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notsobinaryart's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
3.0
A fun and easy read, but I had some major issues with the book.
It’s a fun concept, showing The Villain being not a bad guy and having a sweet bubbly girl working for him. The characters are overall charming, and you do root for them even when they do less than ideal things.
The book was long, having unnecessary scenes that serve as fun little moments without furthering any obvious plot, which can be fine but don’t seem super well edited. The book is very on the nose, which isn’t bad for an easy read, but don’t expect some earth shattering revelations, new concepts, or major twists on any tropes. The characters weren’t super complex either, and we mostly only get surface level insight into the characters until we get a few moments of insight to their trauma, often in an info dumpy way.
One of my biggest issues is with some ableist tropes is at the climax of the book. In the end, you find out the sick disabled father was faking it all along. Not only is he faking, he’s faking to further his villainous intentions. This stereotype further perpetuates that many disabled people are actually faking it, which is incredibly harmful towards public perception of real disabled people. I am extremely tired of disabled people, even fake disabled people, being the villain, especially if it’s a direct tie to their villainy. Almost every disabled person has experienced ableists questioning their disability perpetuated by these harmful tropes.
If you’re looking for a fun read, it can be enjoyable, but I wouldn’t go out of my way to recommend this book.
It’s a fun concept, showing The Villain being not a bad guy and having a sweet bubbly girl working for him. The characters are overall charming, and you do root for them even when they do less than ideal things.
The book was long, having unnecessary scenes that serve as fun little moments without furthering any obvious plot, which can be fine but don’t seem super well edited. The book is very on the nose, which isn’t bad for an easy read, but don’t expect some earth shattering revelations, new concepts, or major twists on any tropes. The characters weren’t super complex either, and we mostly only get surface level insight into the characters until we get a few moments of insight to their trauma, often in an info dumpy way.
One of my biggest issues is with some ableist tropes is at the climax of the book.
If you’re looking for a fun read, it can be enjoyable, but I wouldn’t go out of my way to recommend this book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Domestic abuse, Murder, Emotional abuse, Violence, Misogyny, Confinement, Abandonment, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, and Sexual harassment
Moderate: Alcohol and Gore
Minor: Drug abuse and Animal cruelty
wonderingintothevoid's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Misogyny, and Chronic illness
Minor: Sexual harassment, Sexism, Rape, and Sexual assault
tbrplaylist's review
dark
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Minor: Death, Toxic relationship, Confinement, Physical abuse, Bullying, Sexual assault, Blood, and Emotional abuse
ajhling's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
(Please note it took me from October to December to finish it, not because I wasn't interested but because I'm Autistic and other things (video games, cooking, trying to learn another language, and a handful of movies, books and TV shows) caught my attention (yay for hyperfixation)).
This book is a fun read. It's obvious that the author doesn't have much experience in writing, and that - at least in the Google Books edition I had - there was some minor formatting and spelling issues.
But despite the clear inexperience of the author, I found myself enjoying the book. The cast of characters weren't 'diverse' in the real-world sense. But to be fair, its a fantasy world with fantasy nations and cultures, and we only know there are other cultures in this world because they were occasionally mentioned very briefly.
That being said, the characters that were depicted weren't of the same physical appearance (not all white, or supermodel 'pretty'), and at least two side characters were revealed to be not-straight (so for those of you that care about that sort of thing you'll find a little bit of representation).
However, there were definitely character tropes happening. The Villain (the love interest for the fenale protagonist) being described as really attractive and physically strong. The female protagonist having black hair and light-blue eyes (which apparently is seen as a cliche these days that doesn't bother me but apparently bothers orhers).
Random bitchy female character who would be the high school girl who thinks she's better than everyone because 'reasons' in a YA novel, but in this one she is a co-worker who thinks she's better than everyone because 'reasons.' A dumb geeky-jock-like character clearly crushing on the bitchy co-worker but probably doesn't stand a chance.
But even with the cliches and the plot being a little 'holey' (which is unsurprising because this whole idea for the story literally started thanks to a TikTok serie and was originally created for fun and enjoyment) the story was still good.
Would I say it was great or revolutionary? Nope. But it was still a great light-hearted read for when you don't want to read something too heavy or with to many 'moving parts' or complex lore.
Was the world and character building a little on the weaker side of things? Yes. But don't worry, there was character development for not just the maim characters but fir secondary characters as well (and most of the character development happened in the last five-odd chapters). Despite this the characters were interesting enough that I cared about what happened to them.
Will I be reading the sequel? Yes, because I genuinely want to know what happens next.
This book is a fun read. It's obvious that the author doesn't have much experience in writing, and that - at least in the Google Books edition I had - there was some minor formatting and spelling issues.
But despite the clear inexperience of the author, I found myself enjoying the book. The cast of characters weren't 'diverse' in the real-world sense. But to be fair, its a fantasy world with fantasy nations and cultures, and we only know there are other cultures in this world because they were occasionally mentioned very briefly.
That being said, the characters that were depicted weren't of the same physical appearance (not all white, or supermodel 'pretty'), and at least two side characters were revealed to be not-straight (so for those of you that care about that sort of thing you'll find a little bit of representation).
However, there were definitely character tropes happening. The Villain (the love interest for the fenale protagonist) being described as really attractive and physically strong. The female protagonist having black hair and light-blue eyes (which apparently is seen as a cliche these days that doesn't bother me but apparently bothers orhers).
Random bitchy female character who would be the high school girl who thinks she's better than everyone because 'reasons' in a YA novel, but in this one she is a co-worker who thinks she's better than everyone because 'reasons.' A dumb geeky-jock-like character clearly crushing on the bitchy co-worker but probably doesn't stand a chance.
But even with the cliches and the plot being a little 'holey' (which is unsurprising because this whole idea for the story literally started thanks to a TikTok serie and was originally created for fun and enjoyment) the story was still good.
Would I say it was great or revolutionary? Nope. But it was still a great light-hearted read for when you don't want to read something too heavy or with to many 'moving parts' or complex lore.
Was the world and character building a little on the weaker side of things? Yes. But don't worry, there was character development for not just the maim characters but fir secondary characters as well (and most of the character development happened in the last five-odd chapters). Despite this the characters were interesting enough that I cared about what happened to them.
Will I be reading the sequel? Yes, because I genuinely want to know what happens next.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, and Child abuse
Minor: Emotional abuse, Sexual harassment, Animal cruelty, Chronic illness, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Child death, Torture, and Grief
Most content warnings were only briefly mentioned or implied. Only two were more obvious (gaslighting, blood and violence and sexual harassment coming up or implied more than the others) but even then they weren't overly explicit. The most explicit was description of an injury that resulted in death of a number of people.jenn_chem's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
tense
fast-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
5.0
I love this book so much. There were a few anachronistic words here and there, but everything else was perfect. Slow burn. Friends to not-quite lovers in this book. Ends on a bit of a cliffhanger. Authentic characterizations, punchy dialogue and banter, character growth, and a clever and well thought out part. I will absolutely read this book again before the next in the series comes out.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Misogyny, Blood, Violence, Gaslighting, Death, and Emotional abuse
Minor: Abandonment, Torture, Sexual assault, and Child death
tym_flies's review
adventurous
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
fast-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
Slay (the king).
Fuck that cliffhanger tho
Fuck that cliffhanger tho
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment, Death, Emotional abuse, Terminal illness, Violence, Chronic illness, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Blood, Death of parent, and Gaslighting
Minor: Kidnapping, Blood, Child abuse, Animal cruelty, and War
shinypurplepants's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
The writing style and original concept reminds me of a (significantly) less spicy "Mead Misfits." Unfortunately, the humor fell so flat for me that it wasn't enough to make the book enjoyable and the premise is not enough to support as long a story as this is. It genuinely felt like this could have been a great novella but as it everything was super drawn out.
There's the feeling initially that you'll have a slow-burn romance between the villain and assistant through these random vignettes of their everyday life. That's not what carries the back half of the book, instead, there is supposedly a plot to find a traitor in their midst. It's poorly handled (and honestly very boring) in its execution and reveal. I wasn't shocked at all just annoyed by how round about it took to get there.
There's the feeling initially that you'll have a slow-burn romance between the villain and assistant through these random vignettes of their everyday life. That's not what carries the back half of the book, instead, there is supposedly a plot to find a traitor in their midst. It's poorly handled (and honestly very boring) in its execution and reveal. I wasn't shocked at all just annoyed by how round about it took to get there.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Blood
Moderate: Cursing, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Sexual harassment, and Torture
protestmyboredom's review
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
relaxing
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
5.0
Ahhh this book is so good! Light and clever with so much personality. Original but also nostalgic and a cute romance with serious issues but it doesn’t feel heavy. I love Evie and The Villain and I was so excited to have his point of view too- I squealed to myself the first time. I can wait to read more and I’m sure I’ll read this again.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Murder, and Blood
Moderate: Abandonment, Medical trauma, Death, Child death, Chronic illness, Animal cruelty, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, Grief, and Gaslighting
kay_w's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
tense
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? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Blood, Confinement, Cursing, Death, and Emotional abuse
Moderate: Torture, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Sexual harassment, and Violence
amschelly153's review
adventurous
emotional
funny
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
So much love for this book. Also, I made the mistake of not realizing it is a series. It’s beautiful and giggle out loud funny and tense and so good.
Content Warnings
Minor: Sexual violence, Violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Murder, Emotional abuse, Cursing, and Abandonment