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averyrembish's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
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
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Death, Grief, Murder, and Violence
Moderate: Animal death, Child death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and War
Minor: Alcohol, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Police brutality, and Self harm
morganish's review
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Crier's War started off a little slow for me, BUT. The book very quickly overcame my doubts, and I found myself really looking forward to picking it back up every night! It's fantasy of the YA variety, which doesn't deviate too much from a lot of the themes, stylistic choices, and characterization of other YA stories.
Yet even as I've been leaning away from YA fantasy and more toward adult recently, I found myself really absorbed in this one. The prose was straightforward, but sometimes unexpectedly beautiful; the worldbuilding wasn't dense or complicated, and yet the central conceit works well and there's a surprising amount of effective mystery. All the untold secrets yet to be discovered ultimately worked to hook me in. The romance is a kind I like but don't often find executed this effectively: angst-heavy, with lots of pining. It's a true slow burn, with outstanding threads still left hanging by the end of this installment, the first of a duology. Even though I'd heard others say this book was really good, AND even though I was excited by the idea of AI creations in a traditional fantasy setting, I was still surprised how good Crier's War was.
If you like your slow-burn romances to actually feel like something slow and aching and epic, this book probably has what you're looking for. (Especially if you're looking for more sapphic fantasy.) If you like the feel of YA fantasy stories, but sometimes wish the worldbuilding had just a little bit more mystery or intrigue like adult fantasy, this might serve, depending on your tastes. But if you're just completely done with YA fantasy and all the aspects that come with it, or don't like romances that build across multiple books, OR don't like the enemies-to-lovers trope, this book probably won't do much for you.
Yet even as I've been leaning away from YA fantasy and more toward adult recently, I found myself really absorbed in this one. The prose was straightforward, but sometimes unexpectedly beautiful; the worldbuilding wasn't dense or complicated, and yet the central conceit works well and there's a surprising amount of effective mystery. All the untold secrets yet to be discovered ultimately worked to hook me in. The romance is a kind I like but don't often find executed this effectively: angst-heavy, with lots of pining. It's a true slow burn, with outstanding threads still left hanging by the end of this installment, the first of a duology. Even though I'd heard others say this book was really good, AND even though I was excited by the idea of AI creations in a traditional fantasy setting, I was still surprised how good Crier's War was.
If you like your slow-burn romances to actually feel like something slow and aching and epic, this book probably has what you're looking for. (Especially if you're looking for more sapphic fantasy.) If you like the feel of YA fantasy stories, but sometimes wish the worldbuilding had just a little bit more mystery or intrigue like adult fantasy, this might serve, depending on your tastes. But if you're just completely done with YA fantasy and all the aspects that come with it, or don't like romances that build across multiple books, OR don't like the enemies-to-lovers trope, this book probably won't do much for you.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Death, Grief, Murder, and Violence
Moderate: Abandonment, Confinement, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Toxic relationship, War, and Xenophobia
Minor: Alcohol, Cultural appropriation, Genocide, and Sexism
A lot of the elements I include about the content warnings are specifically fantastical, like fantastical xenophobia. Most of the other content warnings have some level of fantastic to them as well. It isn't a direct reference to IRL events and doesn't include IRL bigotry, for example.make_believer's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
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? Yes
5.0
This is my new favorite YA fantasy series. The world-building is incredible. It’s interesting to see a story where AI has taken over the human world. My favorite part of the book, however, was Crier. I don’t think I have ever loved a YA protagonist more. She is so incredibly naive and she makes absolutely idiotic decisions sometimes, but it’s because she truly means well. She truly wants to help everyone around her, and she wants to make the world a better place. And her relationship with Ayla is amazing. This is a slow burn romance for sure, and it is about as enemies to lovers as you can get. But that is once again one of the many reasons that Crier is so lovable. Ayla’s hatred of Crier and the system that Crier represents is absolutely valid. Ayla’s hesitance to trust and acknowledge her feelings for Crier make for a wonderful slow burn. Crier is so insistent on helping people, and so in love with Ayla from the start, that she completely misses the fact that she and Ayla are enemies. The yearning from both sides is beautiful. Ayla wants to badly to feel nothing towards Crier, and Crier wants so badly for Ayla to love her back. It leads up to an incredible ending.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcohol, Blood, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Murder, Physical abuse, Self harm, Torture, Violence, and War
Minor: Sexual content and Infertility
caseythereader's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
- What a great spin on enemies to lovers, where one character is not quite human! I love a book that digs into what makes one human, and CRIER'S WAR delivers.
- I also love a prickly heroine, which Ayla is (and then some). Following her struggle to square her beliefs with her reality was wonderful.
- There's also some excellent palace intrigue amid all the sapphic longing. This is really not one to be missed!
- I also love a prickly heroine, which Ayla is (and then some). Following her struggle to square her beliefs with her reality was wonderful.
- There's also some excellent palace intrigue amid all the sapphic longing. This is really not one to be missed!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcohol, Blood, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Murder, and Violence
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