Reviews with content warning for Rape - What Lurks Between the Fates

Kind of a step back compared to the previous two. It's pretty slow and then all the excitement happens in the last 30 or so pages. Lots of repetative mate pining which I suppose is to be expected.

There is overall less spice, but the spice is still well written. This book definitely takes a much darker turn and there is quite a bit of violence and torture scenes.

I mostly just wish more happened. You spend the entire book with the two main characters imprisoned and imprisoned in a weird way (as in they have some amount of freedom randomly?) And you don't get a whole lot of the characters you've met.

In the end, I'll still pick up the next one especially because CLIFFHANGER.

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jules531's review against another edition

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dark sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.0

I loved the first two books but this fell flat for me. The entire book felt like reading the middle section of a book. No plot advancement. No movement. It was honestly mostly torture and a few smut scenes. My biggest issues are with the plot. I just kept yearning for the characters to take their destiny in their hands; plot, scheme, fight, SOMETHING.

Characters are consistent to what we've seen so far.
Writing was fine.
Smut scenes were good.

So much of this book was just Mab torturing Caldris and Estrella. They never escape, they never even try to escape or come up with any kind of plan. They just hang out kidnapped in the castle waiting on ~ something ~ to happen. They don't try to figure out what Estrella is and they never do in this book. We get a few tidbit clues. I just needed SOMETHING to happen. Mab consistently wins at every corner even in the end. So we're basically back to where we started with no positive change. Well except she's missing a hand now I guess.

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bookswithcee's review against another edition

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adventurous dark hopeful mysterious tense slow-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? Yes

3.75

I liked this book. Not loved it. But it was good. The spice was kicked up a notch which I did enjoy. But there was a LOT of torture and often mentions a character’s past sexual assaults.

I really feel like this could have been the end of the series but it of course had a spin and a Cliff hanger and didn’t make any progress on Estrella’s lineage or what she is. Still just very vague clues which could be literally anything and after 3 books I feel like we deserved to know by now, and not at the very end.

The cliff hanger was frustrating because it did NOT have to end that way and the other options were obvious to everyone except Estrella and Caldris apparently. The storyline did finally progress now that they’re in the Fae lands but really not a lot of new information in an entire additional book.

All in all, will still read the next one because of the questions left unanswered and I love the relationships Estrella has built.

Also, RIP to the most helpful god she’s met besides her mate. He was a real one. :(

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kayemm's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional tense fast-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

This book is infinitely better than the first two. I really enjoy the series overall, but this book has a much deeper, richer plot. The sex in this book actually moves the story along (I mean ok, not all of it lol). It's not entirely salacious. The character development here is good as well, and there are some twists that you definitely don't see coming. I'm usually able to predict books, and there were some things about this that I actually didn't predict. I liked that about it.

Without giving spoilers away, there are some plot holes that are still lingering from the first and second books, as well as some that are created in this third book, but potentially those could all be tied up in the fourth book, so just keep those in mind in case plot holes aggravate you like they do me...

The violence in this book is a lot stronger and more gorey than the first two books. There were absolutely parts that made me cringe, but I felt like the author did an incredibly good job at conveying the raw, visceral feelings and scenes that she wants the reader to understand so that the scenes serve a purpose instead of just being gratuitous.

Also, I can't help but laugh at all of the people who say that there isn't a diverse cast. The author does a very good job at describing all of the different shades of skin tone of the characters in the book. They range from caramel skin, porcelain skin, practically see-through (they're technically dead lol), the skin of burnt leaves in autumn, etc. It's a unique and fantasy-based way of describing skin tones. That makes it very clear that the characters are based around multiple different ethnicities, not to mention it's literally based around various types of beings. She even refers to one of the Fae as sepia-toned. It's also fae, humans, witches, Gods, changelings, and other fantasy creatures. It's not diverse in reality, but it's definitely diverse!!

I'm dying to see where the fourth book goes. I can't believe how long we have to wait for it to come out. Ugh.

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