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3.79 AVERAGE
3.79 AVERAGE
When I tell you I cried at the end… J.Bree was able to create a sequel just as riveting as the first book in the series. While there’s a few moments the exposition sometimes gets confusing to follow, the character development and plot lines weave like a beautiful web. I thought Soren would be near impossible to redeem but man she did a beautiful job building him into my good graces. THE ENDING THOUGH. Flabbergasted is the word. And now we’re gonna wait another year or so for the third book
adventurous
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:
Complicated
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
sad
tense
medium-paced
adventurous
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:
Yes
adventurous
dark
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
i’ve been looking forward to this book for over a year, and would ultimately very patiently have waited another 6 months for this to be improved. by the end i was cringing at the typos, slow pacing, incoherent switches from first person to third person pov, and murky action scenes.
j bree, you have a lot of potential with this series, but - and i’m going to touch your hand while i say this - you really need an editing team (and a better marketing team, but i won’t get into that here…)
overall: 2.5/5 ⭐️
character development: 3 ⭐️
plot: 2.5 ⭐️
writing: 2 ⭐️
what worked: … very little. the world building is intricate, if a little confusing at times; the affection between some characters is clear; the motivations of most are also clear. i couldn’t love gage and gideon more if i tried, cerson was a pleasant - if underutilized - surprise, and airlie remained a delight.
what didn’t work: just about every thing else.
• although i found much of soren’s development largely believable, the fact that so MUCH of it was internal was hard to bear. his frustration with others of his court for not coming on board was equally frustrating to me, aware as i was that he had never opened his mouth to explain any of this.
• the lack of groveling by soren was inexcusable and i am not over it.
• rookie remained the best part of this book, even though i think she was too soft on soren. i’ll allow that, though, given her obviously crippling ptsd and subsequent determination to fulfill her fate.
• the plot twist at the end could have been so much better if there was even 20% more foreshadowing. i guessed it - purely out of luck - and i’m still pissed about it.
• my biggest gripe remains the focus on internal monologues and infrequent dialogue. it makes this book a slog to get through, and so much of the development becomes incoherent because it’s never communicated anywhere else.
• soren remains unbearable. i found myself wincing at each chapter of his in the middle, and although he improves towards the end, it’s hard to tell, because the last scenes are nearly incoherent.
overall, this could easily be a 5 star book for me. it has all the makings of a great fantasy book (notably not a romantasy) but falls short in ways i strongly suspect could be solved with a keener editor and more savvy team behind Bree. will i read the next one? yes, if it’s on kindle unlimited. will i pay for it, or hold my breath for it? … no.
j bree, you have a lot of potential with this series, but - and i’m going to touch your hand while i say this - you really need an editing team (and a better marketing team, but i won’t get into that here…)
overall: 2.5/5 ⭐️
character development: 3 ⭐️
plot: 2.5 ⭐️
writing: 2 ⭐️
what worked: … very little. the world building is intricate, if a little confusing at times; the affection between some characters is clear; the motivations of most are also clear. i couldn’t love gage and gideon more if i tried, cerson was a pleasant - if underutilized - surprise, and airlie remained a delight.
what didn’t work: just about every thing else.
• although i found much of soren’s development largely believable, the fact that so MUCH of it was internal was hard to bear. his frustration with others of his court for not coming on board was equally frustrating to me, aware as i was that he had never opened his mouth to explain any of this.
• the lack of groveling by soren was inexcusable and i am not over it.
• rookie remained the best part of this book, even though i think she was too soft on soren. i’ll allow that, though, given her obviously crippling ptsd and subsequent determination to fulfill her fate.
• the plot twist at the end could have been so much better if there was even 20% more foreshadowing. i guessed it - purely out of luck - and i’m still pissed about it.
• my biggest gripe remains the focus on internal monologues and infrequent dialogue. it makes this book a slog to get through, and so much of the development becomes incoherent because it’s never communicated anywhere else.
• soren remains unbearable. i found myself wincing at each chapter of his in the middle, and although he improves towards the end, it’s hard to tell, because the last scenes are nearly incoherent.
overall, this could easily be a 5 star book for me. it has all the makings of a great fantasy book (notably not a romantasy) but falls short in ways i strongly suspect could be solved with a keener editor and more savvy team behind Bree. will i read the next one? yes, if it’s on kindle unlimited. will i pay for it, or hold my breath for it? … no.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I love the story and the characters but did not like Soren. The reasons for my rating is:
- Soren should have BEGGED and pleaded for Rooke’s forgiveness. I HATED how he treated Rooke in the first book to the point where I did not want them together. In fact, throughout this book, I couldn’t accept their relationship until the last 10%. he was vile to her in the first book and even then, I still didn’t like their relationship
- I don’t really care much about the errors found in the writing but they are worth noting.
- Soren should have BEGGED and pleaded for Rooke’s forgiveness. I HATED how he treated Rooke in the first book to the point where I did not want them together. In fact, throughout this book, I couldn’t accept their relationship until the last 10%. he was vile to her in the first book and even then, I still didn’t like their relationship
- I don’t really care much about the errors found in the writing but they are worth noting.
i LOVED the first book in this series so much so this one was major disappointing. soooo many errors in the book it was annoying. the plot was a bunch of just nothing?? like until the last 50 pages it was just slow and not much happening. also felt like Soren did nothing to win her trust or love and suddenly they’re fucking? idk i didn’t like it
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
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:
Complicated