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alaina_fireheart's review
5.0
One word : MAGNIFICENT ✨
I never thought I could be as enthralled by another series as I am by TOG. And yet…
This book is EVERYTHING I love, cherish and would die for in fantasy 🥹
My mind has been blown 💥
My heart has been shattered, mended and shattered again 💔❤️
My soul has been filled with magic ✨
I am enraptured 🔥
I am addicted 🫠
I am lost to the real world as long as needed to finish this series 🌄
There’s so much more I want to write but my heart is bursting with awe and I cannot get over myself
I never thought I could be as enthralled by another series as I am by TOG. And yet…
This book is EVERYTHING I love, cherish and would die for in fantasy 🥹
My mind has been blown 💥
My heart has been shattered, mended and shattered again 💔❤️
My soul has been filled with magic ✨
I am enraptured 🔥
I am addicted 🫠
I am lost to the real world as long as needed to finish this series 🌄
There’s so much more I want to write but my heart is bursting with awe and I cannot get over myself
single_star101's review
Soft DNF - I am a mood reader and got one chapter in and it was just not doing it for me. I'll try again later.
littlegirlbigbook's review against another edition
4.0
4.5⭐️ I have so much love for this book. Wow. Pleasantly surprised by this. It started a bit info heavy but once it picked up it was amazing. Second to acotar. Well written, good story, great characters. I love Sorin and Scarlette so much. Cassius is amazing. Honestly such a great book and story and I am so excited to keep reading. The slow burn is gonna be delicious.
mdizzy's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
A list of gripes about this book:
1) It's too long
2) "gods damned"
3) Secrets secrets secrets
4) Inconsistent characterization
5) FMC is 19
6) All men in the book are in love with her
7) He didn't lie to her.
I was interested in the beginning, but it went downhill fast. How can a book this long have barely told any story? Why are there 4 more books? The first 50% of the book can barely be called exposition. The only reason the book is so long is because everyone is keeping secrets from everyone. There's a difference between being mysterious/drip feeding us exposition and being frustratingly opaque with the characters talking in circles for 18 hours. We get it, they don't trust each other. But they have to start building trust and I don't have weeks to wait for them to do it in real time.
My irritation at her age makes me think I may have outgrown young adult non-fiction, but then I remember there are plenty of books I have read where the main character is even younger than 19 where I have liked the character and the story. In addition, as far as I can tell, this book is not marketed as young adult fiction. To be honest, I don't think the problem is me. I read somewhere that young adult characters are starting from a place where they need to grow and learn about the world and mature. There was none of that in all 18 hours of this book and I think that is what is so frustrating. Scarlett thinks she's in a cage, fine. She has no desire to leave the cage, though. It feels like all she wants to do is rage about being in a cage. It's an immaturity that isn't unexpected in such a young character, but I would expect to see some growth in this over the course of the book.
And also why are all of the men in the book in love with her? She's so inconsistent as a character. I understand that characters can contain multitudes. However, she flips from hot to cold to sexy to catatonic at a disorienting pace. I think a lot of this goes back to immaturity and not knowing who she is. Progress, especially in maturity, is not linear, but a character that is going to grow reflects on her emotions, reactions, and behaviors and tries to learn from them. There was none of this in Scarlett. I think this is part of the reason that her age is such a sticking point for me. The plot points are certainly enough to overwhelm a mature adult with trying to find her identity, the trauma of her past, the new challenges presented by the book. I think the story really would have benefited from her being in her mid to late 20s. It would have certainly made a stronger base for her knowing who she is, while still giving her the room to be immature and have doubts about her identity.Especially given that one of the plot points is to completely upend her sense of who she is.
There are a lot of other inconsistencies with the story telling that also take me out of the story. Scarlett disassociates instead of dealing with her emotions, but this somehow makes her alternately super powerful and yet also makes her useless. She told Sorin that she didn't want to hear about her own background or her magic, she would rather hear about Cassias, but then goes catatonic over the fact that "he lied to her" because he didn't tell her what he knew about her. I understand that lying by omission is still lying, but that isn't what happened here. He didn't tell her what he knew because she either didn't want to hear it or it wasn't the time. I suppose he could have forced her to hear it, but she becomes unreasonable at the slightest provocation. She would rather cry about him lying than ask him to tell the truth, once and for all.He did lie about being the Fire Prince, but that's the only actual time he's lied and also the only time she reacted in proportion to the lies. She is also extremely opposed to the idea that she's fey or could have magic, but this is inconsistent with the idea that "they all knew there was something special or different about them" which is presented when she barely bats an eye at Nuri being a night child or Cassius being a witch.
The plot is background to the character interactions, but I marked this as driven by the plot because that is the only thing that keeps the story inching forward. The frustrating thing is that while there is no plot, there is character development. However, the second there is plot, progress in the character development area is abandoned/regresses.
Scarlett is a character with an immense load of trauma. I am fortunate enough to have not experienced the kind of trauma she has, but perhaps that has led to me not being able to understand her character. Perhaps the way she is characterized is very accurate to the way a person with her trauma would react in these situations and I am simply insensitive. Either way, I am tentatively interested in reading the next installment, but I think it is highly likely that I will DNF because I think Scarlett just might not be my cup of tea (which is a shame because I'm intrigued by the world from the glimpses we have gotten so far).
And now some silly complaints:
- I also hate the use of "gods damned." I know there are multiple gods in this world, just say "damned." We could probably cut 100 words and at least half an hour out of the 18 hour book if they just said "damn" or "f*ck" honestly.
- They say she has such a potty mouth, but show me, don't tell me
- For being an assassin, she didn't actually kill anyone in this book. We're told how dark she is, but all she really did was be a good fighter, talk a big game, and lightly manipulate a couple of people
1/5 spice level - just a couple of low level makeout sessions here and there.
1) It's too long
2) "gods damned"
3) Secrets secrets secrets
4) Inconsistent characterization
5) FMC is 19
6) All men in the book are in love with her
7) He didn't lie to her.
I was interested in the beginning, but it went downhill fast. How can a book this long have barely told any story? Why are there 4 more books? The first 50% of the book can barely be called exposition. The only reason the book is so long is because everyone is keeping secrets from everyone. There's a difference between being mysterious/drip feeding us exposition and being frustratingly opaque with the characters talking in circles for 18 hours. We get it, they don't trust each other. But they have to start building trust and I don't have weeks to wait for them to do it in real time.
My irritation at her age makes me think I may have outgrown young adult non-fiction, but then I remember there are plenty of books I have read where the main character is even younger than 19 where I have liked the character and the story. In addition, as far as I can tell, this book is not marketed as young adult fiction. To be honest, I don't think the problem is me. I read somewhere that young adult characters are starting from a place where they need to grow and learn about the world and mature. There was none of that in all 18 hours of this book and I think that is what is so frustrating. Scarlett thinks she's in a cage, fine. She has no desire to leave the cage, though. It feels like all she wants to do is rage about being in a cage. It's an immaturity that isn't unexpected in such a young character, but I would expect to see some growth in this over the course of the book.
And also why are all of the men in the book in love with her? She's so inconsistent as a character. I understand that characters can contain multitudes. However, she flips from hot to cold to sexy to catatonic at a disorienting pace. I think a lot of this goes back to immaturity and not knowing who she is. Progress, especially in maturity, is not linear, but a character that is going to grow reflects on her emotions, reactions, and behaviors and tries to learn from them. There was none of this in Scarlett. I think this is part of the reason that her age is such a sticking point for me. The plot points are certainly enough to overwhelm a mature adult with trying to find her identity, the trauma of her past, the new challenges presented by the book. I think the story really would have benefited from her being in her mid to late 20s. It would have certainly made a stronger base for her knowing who she is, while still giving her the room to be immature and have doubts about her identity.
There are a lot of other inconsistencies with the story telling that also take me out of the story. Scarlett disassociates instead of dealing with her emotions, but this somehow makes her alternately super powerful and yet also makes her useless. She told Sorin that she didn't want to hear about her own background or her magic, she would rather hear about Cassias, but then goes catatonic over the fact that "he lied to her" because he didn't tell her what he knew about her. I understand that lying by omission is still lying, but that isn't what happened here. He didn't tell her what he knew because she either didn't want to hear it or it wasn't the time. I suppose he could have forced her to hear it, but she becomes unreasonable at the slightest provocation. She would rather cry about him lying than ask him to tell the truth, once and for all.
The plot is background to the character interactions, but I marked this as driven by the plot because that is the only thing that keeps the story inching forward. The frustrating thing is that while there is no plot, there is character development. However, the second there is plot, progress in the character development area is abandoned/regresses.
Scarlett is a character with an immense load of trauma. I am fortunate enough to have not experienced the kind of trauma she has, but perhaps that has led to me not being able to understand her character. Perhaps the way she is characterized is very accurate to the way a person with her trauma would react in these situations and I am simply insensitive. Either way, I am tentatively interested in reading the next installment, but I think it is highly likely that I will DNF because I think Scarlett just might not be my cup of tea (which is a shame because I'm intrigued by the world from the glimpses we have gotten so far).
And now some silly complaints:
- I also hate the use of "gods damned." I know there are multiple gods in this world, just say "damned." We could probably cut 100 words and at least half an hour out of the 18 hour book if they just said "damn" or "f*ck" honestly.
- They say she has such a potty mouth, but show me, don't tell me
- For being an assassin, she didn't actually kill anyone in this book. We're told how dark she is, but all she really did was be a good fighter, talk a big game, and lightly manipulate a couple of people
1/5 spice level - just a couple of low level makeout sessions here and there.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Torture, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Trafficking, and Sexual harassment
alaina28's review
adventurous
funny
tense
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
3.75
anaiesesabine's review against another edition
5.0
Honestly this book was fantastic! Kept me engaged the whole time and all the twists and turns! Some of them I guessed right away but the author had a way of keeping you hooked!!! New book boyfriend unlocked!
kreated_kaos's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
stxphdj's review
4.0
Does this book have a lot of similarities to ACOTAR? Yes. Is the main character act like her two brain cells don’t like her? Absolutely. Am I hooked, even still? You bet.
caffeinatedromancereader's review against another edition
4.5
This series is so good! It's full of mystery and action! Scarlett is an assassin with her sisters and finds answers to her one question, but it just continues to bring up more questions. Fae princess, queens, high witch, and sorceress. Everything is so exciting and has me on my toes! 😅 At the end of book 3, Scarlett is someone else and I can't wait to see what havoc she brings!