiobook and I simply don't care about any of it.
sylvilel's review against another edition
4.0
As is usually the case with YA debuts, I was a little put off by the introducing chapters. To little ground was laid for the reader to initially grasp the concept and the characters, and the stakes put on by the opening sequence.
Luckily for this reader I’m already invested in many of the concepts presented in this book, and after a clumsy start, things really started to roll.
Duncan is constantly unraveling, subtly foreshadowing and adding vital little details, and best of all: She doesn’t waste our time.
A lot of YA writers spend a looooooot of time telling and over-explaining, and spending veritably pages upon pages getting to one single point that the reader already got five pages ago. One thing I hate as a reader is being underestimated.
Duncan on the other hand, just sets the pace, assumes the reader to follow, and it’s THRILLING.
Another favorite aspect is the dynamic between the characters; always in flux, never taking anything for granted. The pain and the darkness mixed with hope and pure humanity is exquisite and utterly heart-wrenching.
It took me a lot longer to read this book than I’d anticipated, mostly because I spent so much time re-reading paragraphs and revelling in the nuances.
And of course; what is a dark fantasy without the proper amount of blood and gore? That’s another thing I often miss in today’s YA. Too often writers are frightened of stepping into the grittier dimensions of their universes, which I feel robs the story of integrity and realness. Duncan takes this to a satisfyingly high and horrific level.
All that’s left to say is that this was just what I needed right now, and I love it, and I can’t wait for the continuation!
Luckily for this reader I’m already invested in many of the concepts presented in this book, and after a clumsy start, things really started to roll.
Duncan is constantly unraveling, subtly foreshadowing and adding vital little details, and best of all: She doesn’t waste our time.
A lot of YA writers spend a looooooot of time telling and over-explaining, and spending veritably pages upon pages getting to one single point that the reader already got five pages ago. One thing I hate as a reader is being underestimated.
Duncan on the other hand, just sets the pace, assumes the reader to follow, and it’s THRILLING.
Another favorite aspect is the dynamic between the characters; always in flux, never taking anything for granted. The pain and the darkness mixed with hope and pure humanity is exquisite and utterly heart-wrenching.
It took me a lot longer to read this book than I’d anticipated, mostly because I spent so much time re-reading paragraphs and revelling in the nuances.
And of course; what is a dark fantasy without the proper amount of blood and gore? That’s another thing I often miss in today’s YA. Too often writers are frightened of stepping into the grittier dimensions of their universes, which I feel robs the story of integrity and realness. Duncan takes this to a satisfyingly high and horrific level.
All that’s left to say is that this was just what I needed right now, and I love it, and I can’t wait for the continuation!