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vj_thompson's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Solid start to the series. The writing is BEAUTIFUL and magical. The beginning scene about the bell being described with humanistic concerns is a good example. The ending was a lot to process. Wow wow wow.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Grief, and Murder
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Confinement, Torture, and Alcohol
britwalsh16's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Wait… that’s it? My exact thought when I finished this book. Usually I’m keeping track of & keep looking at the time I have left in a book when I’m on my kindle. But this book… it got to a point where I just forgot to look… and when I turned the last page I was like wait what?
I love me a morally grey villain, but jacks is something else, & I am here for it! Marisol annoys me, but Evangeline is *chefs kiss*, just amazing! I can’t believe it took me this long to read this book! But also I’m glad cause I won’t have to wait long to read the 3rd book. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to start the 2nd book now. 😁
I love me a morally grey villain, but jacks is something else, & I am here for it! Marisol annoys me, but Evangeline is *chefs kiss*, just amazing! I can’t believe it took me this long to read this book! But also I’m glad cause I won’t have to wait long to read the 3rd book. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to start the 2nd book now. 😁
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Torture and Gaslighting
Minor: Confinement and Stalking
skokalis's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
tense
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
5.0
This book is not for those who like relaxed plots, it felt like every page I turned something was waiting that would change everything. Filled with surprising plot twists, interesting girls and hot/attractive men! The scenes where Evangeline is alone with Fates and her lovers left me absolutely dying in awe! But it gets a bit descriptive/intense so I wouldn't read it if you can't handle "spicy" scenes. I loved how you can never guess what will happen next, I couldn't put this book down. Plus the cliffhangers this book leaves you on left me scrambling to get my hands on the next book in the series "The Ballad of Never After" Stephanie Garber really did an amazing job when writing these.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Torture, Violence, and Blood
Moderate: Death, Torture, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Murder, and Toxic friendship
Minor: Cursing
shannonvonpesach's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
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
I love this book! I understand the hype so much more!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood and Murder
Moderate: Toxic relationship and Toxic friendship
plsnotanotherdamselindistress's review against another edition
mysterious
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I am intrigued by the storyline and am considering reading the next book to see if I was right regarding my assumptions...BUT...I did feel like the characters lacked depth...
because even though the fMC is constantly described as a romantic and why she is that way she seems rather emotionless at times which may be because of the third person narrator who can make it hard to relate or feel with the MC...
on the topic of the third person narrator...
If this narrator has to be the choice don't give your fMC a name like Evangeline, beautiful name, but the min. 3 times per pages she is referred to as Evangeline absolutely destroys the reading flow. At least give her a nickname...honestly if the fMC would be referred to as Eve/Eva for at least half if the time it would cut down the number of pages to probably 350.
It also honestly felt like this book was only an introduction as we don't get much worldbuilding or explanations regarding anything geographical, political or societal in this fantasy world but for it simply being an introduction to the characters it lacks the deeply getting to know the characters.
Also what was that plottwist at the end? It felt completely forced the way it was constructed (there really were ways to make it not as frustrating or frustrating in a good way as in I want to continue reading)
What I did like:
- morally grey and imperfect(thus maybe less relatable) MCs
- a nice slowburn
because even though the fMC is constantly described as a romantic and why she is that way she seems rather emotionless at times which may be because of the third person narrator who can make it hard to relate or feel with the MC...
on the topic of the third person narrator...
If this narrator has to be the choice don't give your fMC a name like Evangeline, beautiful name, but the min. 3 times per pages she is referred to as Evangeline absolutely destroys the reading flow. At least give her a nickname...honestly if the fMC would be referred to as Eve/Eva for at least half if the time it would cut down the number of pages to probably 350.
It also honestly felt like this book was only an introduction as we don't get much worldbuilding or explanations regarding anything geographical, political or societal in this fantasy world but for it simply being an introduction to the characters it lacks the deeply getting to know the characters.
What I did like:
- morally grey and imperfect(thus maybe less relatable) MCs
- a nice slowburn
Content Warnings
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, and Death of parent
Minor: Sexual harassment
c_l_ara's review against another edition
adventurous
hopeful
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, and Murder
Minor: Death of parent and Injury/Injury detail
m4rtt4's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
lighthearted
mysterious
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? No
3.0
The beginning was promising, but then the story felt dragging, and all of a sudden there was this action-packed ending where too much happened yet it felt too convenient as most of the loose ends were given a little too perfect resolution. I really liked the world and its vibes, but I wish the story didn't read so much like a childrens' book — I do know that this is YA, it's not supposed to be as 'serious' as 'adult' books, but most of the YA I've read hasn't felt like this, even the first Harry Potter was way better in that sense and it's supposed to be for literal children.
I never understood why Evangeline was so deeply in love with Luc, their (past) relationship wasn't explained nearly as much as it should have. Also the 'unnecessary' guys (others than Jacks) were taken care of a little too conveniently — I mean, could you maybe have resolved the unspoken relationship issues by some other way than killing off Apollo and making Luc become a vampire? Yes, you don't have to think about a guy if he's a literal monster or doesn't exist anymore, but having them discuss things deeply with Evangeline would have helped this book reach the (emotional) maturity it so desperately needed.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, and Gaslighting
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Violence, and Murder
moanareads's review against another edition
adventurous
hopeful
mysterious
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: Death, Toxic relationship, and Blood
Moderate: Body shaming, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Torture, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail
bectothebooks's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
relaxing
fast-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? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Toxic relationship, Blood, Grief, and Murder
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Violence, Death of parent, and Gaslighting
Minor: Confinement and Injury/Injury detail
caprisun44444's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
inspiring
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? Yes
3.5
If you have read the caraval series and loved it this book is especially in the behinning just amazing. The characters that show up and the storys you know from carval made me so excited.
Since i got to knew jacks in carval i really couldn’t stop thinking about him. Like how can a character be portrayed so briliant . I was switching from he’s extremely attractive to what a toxic mf how did we fall for him again. And thats whats so brilliant. Stephanie garber can manage to fully protray how it feels to have a manipilative/toxic person beside you. And i haven’t even read the second book (the ballad of never after) so i don’t know if he really is toxic or a good one after all. Never the less i really enjoyed reading this book and i’m m so excited to see how the story continues.
Since i got to knew jacks in carval i really couldn’t stop thinking about him. Like how can a character be portrayed so briliant . I was switching from he’s extremely attractive to what a toxic mf how did we fall for him again. And thats whats so brilliant. Stephanie garber can manage to fully protray how it feels to have a manipilative/toxic person beside you. And i haven’t even read the second book (the ballad of never after) so i don’t know if he really is toxic or a good one after all. Never the less i really enjoyed reading this book and i’m m so excited to see how the story continues.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Toxic relationship and Toxic friendship