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renstrange's review
adventurous
dark
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
while the writing itself is good, the character work leaves a lot to be desired. flowridia and ayla have little chemistry. i don’t know that i’ll continue this series, but i would like to read more by this author
reiviluola's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
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
4.0
tonedevoured's review against another edition
4.0
3,5
sofrendo da mesma maldição que gideon the ninth e the traitor baru cormorant só que em DOBRO, que maravilha
sofrendo da mesma maldição que gideon the ninth e the traitor baru cormorant só que em DOBRO, que maravilha
emmaskies's review against another edition
1.0
This is by far and away the worst book I've read in 2023, of the 102 books I've read so far this year.
I read this for the Shit We've Read: After Dark podcast which is the only reason I finished it. Were I not reading this to record a podcast I would have DNF'd it by page 2. I don't even have it in me to write a cohesive review right now because we just recorded the episode and I'm a lightweight who's three glasses of wine in so here are my notes on the book for the episode:
- Hands down the worst prologue I’ve ever read in my life. My god, what is this complete fucking mess?
- The main character's name is FLOWRIDIA?????? (My own nicknames for this travesty of a name include: Flo Rida, Floridian, Florida Woman, Fluoride In The Tap Water, Heavy Flow, Flow Chart). That's the worst name I've ever had to read over and over again. The name appears 2,231 times in this godforsaken book (322 pages). LEARN WHAT A PRONOUN IS, I AM BEGGING.
- Horrendous writing and atrocious world building. It takes a bunch of fantasy creatures and shoves them all into a pot stirred into a nothing stew to try to distract you from the fact that there’s no comprehensible plot.
- All of the characters are almost completely one dimensional with no real motivations or personality. There’s the naïve one, the nice one, the other naïve one, the abusive one, the drunk one, the religious one, the loud one, and that’s about it.
- WHAT WAS THE PLOT? FOR A DOLLAR, NAME A PLOT, ANY PLOT.
- The entire “romance” plotline in this book is just abuse. It’s physical, emotional, and sexual abuse. Even when it “turns” it’s still abusive. Ayla’s big crying speech reads like literally any abuser sobbing at their partner that they’ll change, they’ll be better, and then that they’re a disgusting, horrible, awful, no good person and should just die all to manipulate their partner into staying and caring for them.
- This book has absolutely no idea what it wants to say about that abuse. It flip flops seemingly at random between being a cautionary tale of falling into an abusive relationship while everyone around you just lets it happen, and a message that ultimately says you can fix your abuser with nothing but the power of love and kindness, which is frankly fucking disgusting.
- The way the author skirts around giving Flo Rida’s age MULTIPLE TIMES is an insane red flag and I’m going to take that to mean she’s a child. It’s joked that she has the body of a twelve year old and then amended to “no you look at least fifteen,” and when she is point blank asked her age multiple times she responds only with “I’m older than I look.” Paired with Ayla saying “age is just a number” not once, but TWICE, and her line late in the book that essentially amounts to “you’re very mature for your age,” it's disturbing. (post-recording: one of our other hosts remembers the book mentioning her age at some past point and extrapolating that to put the MCs age at about 17 within this book. Which...yikes. I am not into reading about the sexual abuse of anyone, but certainly not a minor.)
- We can get an exact age for the one that’s 1,736 years old, but not for the what I’m going to assume is a near child she’s coerced into a sexual relationship? I wonder why that is…
- Absolutely atrocious sex scenes. It reads like something written by a cis-het man who can’t conceive of what sex could even be outside of penetrative PiV sex, so color me shocked when I found out the author is a lesbian. Writing sex scenes is a skill, y'all, and not everyone has it. These are very very bad.
- I saw someone's review refer to this relationship as a domme/sub dynamic and I cannot stress enough that that’s not what this is. D/S dynamics are mutually consensual, negotiated, they include safewords and aftercare, and this is not that. This is just one person preying upon someone younger, more naïve, and more inexperienced.
- It brings up slavery a lot for a book that has literally nothing to say about it and where we never actually meet one of these former slaves. Slavery is brought up again and again and again only in telling us that Etolie (fair skinned) is the ~savior of slaves~ because that’s all there is to her other than her one (1) allotted trait of alcoholism and it’s used simply to make the good guys look good and the bad guys look bad. There is no discussion of what slavery actually means in this world, who becomes slaves, or any real discussion of slaves as people. They’re invisible props. There’s also a completely throwaway line about refugees that we never come back to after that whole genocide thing.
- There’s a bizarre gender binary going on, ironically with the one angelic character. The author is so strictly set on that binary that there’s a “She? He? It.” moment when she doesn’t know how to refer to an angel being possessed by a god.
I read this for the Shit We've Read: After Dark podcast which is the only reason I finished it. Were I not reading this to record a podcast I would have DNF'd it by page 2. I don't even have it in me to write a cohesive review right now because we just recorded the episode and I'm a lightweight who's three glasses of wine in so here are my notes on the book for the episode:
- Hands down the worst prologue I’ve ever read in my life. My god, what is this complete fucking mess?
- The main character's name is FLOWRIDIA?????? (My own nicknames for this travesty of a name include: Flo Rida, Floridian, Florida Woman, Fluoride In The Tap Water, Heavy Flow, Flow Chart). That's the worst name I've ever had to read over and over again. The name appears 2,231 times in this godforsaken book (322 pages). LEARN WHAT A PRONOUN IS, I AM BEGGING.
- Horrendous writing and atrocious world building. It takes a bunch of fantasy creatures and shoves them all into a pot stirred into a nothing stew to try to distract you from the fact that there’s no comprehensible plot.
- All of the characters are almost completely one dimensional with no real motivations or personality. There’s the naïve one, the nice one, the other naïve one, the abusive one, the drunk one, the religious one, the loud one, and that’s about it.
- WHAT WAS THE PLOT? FOR A DOLLAR, NAME A PLOT, ANY PLOT.
- The entire “romance” plotline in this book is just abuse. It’s physical, emotional, and sexual abuse. Even when it “turns” it’s still abusive. Ayla’s big crying speech reads like literally any abuser sobbing at their partner that they’ll change, they’ll be better, and then that they’re a disgusting, horrible, awful, no good person and should just die all to manipulate their partner into staying and caring for them.
- This book has absolutely no idea what it wants to say about that abuse. It flip flops seemingly at random between being a cautionary tale of falling into an abusive relationship while everyone around you just lets it happen, and a message that ultimately says you can fix your abuser with nothing but the power of love and kindness, which is frankly fucking disgusting.
- The way the author skirts around giving Flo Rida’s age MULTIPLE TIMES is an insane red flag and I’m going to take that to mean she’s a child. It’s joked that she has the body of a twelve year old and then amended to “no you look at least fifteen,” and when she is point blank asked her age multiple times she responds only with “I’m older than I look.” Paired with Ayla saying “age is just a number” not once, but TWICE, and her line late in the book that essentially amounts to “you’re very mature for your age,” it's disturbing. (post-recording: one of our other hosts remembers the book mentioning her age at some past point and extrapolating that to put the MCs age at about 17 within this book. Which...yikes. I am not into reading about the sexual abuse of anyone, but certainly not a minor.)
- We can get an exact age for the one that’s 1,736 years old, but not for the what I’m going to assume is a near child she’s coerced into a sexual relationship? I wonder why that is…
- Absolutely atrocious sex scenes. It reads like something written by a cis-het man who can’t conceive of what sex could even be outside of penetrative PiV sex, so color me shocked when I found out the author is a lesbian. Writing sex scenes is a skill, y'all, and not everyone has it. These are very very bad.
- I saw someone's review refer to this relationship as a domme/sub dynamic and I cannot stress enough that that’s not what this is. D/S dynamics are mutually consensual, negotiated, they include safewords and aftercare, and this is not that. This is just one person preying upon someone younger, more naïve, and more inexperienced.
- It brings up slavery a lot for a book that has literally nothing to say about it and where we never actually meet one of these former slaves. Slavery is brought up again and again and again only in telling us that Etolie (fair skinned) is the ~savior of slaves~ because that’s all there is to her other than her one (1) allotted trait of alcoholism and it’s used simply to make the good guys look good and the bad guys look bad. There is no discussion of what slavery actually means in this world, who becomes slaves, or any real discussion of slaves as people. They’re invisible props. There’s also a completely throwaway line about refugees that we never come back to after that whole genocide thing.
- There’s a bizarre gender binary going on, ironically with the one angelic character. The author is so strictly set on that binary that there’s a “She? He? It.” moment when she doesn’t know how to refer to an angel being possessed by a god.
tyto_alba's review against another edition
5.0
4.5 Stars
I was shocked at how much I loved this book. All of the characters were easy to love. Sweet and innocent Flowridia, even with her frustrating desire to throw herself into situations where she could be taken advantage of (though there is a heartbreaking explanation for this behavior), Thalmus, mysterious and so protective over his little Flower Girl, and the WONDERFUL, always drunk Etolié, my top favorite character. I even began to love Ayla before the book reached the end, considering what we learn about her. And those were only my top favorites; every character that gets introduced is interesting or fun in their own ways.
The world building could be better. I thoroughly enjoyed the parts detailing the gods and the celestials, but the other beings and races felt kind of thrown in, making certain aspects feel shallow. That said, a lot of the book takes place in the palace, so that could explain it. The world starts feeling more fleshed out once Flowridia leaves on diplomatic missions.
The one thing I really didn't like about the book was that I couldn't quite believe in the rulers of the kingdom as actual rulers. General Khastra felt like a leader, and Thalmus of course feels very fatherly, but the queen and the other people she had as advisors all felt like children, or at least people who shouldn't be in positions of power. This might be intentional, considering how Flowridia and even the Queen herself comment on how little power the queen has, but it felt wrong, particularly in the beginning.
In conclusion, I would highly recommend this book if you are into dark fantasy with a main sapphic relationship. A word of warning, however: the relationship is borderline abusive (at least, at first). It was kind of hard for me to read, but I am glad I stuck it out. Also, when I say dark, I mean there are certain scenes that are startlingly dark. Think old fairy tales involving old hags, but brutally describing what happens to their victims, some of whom are babies. (But hey, if you've read In the Tall Grass by Joe Hill and Stephen King, it's nothing you can't handle!)
I was shocked at how much I loved this book. All of the characters were easy to love. Sweet and innocent Flowridia, even with her frustrating desire to throw herself into situations where she could be taken advantage of (though there is a heartbreaking explanation for this behavior), Thalmus, mysterious and so protective over his little Flower Girl, and the WONDERFUL, always drunk Etolié, my top favorite character. I even began to love Ayla before the book reached the end, considering what we learn about her. And those were only my top favorites; every character that gets introduced is interesting or fun in their own ways.
The world building could be better. I thoroughly enjoyed the parts detailing the gods and the celestials, but the other beings and races felt kind of thrown in, making certain aspects feel shallow. That said, a lot of the book takes place in the palace, so that could explain it. The world starts feeling more fleshed out once Flowridia leaves on diplomatic missions.
The one thing I really didn't like about the book was that I couldn't quite believe in the rulers of the kingdom as actual rulers. General Khastra felt like a leader, and Thalmus of course feels very fatherly, but the queen and the other people she had as advisors all felt like children, or at least people who shouldn't be in positions of power. This might be intentional, considering how Flowridia and even the Queen herself comment on how little power the queen has, but it felt wrong, particularly in the beginning.
In conclusion, I would highly recommend this book if you are into dark fantasy with a main sapphic relationship. A word of warning, however: the relationship is borderline abusive (at least, at first). It was kind of hard for me to read, but I am glad I stuck it out. Also, when I say dark, I mean there are certain scenes that are startlingly dark. Think old fairy tales involving old hags, but brutally describing what happens to their victims, some of whom are babies. (But hey, if you've read In the Tall Grass by Joe Hill and Stephen King, it's nothing you can't handle!)
natreviews's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
tense
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
4.0
A really good read. Was a lot more gruesome then I thought it would be.
sarahshar1998's review against another edition
2.0
I wanted so bad to love this book, it had so much potential and failed to meet my expectations. The world building was phenomenal and the magic in this book drew me in. I loved Flowridias relationships with everyone but the love interest. Their relationship felt too rushed, and Ayla was more abusive than she was the dark morally gray love interest. The timeline moved too quickly but it felt like the book dragged on in some parts (and it's a really short book).
iamnotacentipede's review
2.5
This was a pretty average read. I enjoyed the book though it was pretty fantasy based so there were quite a few characters and different races to keep track of. I felt like the biggest issue this book had was that the author had too many thoughts and plot points that didn't need to all be included. I think it needed more structure, though I did enjoy the book.
To me it falls a little below average as I probably would never reread it, but wasn't disappointed to have spent time on it
To me it falls a little below average as I probably would never reread it, but wasn't disappointed to have spent time on it
dymphna's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
I really liked this! As a fantasy novel, 10/10, as a romance (which is a big part of the story and the plot) not so great.
While it gets some points for being Sapphic, it started out abusive and manipulative. Which yeah, she apologized, but it just made me feel icky. I'm curious to see what happens romance wise in the next books, because I felt yucky enough reading it that it would compel me to stop reading the series if it doesn't improve.
Now the plot was really great! I liked Flowridia's back story a lot, as I did with most other characters. I enjoyed their relationships, too.
I have to admit that at times, the book felt a bit slow for me? I'm not sure why, a lot was happening. Maybe the pacing of events or the aftermath was a bit off? At times I struggled to get through it, but I'm hoping that was just to start the series off! If I'm not mistaken, this is one of the first books of this author, and to start with a fantasy world like this is quite amazing!
If you're looking for a Sapphic fantasy series I would recommend trying this out! Just be aware that it's quite dark, I'd suggest looking up trigger warning.
While it gets some points for being Sapphic, it started out abusive and manipulative. Which yeah, she apologized, but it just made me feel icky. I'm curious to see what happens romance wise in the next books, because I felt yucky enough reading it that it would compel me to stop reading the series if it doesn't improve.
Now the plot was really great! I liked Flowridia's back story a lot, as I did with most other characters. I enjoyed their relationships, too.
I have to admit that at times, the book felt a bit slow for me? I'm not sure why, a lot was happening. Maybe the pacing of events or the aftermath was a bit off? At times I struggled to get through it, but I'm hoping that was just to start the series off! If I'm not mistaken, this is one of the first books of this author, and to start with a fantasy world like this is quite amazing!
If you're looking for a Sapphic fantasy series I would recommend trying this out! Just be aware that it's quite dark, I'd suggest looking up trigger warning.
arnastorm's review against another edition
3.0
The emotional abuse from the love interest was a bit too intense for me.
Somehow, I still want to read the next one in the series.
Somehow, I still want to read the next one in the series.