Scan barcode
yarisbooksandbevs's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
lighthearted
sad
medium-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
I love this book and these characters so much. The communication between our main characters is so good. The banter is amazing. World building is woven in so well into the story. The ending is shocking and the story is just so great!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Fire/Fire injury, Body horror, Blood, Gore, Murder, Sexual content, Panic attacks/disorders, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Grief, Cursing, and Violence
Moderate: Emotional abuse, War, Gaslighting, Vomit, and Confinement
Minor: Kidnapping
linhsreadinghour's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
tense
medium-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
4.0
I love this series so much!!! This is a reread and everything came flooding back. I do think it takes a little time to get into the book because it’s urban fantasy, with modern lingo and Dianna as an FMC may put people off but I bloody love her. She’s so morally grey and villainous but deep inside, there are feelings and characteristics that add to the complexity of her character. It’s also refreshing to see new creatures. Deffo try and keep going. Love the romance and relationship so much, the slow burn is so satisfying 😭😭😭 My fav romantasy series still stands, book 2 is where it’s at tho, so I cannot wait.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Emotional abuse, Grief, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, and War
Moderate: Fire/Fire injury
elgef's review
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence
Moderate: Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Stalking, Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, Kidnapping, Gore, and Physical abuse
gabi_715's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence and Blood
Moderate: Grief, War, Kidnapping, Death, and Panic attacks/disorders
nloprest6318's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
fast-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? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Torture
Moderate: Blood, Sexual content, Death, Murder, Emotional abuse, and Violence
Minor: Panic attacks/disorders
jen_sten's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gun violence, Murder, Mental illness, Emotional abuse, Gore, Torture, Sexual content, Blood, Death of parent, Panic attacks/disorders, War, Violence, and Death
stephaniemcuervo's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
medium-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
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Toxic relationship, Torture, Sexual content, Death, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, War, Violence, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Kidnapping, and Murder
Moderate: Car accident, Confinement, Death of parent, and Panic attacks/disorders
haleyc00k's review
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
tense
slow-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, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Body horror, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, and Sexual content
steffandbooks's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-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
4.5
Amber, what have you done 😭 THE ENDING!! I can’t 😭😭 when is book two coming out?
I can’t even imagine how this story is supposed to entail five books overall, Dianna and Liam already went through so much in this book, what else are they supposed to endure? I can’t, I literally can’t…
I love how Liam is such a big teddybear and open with his feelings and so on and I really liked how he and Dianna went from enemies to more. They were literally enemies in the beginning. Both are not heroes in this story. Both already committed atrocities to save those they loved. I liked how Amber was portraying them as not being “good” guys.
The story and world as such is really complex, which took me a moment to get into, but I like reading a book where not everything is explained in the beginning. Gives me that tense feeling, you know.
I need more of Dianna and Liam, like right now.
Please don’t keep them apart for long in the second book, okay.
I can’t even imagine how this story is supposed to entail five books overall, Dianna and Liam already went through so much in this book, what else are they supposed to endure? I can’t, I literally can’t…
I love how Liam is such a big teddybear and open with his feelings and so on and I really liked how he and Dianna went from enemies to more. They were literally enemies in the beginning. Both are not heroes in this story. Both already committed atrocities to save those they loved. I liked how Amber was portraying them as not being “good” guys.
The story and world as such is really complex, which took me a moment to get into, but I like reading a book where not everything is explained in the beginning. Gives me that tense feeling, you know.
I need more of Dianna and Liam, like right now.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Sexual content, Emotional abuse, Violence, Death, Blood, and Torture
Moderate: Genocide, War, Injury/Injury detail, Confinement, Panic attacks/disorders, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Death of parent
ambenicole418's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I’d given Vincent the title because, out of all the members of the Hand, I’d known he wanted it. It was one of many reasons I’d selected him, another being that I did not want it.
Now I don’t know if I just got a bad copy or if all the books are like this, but I paid $33 for a hardcover edition of this book from Barnes & Noble, and the printing and editing of this book was just TERRIBLE. Some of the larger font words was very pixelated (especially on the title page in the book), the map of the world was off center with the page and half of it was missing in between the binding, and the grammar was horrendous at times. I’m not usually one to gripe about grammar, as long as it doesn’t happen often and it’s minor mistakes that my brain can easily fill in I’m good. But there was a handful of times where the grammar was so bad that I almost had a stroke just trying to guess what the author was trying to say. Overall, this book read like the test copy of the first draft and for that reason I’ll probably be returning it. I just can’t justify paying that high a price for a book that heavily needs another round of editing and printing.
Plot
I really wanted to like this book, but I almost DNF’d it a few times. Almost the entire first half of this book is just world building, and the way it’s written is very monotone and info dumpy. And the constant long and drawn out flashbacks in Liam’s chapters in the first half of the book was getting on my nerves. When it came to Liam’s POV chapters about half the pages in each of his chapters were flashbacks, and most of them were way longer than necessary. It got to a point where I was wondering if the author would’ve just been better off writing a prequel novel or at least a prologue about the gods and the God’s War. The plot of the book doesn’t actually take off until ~200 pages in where we finally get to see Liam and Diana’s dynamic and see them go on this road trip to find the book. And once the plot finally kicked off I did get really invested in the story, specifically I was invested in Liam and Diana’s dynamic and budding romance. One of my gripes with the book is that the side characters just weren’t interesting. The only side character I cared about was Gabby, and it wasn’t even that I cared about her I was just concerned for her safety cause of how much she meant to Diana. I also hated how under developed Kaden was as a villain. He’s about to be responsible for the end of the world and yet he still didn’t feel like a threat to me, mostly because we’re told virtually nothing about him and his motivations. He didn’t feel like this world ending, evil villainous threat. He just felt like a narcissistic, abusive, asshole. I just wish the author actually took the time to develop him and make him feel like he actually is the all powerful threat that we’re supposed too just believe he is because Diana said so. Also why is it that every time Diana is frustrated or annoyed (which is like all the time) it is always prefaced by “She threw her hands up in the air”. It’s almost as if the author doesn’t know any other way to physically show that a woman is upset. Which is odd considering the author is a woman. I swear that line was repeated almost as often as the phrase “My inner goddess” was used in Fifty Shades lol.
Final Thoughts
Overall, this book wasn’t bad. After another round of editing and printing, I could see myself maybe bumping this book up a star. I also think that this series has a lot of potential, especially with the way it ended. My only concern is that the author failed to make me care about anything besides the romance between Liam and Diana, and considering the ending I imagine they’re gonna be apart or at odds with each other for most of the sequel. So I’m afraid there isn’t going to be much that holds my interest in book two, especially if Kaden and the side characters remain bland and uninteresting.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Torture, Violence, Death, Emotional abuse, Grief, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Kidnapping, and Body horror
Minor: Death of parent