Reviews with content warning for Blood - Lore of the Wilds

Reviews tagging 'Blood'

Lore of the Wilds by Analeigh Sbrana

20 reviews

emilywemily6's review

adventurous relaxing medium-paced

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

2.5

Eh this book was a let down… maybe romantasy is not for me. This book started off strong for the first 15% and then the rest of the book was all over the place. This read like a YA novel and yet one two separate instances an f-bomb was dropped, which felt so out of character compared to the rest of the book that had zero swearing. The one sex scene also felt contrived, awkwardly timed, and not consistent with the characters or the relationships. There was a supposed love triangle but it was hard to root for either love interest when one lacked chemistry or personality and the other was just mean and grumpy. The world and backstory seemed interesting but this book left so many questions unanswered. The mystical library could have been its own character but was only in the first third of the book. I felt like the plot meandered randomly and while the author’s writing was easy to read, it didn’t add any gravitas or depth to the plot. Serious, climactic moments were glossed over after having zero lead up (like only one chapter devoted to a massive break-in/kidnapping) and insignificant moments/musings took up a lot of page time even though they didn’t have a bearing on the plot. She also made nonsensical decisions that aged her way down. There were no hints or Easter eggs about where the story was going or foreshadowing of any reveals, so many plot devices came out of nowhere without any lead up. It reads like a YA with a couple inappropriate moments and a lack of editing to improve the quality of the storytelling. I was surprisingly bored through most of the book. I want to read the second book since the world building interested me and the characters had more depth than another romantasy I recently read, but I’m not going to buy it.

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solitarelee's review

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adventurous mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

This book had its ups and downs for me, but overall I enjoyed it, and some of the twists really had me speed reading to see what happened next. The pace of the book is breakneck, with barely any time to breathe between the next dramatic reveal or questionable decision by the risk-taking main character. There are no answers here, only questions; I could tell halfway through that I was definitely reading the first book of a series. The faeries are really faeries in name only; you could call them elves and change literally 0 things. But tied into that is the fact that the worldbuilding is pretty creative and original.

The author uses "male" and "female" as nouns to describe fae, I think as a purposeful choice to indicate that they're not human to the main character (ie not just saying 'man' or 'woman'), however I found it to be a torment throughout the entire book even after I realized why they were doing it. Especially every time they used 'fae' (which can be a noun) as an adjective to describe 'male' (generally an adjective). Oh, the pain, every time. Male fae was right there. You could have spared me and it still would have included the desired dehumanization.

The first love interest fell completely flat for me, and I kept wondering when this dull perfect boy whose motivations made no sense would do a dramatic betrayal. That being said, I did not predict the exact nature of the dramatic betrayal AT ALL and was delighted. I kind of want to re-read the whole thing with the big spoiler in mind later. The chemistry with the 'secondary' love interest is sparking and way more believable. (This isn't a critique, the author clearly did this on purpose so readers might catch on like I did.)

Overall I'll be reading the next book for sure. I got too many questions not to!

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chipotlemayo's review

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adventurous lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

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

3.5

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linnybear's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious medium-paced

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

2.25

I’d call it ‘mediocre middle grade book with fairy spice’

She should've stayed in the library

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bookcaptivated's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious 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? No

4.5

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stitchbooks22's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious medium-paced

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

2.0

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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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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