Reviews with content warning for Blood - Court of the Undying Seasons

Reviews tagging 'Blood'

Court of the Undying Seasons by A.M. Strickland

12 reviews

trippyotter's review against another edition

challenging dark 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? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

This is one of those books where I read every word and neither loved it nor hated it.

The premise of the story is intriguing and will definitely keep you on your toes.

But I'm a little disappointed with the timing between the reveal and the ending. Like others, I feel it was a bit rushed towards the end and could have used a bit more something something to add to the betrayals and revolutions.

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_p0ssum_'s review against another edition

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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

5.0

Omg I love this book so much I read it in a day . A.m. Strickland has amazing books and this is definitely in my favorites of this year.

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writingcaia's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious 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? It's complicated

4.75

How to review this vampire delight?!
Vampire Academy meets Empire of the Vampire meets Uprooted.
Although it has many YA tropes, it also has crime and vampire ones, and does it marvellously, with darkness and gore, with finding the murderer, with found family and an almost enemy to lovers, plus exploring with fantasy a lot of relevant issues.
A girl that finds that monsters exist everywhere and maybe some vampires are not that monstrous or that different from humans, a girl that finds that being a monster is better than being nothing, starving, forgotten, and in a Bella (Twilight) sort of way finds that becoming a vampire is becoming herself, the best version, the blade cunning version. This is Fin.
I couldn’t stop reading it. Went to bed at 5am with no regrets.
The writing, pacing and characters are superb. Even though, I found Fin, sometimes a bit cliché and annoying, her arc was pretty well done, and Gavron her meant to be maker, and love interest, is darkly delicious. But, there’re so many more, I absolutely loved Kashire, such a devilish funny vampire, also Marai, Claudia, Jaen.
Plus, these vampires know to do it right in their immortality and queerness and inclusivity are part of their evolution, so that’s what we have.
What can I say more? It’s the second book in a month from this author and it’s now an auto-buy one.

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roorooreads's review

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challenging dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.5

This book was good but it didn't quite get to the great category for me. The beginning was hard to get through but once the 50/60% mark came I enjoyed the story that finally started to unfold...it just took so long to get there. Usually I like an academy/school setting in books, especially a magical or paranormal one but this didn't have enough of the school elements for me. I wish we saw more of her training rather than just being told about what she was doing. There is lots of lgbt+ rep in this book, which was integrated into the Vampire society as a normal thing. There were lots of nonbinary, gender fluid, bisexuality, and pansexual characters.

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lettuce_read's review

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4.0

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adancewithbooks's review against another edition

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adventurous dark medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot

3.5

Thank you to Hodder & Stoughton for the review copy in exchange for an honest review. This does not change my opinion in anyway.

As much as I am hesitant with vampire novels, I do appreciate the things that Strickland comes up with so I decided to give this one a chance. I didn't quite regret it.

Fin takes her place as a tribute when she thinks her friend is going to get chosen. From there she gets whisked away to a vampire school where she can learn to become a vampire or fail and become a thrall. Which does not at all sound appealing to me but in this society this seems to be a bit of a dream.

Fin on the other hand agrees with me. She lost her mother to the vampires in a similar way and since the death of her father has been completely alone. She decides to find ways to learn how to kill a vampire, making the best of a bad situation for her. I quite liked that take.

Unfortunatly it did not last long. Fin is quickly swept up in the vampire world and craves Gavron, her vampire maker to be. While i understand that the very nature of vampires is to be seductive and manipulative to their way, I thought Fin changed a bit too quickly. And it swept its own plot right from under its feet.

Yet regardless of that I did enjoy reading this book for what it was. I mostly enjoyed the side characters. The seemingly cruel vampire Fin meets at the start, her mother, and her student friend. I think those characters made the book more for me than Fin herself.

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