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3.86 AVERAGE
3.86 AVERAGE
adventurous
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
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
3.75/5 ⭐️
I loved the first book. It was amazing. A 5 star read. This was mid. And that made me sad. I still liked it, but I think there were quite a few problems that really hindered it. Before I get into the problems, just know I still enjoyed this. There were some great moments. Some amazing scenes. There were moments that had me kicking my feet and giggling. It’s just that these great moments turned bittersweet for me because of the things dragging it down.
So I think the problems stemmed from its foundation. First, it’s really weird to me that Imani’s chapters were in first person while Taha’s were in third. What’s not good is when I got confused whose we were in despite the narrative perspective differences.
The other major problem was that it felt like this story was trying to fit soooooo much into this book. Lately I’ve been begging books to be standalone or duologues, giving us too much filler. In the case, I’m begging it to be broken up into four instead of three books. There was just too much going on in this book that the pacing felt chaotic. Overall, we didn’t stay anywhere for long to unpack or develop much. But then Imani’s plot line felt like it was dragging when compared to Taha’s when they got split up. It was chaotic and unsatisfying. Like if it was broken up and altered slightly, we could’ve watched things progress more naturally and get to dig into characters like Atheer and Amira more. And in the end, what we did get was frustrating because of the speed and the amateurish dialogue and the silly caricature of characters that I found myself skimming at times.
My final major issue is where Imani is going. It is looking like she is becoming too powerful. And that will probably mean the story will end with her giving up her power. But my issue right now is that I lost my connection to her. She’s unrelatable because she depended on her magic way more. Her entire being became about her power. Every issue was fought and solved with powerful magic. And now she is alien. While she had magic in the first book, she was relatable because her issues and conflicts and the way she dealt with it was human. She dealt with jealousy and prejudices and had to fight them with words. And when she fought monsters and enemies in book one, 80% of it was just her sword skills that she honed with practice. Something I could do. It’s cool to have a character with magic, but they are relatable to the readers when everything going on and how they fight it could be done without. Like even your magic doesn’t make you different from me because at the end of the day, it can’t solve all your problems.
So yeah. This has been my most anticipated read since I read an arc of the first one two years ago, and I feel kind of disappointed. It was entertaining, but mid. It had so much potential, but someone needed to help shape all this a little better. It could’ve been great. The first one was truly amazing. And knowing that made this more disappointing. So yeah, I would still recommend. It was still cool. But maybe walk in with slightly lower expectations than I did.
Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for providing an advance reader copy of this book for my honest review.
I loved the first book. It was amazing. A 5 star read. This was mid. And that made me sad. I still liked it, but I think there were quite a few problems that really hindered it. Before I get into the problems, just know I still enjoyed this. There were some great moments. Some amazing scenes. There were moments that had me kicking my feet and giggling. It’s just that these great moments turned bittersweet for me because of the things dragging it down.
So I think the problems stemmed from its foundation. First, it’s really weird to me that Imani’s chapters were in first person while Taha’s were in third. What’s not good is when I got confused whose we were in despite the narrative perspective differences.
The other major problem was that it felt like this story was trying to fit soooooo much into this book. Lately I’ve been begging books to be standalone or duologues, giving us too much filler. In the case, I’m begging it to be broken up into four instead of three books. There was just too much going on in this book that the pacing felt chaotic. Overall, we didn’t stay anywhere for long to unpack or develop much. But then Imani’s plot line felt like it was dragging when compared to Taha’s when they got split up. It was chaotic and unsatisfying. Like if it was broken up and altered slightly, we could’ve watched things progress more naturally and get to dig into characters like Atheer and Amira more. And in the end, what we did get was frustrating because of the speed and the amateurish dialogue and the silly caricature of characters that I found myself skimming at times.
My final major issue is where Imani is going. It is looking like she is becoming too powerful. And that will probably mean the story will end with her giving up her power. But my issue right now is that I lost my connection to her. She’s unrelatable because she depended on her magic way more. Her entire being became about her power. Every issue was fought and solved with powerful magic. And now she is alien. While she had magic in the first book, she was relatable because her issues and conflicts and the way she dealt with it was human. She dealt with jealousy and prejudices and had to fight them with words. And when she fought monsters and enemies in book one, 80% of it was just her sword skills that she honed with practice. Something I could do. It’s cool to have a character with magic, but they are relatable to the readers when everything going on and how they fight it could be done without. Like even your magic doesn’t make you different from me because at the end of the day, it can’t solve all your problems.
So yeah. This has been my most anticipated read since I read an arc of the first one two years ago, and I feel kind of disappointed. It was entertaining, but mid. It had so much potential, but someone needed to help shape all this a little better. It could’ve been great. The first one was truly amazing. And knowing that made this more disappointing. So yeah, I would still recommend. It was still cool. But maybe walk in with slightly lower expectations than I did.
Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for providing an advance reader copy of this book for my honest review.
challenging
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
As a debut, Spice Road was a wonderful surprise. I was super excited to continue this story with an original magic system and full of spectacular adventures, specially after that cliffhanger that left me wanted for more. But some series just can’t run from the second book curse, it seems, and this sequel is one of them.
Serpent Sea started too slow and took time to find its pace. Told in two different POV’s, there was definitely one more interesting than the other, not only in terms of plot and action but also, in terms of character development. Some decisions were made that made me doubt where the story was going and those doubts weren’t solved, if I’m going to be honest. In the last 30% of the book, things finally started to get interesting and the plot, even if not so well conceived, finally found its way, letting me hopeful and scared for the next book in equal measure.
But not all was disappointing in this book. The worldbuilding was way more developed in this sequel, and we could understand its magic system and origins better, what was a plus point. And, if some characters were a bit disappointing, or because they were less relevant than I expected or because they got on my nerves, others really grew into me. Taha’s development in this book, for example, was really good, and I can say now he is my favorite character and I don’t accept judgment.
I will read the last book, because of how the book ended, but my expectations are really lower in comparison with my expectations for Serpent Sea. I hope things got solved in the last book and that my faith in this series can be save.
adventurous
hopeful
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:
Yes
Loved the expansion of the world in this book, and seeing the siblings all working together was wonderful. I felt it was very reminiscent of WW2 Germany, and some kind of political commentary on the current state of the US (I think I said this about the first book, too) I thought it was a doulogy so I'm kind of sad that I have to wait for a third book for the conclusion.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
medium-paced
For starters I’m glad I saw some reviews before and went in with some managed expectations…because this book seems to have struggled from second book syndrome, sadly. It wasn’t until the last third that I started to get into it more (let’s pretend that sea battle scene totally made sense to me).
There was something about this book in the plotting and characterization that kept my attention just enough to keep reading but it also just kept feeling like it was falling short.
Imani’s perspective was written in first person and Taha’s was written in third person and the whiplash from the back and forth was oddly noticeable for me (I typically don’t notice that sort of thing, thankfully). It wasn’t until I was at least 12 chapters in, perhaps more, that I settled into the writing, which didn’t help.
The thing that surprised me most was that I actually enjoyed Taha’s POV more and I found his character grew on me a lot. He has more depth than Imani imo.
Atheer disappointed me. After the ending in Spice Road I was looking forward to seeing a strong sibling dynamic and the influence of a thoughtful and wise older brother. But Atheer was honestly sidelined so hard and while other characters see him as a mentor/hero etc. we just don’t see much of that in action.
Lastly, this love triangle situation….I was so confident in who would be end game but with the way this book went I am at a loss. And not in a good way, because [redacted for spoilers]…one character absolutely does not make sense 😬 And I actually think said character should die or have to disappear into another [redacted for spoilers]. But you get the point….imo one character so clearly can’t be the end love interest.
There was something about this book in the plotting and characterization that kept my attention just enough to keep reading but it also just kept feeling like it was falling short.
Imani’s perspective was written in first person and Taha’s was written in third person and the whiplash from the back and forth was oddly noticeable for me (I typically don’t notice that sort of thing, thankfully). It wasn’t until I was at least 12 chapters in, perhaps more, that I settled into the writing, which didn’t help.
The thing that surprised me most was that I actually enjoyed Taha’s POV more and I found his character grew on me a lot. He has more depth than Imani imo.
Atheer disappointed me. After the ending in Spice Road I was looking forward to seeing a strong sibling dynamic and the influence of a thoughtful and wise older brother. But Atheer was honestly sidelined so hard and while other characters see him as a mentor/hero etc. we just don’t see much of that in action.
Lastly, this love triangle situation….I was so confident in who would be end game but with the way this book went I am at a loss. And not in a good way, because [redacted for spoilers]…one character absolutely does not make sense 😬 And I actually think said character should die or have to disappear into another [redacted for spoilers]. But you get the point….imo one character so clearly can’t be the end love interest.
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
inspiring
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Firstly, I will start off by saying that I am so happy to have found this series because it has been a long time since I have wanted to sink my teeth into a whole fantasy series and I literally devoured this. If you are a fan of dense plots and truly complex characters, then you may want to give this a read.
This book follows our protagonists in a dual POV novel as they attempt to say their home from barbaric colonisers. There was a moment where I was not the biggest fan of the dual POV, despite understanding the necessity for it to tell a bigger story. It felt separated and jarring because when Imani was having a good time, you better believe Taha was not.
I absolutely love YA books that manage to dive so much deeper into current issues, historical events and generational trauma. If you are a white person, this book is going to be uncomfortable to read because everything that happened in this book is a drop in the ocean in comparison to the havoc and destruction a lot of our ancestors inflicted across the world. It was so brutal at times, but the relationships between characters just enlightened the whole novel.
One thing that I love about this book is the characters. Imani, especially because she is nearly intolerable in some sections and my favourite person in the world in others. Every character is not a hollow caricature from fantasy novels but has lore, personalities and tendencies that add so much depth into their being making it a wonderful read. My only downside from this is as much as I love Taha (please give this boy a break), I do think there could have been more done with him since we had his perspective this time around.
The reason why this is not a 5 star read is because I found the plot quite predictable, like of course Qayn is 'The Desert's Bane' and of course a love triangle is forming. And particularly on that love triangle, who tf am I meant to be rooting for? I certainly hope not the 4000 yr old borderline deity panting after the 17yr old ANCESTOR OF THE ONLY OTHER WOMAN HE HAS LOVED. As a community, we gotta stop giving these immortal beings romance plotline with the literal minor. It just doesn't have to be this way.
Also wish we did not have so little time at De Wilde Hunten because I just love Taha and wish I saw him sooner. I am also just going to say that Taha deserves better than Imani right now, so I am hoping she pulls through and we see her realise she is being manipulated by someone MUCH older than her. Taha deserves to be chosen first and always, Imani does have a point to punch him but alas I also know she can grow so much more as can he.
This book follows our protagonists in a dual POV novel as they attempt to say their home from barbaric colonisers. There was a moment where I was not the biggest fan of the dual POV, despite understanding the necessity for it to tell a bigger story. It felt separated and jarring because when Imani was having a good time, you better believe Taha was not.
I absolutely love YA books that manage to dive so much deeper into current issues, historical events and generational trauma. If you are a white person, this book is going to be uncomfortable to read because everything that happened in this book is a drop in the ocean in comparison to the havoc and destruction a lot of our ancestors inflicted across the world. It was so brutal at times, but the relationships between characters just enlightened the whole novel.
One thing that I love about this book is the characters. Imani, especially because she is nearly intolerable in some sections and my favourite person in the world in others. Every character is not a hollow caricature from fantasy novels but has lore, personalities and tendencies that add so much depth into their being making it a wonderful read. My only downside from this is as much as I love Taha (please give this boy a break), I do think there could have been more done with him since we had his perspective this time around.
Also wish we did not have so little time at De Wilde Hunten because I just love Taha and wish I saw him sooner. I am also just going to say that Taha deserves better than Imani right now, so I am hoping she pulls through and we see her realise she is being manipulated by someone MUCH older than her. Taha deserves to be chosen first and always, Imani does have a point to punch him but alas I also know she can grow so much more as can he.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Genocide, Racism, Torture, Violence, Colonisation, War
Moderate: Addiction, Physical abuse, Blood, Kidnapping
Minor: Adult/minor relationship
adventurous
emotional
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated