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adventurous
dark
emotional
inspiring
tense
slow-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? No
3.5
This was the first book in the series that I didn’t breeze through. I really liked Naasir and Andromeda and their adventurous race to prevent Lijuan from the abominable act of killing a sleeping archangel and their slow burner love story along the way. But something about it for me dragged a little on the middle portion of the plot. Andromeda’s kidnap didn’t seem to have much point in the end, nor did General Xi’s attraction to her- it never came up again unless it will feature in the plot of other books. Perhaps also, the battle scenes and the quests (for escape and to find the Ancient’s hiding place) were too long and too detailed. The suspense kept rising with no troughs or plateaus, so it felt like a very tense read the whole way with no breathing points (some people might like this, I didn’t). The epilogue was already looking towards other books rather than really cementing the events of this one with for example a glimpse of Alexander’s court with his grandson Xander, or more Naasir and Andromeda. Nonetheless, overall this was at least a 3.5-star read for me with an incredibly original plot and great character development - the only thing that was a bit off for me was the pacing.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Grief, Kidnapping, Murder, Torture, Death, Violence, War, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, and Pedophilia
Minor: Cannibalism, Drug use, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Toxic relationship, and Ableism
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