Reviews with content warning for Sexual content - Lore of the Wilds

This was incredibly boring, full of plot holes and wasn’t well written. Whoever marketed this as adult must not have read it, given it felt more like a YA with a vague attempt at romantasy that just didn’t work. Also predicted the plot twist at the end.

The idea of an enchanted library, cottagecore and cosy vibes with magic for a book could’ve been so good, but was executed poorly. I’m very disappointed I can’t lie.

The only redeeming features were the small portion of the enchanted library we got as well as the characters of Isla, Gryph, Grey and the fox who were barely in it. Milo also seemed like a sweet kid and I liked him despite his also limited presence.

I have mixed feelings about Lore as she acted like an ungrateful brat at times, though could be wonderful at others. Finn is another character I have mixed feelings on, but he is growing on me.

Will I read the next one? Possibly. I would like to see some of the characters again and see if the duology can be redeemed. It’s a decision for a later date.

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abby_can_read's review against another edition

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adventurous 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? No

4.0

📱
I had a wonderful time with this book. I loved the sentinel library. I thought the characters were good and I liked the friendships. Personally, I'm waiting for the romances to develop more. While I enjoyed the plot, I did find it predictable and I did see the twist at the end.

I struggled some with the worldbuilding regarding the magic system. I'm hoping that is something explained in the sequel. I also found the pacing to be difficult. There were some parts that were long and other parts that I wanted to read so it that were completely skipped over.

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adafae's review against another edition

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adventurous lighthearted mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.25

I will start with I didn’t want to put this book down. The story is beautiful it captures you. Lore the main character is a strong women independent and protective. The story never stagnates it moves and a good pace.

However, there are some negatives which I want to mention. Sometimes the language used is crass and take a leap towards more modern and not fitting with the setting. It also has some descriptions in scenes I would not expect to find in a YA book that make it seem that it might be better suited as the adult fantasy genre. There were also a few times where the wording or sentences structure throw me off or consistencies where changed like the scent of someone changing when mentioned but always said as their familiar scent.

However this might be linked to the twist at the end of the story, with Asher, it might make some of the inconsistencies make sense if that was the intention of the author.

Overall I enjoyed the book, I read it in no time and it kept me guessing. I cannot wait for the second book to come out

I cannot wait to find out more about Finn and how he is so good at fighting

and to see future works by this author.

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julalbert56's review against another edition

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adventurous slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.5

Mostly, I was very bored listening to this book. I also did not vibe with the romance. Asher and Lore had no chemistry.

At one point he says “I’m so much stronger than you” like shut up dude what a big ick. I know the twist is that he’s evil but their romance has to be at least a bit believable since the romance is a primary plot point

I also felt like the world building was lacking.

Mostly, if the fae, as explained in the beginning, are so picky about lineages, why why why would their evil plan be to mate with HUMANS, the one species they despise and look down on the most? The war in the South was also super sidelined and random, as was the scene with Grey and that Queen. How did Lore rescue him so quickly? It was so underwhelming.

the only character I really liked was Isla, though it was funny that she was the only lesbian character and was described as having orange and pink/sunset clothing (literally the lesbian flag, not subtle lol). ALSO the writing gave very much YA (which I thought the book was) until a random sex scene? It threw me off. Anyway, not a huge fan.

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eusteph's review against another edition

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medium-paced

3.0

Lukewarm.

While I love supporting new authors, particularly Black authors, who write diverse stories, I would be remiss if I rated this book anything above a three-star.

The overall pacing of the story was good, good enough that I think this could have been read in one sitting. However, the plot and tropes didn't really seem out of the ordinary given the number of YA fantasy novels that I've read so far.

Although the smut scenes weren't entirely tasteless, they felt gratuitous. I wish there had been a few minor plot twists leading to the "final" twist. Maybe then I would have seriously considered reading the sequels to this series.

Maybe I'm just not the target audience for this book, who knows?

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lsol8tion's review against another edition

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medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

I enjoyed this book a lot! For being the 1st book of a fantasy series, Lore of the Wilds waste no time getting into the action! The plot kicks off as soon as Chapter 2 starts. The world-building is placed throughout the story instead of being packed into the first few chapters, which I like. It helps that the audience is learning about fae society WITH Lore. I appreciate high fantasy books with magic systems, environments, and social dynamics that aren't too complicated to understand. The story didn't feel dragged out either (about 350 pages). I usually a few books at the same time, but I stayed committed to this book cuz I couldn't put it down!

I heard that this series will be a duology, and I'm not sure how I feel about that considering the fact that I think the fae wrold could be expanded on more especially with the threats of war at hand between the races of fae, and the humans needing to liberate themselves from oppression. Considering how Book 1 ended, Lore's gonna ne spending some time away from the citizens of Duskmere, so how can she teach them magic (her magic style is still unclear so I hope Book 2 will elaborate on that) and help strategize a revolution against the fae? I just don't think these huge conflicts can be efficiently resolved in Book 2, especially if it has the same amount of pages as Book 1 (I could always be proven wrong). I kinda hope the series will be expanded into a trilogy.

However, that plot-twist about

Asher being Lord Syrelle in disguise GAGGED me!!!

I had to close out my reading app & walk a few laps around my room! And that cliffhanger was absolutely illegal! Best believe I'm seated for book 2, and I'm excited to read more of Analeigh Sbrana's work.

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singingshooter's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

2.75

Really struggled with how choppy this book felt.

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naomi_k's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious fast-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? Yes

2.5

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