Reviews with content warning for Pregnancy - 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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rebeccajost's review against another edition

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3.0

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natlren's review against another edition

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adventurous fast-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? Yes

2.75

Lore of the Wilds, on paper, is my perfect book. It has dark cottagecore elements, a diverse cast of characters, a cursed library, and the fae. But despite all of those things, this novel still fell horribly flat for me. I think my biggest issue with Lore is that its pacing does it a massive disservice. There were so many scenes that I wish could have been expanded, but we moved almost too rapidly from place to place and that caused a general disconnect from me and the characters/plot. And with a blurb promising time in a cursed library, I had hoped that we would spend a good portion of the book there exploring its secrets. Instead, the library portion of this novel wrapped up before the 50% mark.

On top of that, this book is marketed as an adult novel but reads as incredibly YA. The one spicy scene in this book was unexpected and almost nonconsensual, given the twist. And while we're on the topic, the romance felt rushed and unbelievable. One moment they were simply acquaintances and the next, they were madly in love. It didn't make sense to me at all. I also could not, in good conscience, get behind them making out after discovering that the women from Lore's village had been forcibly impregnated and assaulted either. That scene was truly what lowered the rating of this book the most, as it was completely unexpected and totally at odds with the rest of the novel.

That said, I did enjoy some parts of this novel. Isla and Lore's friendship was wonderful to me, as was Grey and Lore's friendship. The latter was especially refreshing because I always find myself wanting more positive, nonromantic relationships portrayed in books like theirs was. The ambiance and general aesthetic of this novel and its world was also wonderful.

Overall, Lore of the Wilds had a lot of potential but unfortunately did not live up to the expectations I had for it. I think that another round of editing and some purging of repetitive phrases (and there were so many) would do this book a lot of good. I do think lovers of romantasy and fae will eat this one up though!

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for providing a copy in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

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blakeandbooks'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? Yes

4.0

Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Voyager for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

What a romantasy debut from Sbrana! This was such a fun read. I loved the enchanted library and that she got to be engrossed with so many books… um, hello, this is my dream!! Lore slowly finds herself having feelings for 2 fae males, and a love triangle of sorts begins to form. I typically don’t enjoy love triangles, because they stress me out too much, but this one was written so well that I didn’t mind it at all!

There is a plot twist at the end that I was proud of myself for guessing part of it 🤣🤘🏼 but the other part I did not expect!! It ends on such a great cliffhanger. I am looking forward to seeing what happens in the next book in the series!

The found family aspect in this book is truly a slow burn. However, the connections and friendships that Lore makes, both old and new, create a bond that is loyal and fierce for one another! I am interested to see what happens to the crew with all of the new information we’ve been given 👀

This book comes out 2/27/24, so preorder now and add to your TBR!

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cmmcgrath86's review against another edition

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dark fast-paced

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

1.0

The description of this book was quite misleading, as it has several incredibly concerning elements near the end. It also felt like the magic system was weakly constructed and rushed; everything the main character needed, she found or stumbled into without much conflict.

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justinekorson's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny mysterious medium-paced

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

4.25

Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with an e-Arc!
SPOILERS TO FOLLOW.
Also, for those curious, this novel leaves off on a MAJOR cliffhanger.

This is definitely a story I think I need to re-read when the book comes out. There's an author I follow on Twitter who recently said that e-ARC's are a bad depiction of the final book because sometimes the e-ARC's are old drafts of the story before line edits were done on it. I only started reading e-ARC's a lot recently and in this book I think I can see how correct that author was. There were some plot points in this novel that were never finished or touched upon again (i.e Lore's mini dagger training session. You'd think she'd need more than one??) and some plot points that were never discussed (i.e Lore mentions toward the end of the book that the word 'clanless' is a slur against Finn butI don't remember it ever being mentioned before that moment). The chapters also felt weirdly short like there was meant to be more to it but there wasn't. My e-ARC even says that it's 288 pages but Storygraph says it's 352 pages.

So, after saying all of that, I've decided not to pick apart the details that weren't refined and instead talk about the story as a whole.

And, as a whole, I adored this story. Lore and Finn were so stubborn and it reminded me a lot of myself actually. Which is why, from the moment I met Finn, I knew he was the one she was meant to be with. Asher was cute and sounded very genuine but... when Finn immediately showed a distaste for him, I knew that I should trust the grumpy fae boy. AND IT TURNS OUT I WAS RIGHT. I don't think I necessarily saw that Asher wasn't who he said he was but I definitely knew something was up with him. He seemed almost TOO genuine at times, like he was faking it to get close to Lore.

Isla was a character I wish I had more of. She was brilliant and I was enamored with her from the moment she appeared. Grey too seemed like a really cool character that could have been utilized more in the beginning of the novel. His appearance in the fae realm was a little startling when Lore saw him with her magic though. I hadn't expected to see Grey back in the story until possibly the next installment. He fit in seamlessly with the rest of the group though and I enjoyed reading about him again.

I will admit that the first third of the book is a totally different vibe from the other two thirds. The beginning reads very cute cottage core as she cleans up the library. I honestly thought we'd spend more time in the library/castle setting than we did. the other 2/3 feel more like an adventure novel as she's trying to escape and as her companions keep dropping other fae around her.

Overall, I'm excited for the next installment and I'm going to be sure to read the final version when it comes out!

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