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elusivity's review against another edition
3.0
This series is akin to modern version of old-school pulp. Plot, more plot, barely believable twists and turns of plot, heroes and heroines who are amazing fighters, seldom needing to eat or sleep yet always managing to come out triumphant, thrusting themselves into the heart of danger while riding upon waves and waves of luck that always gets them out of desperate trouble. The heroine gets tortured for days, yet seems to survive this ordeal with general health and personality intact. Amazing.
The plot is clever, and the characters are pleasant, with personalities that are unique spin on classic tropes. The goody-two-shoes heroine, the superhuman deadly assassin, the scholar, the dumb jock swordsman, the thief slash wizard.
I am going through this entire series -- 7 books in 7 days. It's an enjoyable ride. Uncomplicated, simplistic, even, and not much aftertaste or savor. Nevertheless, recommended.
The plot is clever, and the characters are pleasant, with personalities that are unique spin on classic tropes. The goody-two-shoes heroine, the superhuman deadly assassin, the scholar, the dumb jock swordsman, the thief slash wizard.
I am going through this entire series -- 7 books in 7 days. It's an enjoyable ride. Uncomplicated, simplistic, even, and not much aftertaste or savor. Nevertheless, recommended.
suflet's review against another edition
5.0
This is a favorite, return-to-multiple-times series. Amaranthe and Sicarius are one of my very favorite couples I've encountered over the years. I love them.
brokenrecord's review against another edition
4.0
This was basically as good as all the other books in the series. My biggest problem was the lack of Sicarius for over half the book. The first half was much more focused on Maldynado instead of Amaranthe, which also didn't help. I mean, it's not like I hated the first half — I liked getting more depth to Maldynado, and seeing more of Yara, and the team dynamics are always a lot of fun. But it was hard to care as much about what they were doing when Amaranthe was being tortured and Sicarius was literally running to rescue her.
Luckily the second half more than made up for the slow-ish first half. We get much more time with Amaranthe's POV in the second half, for one thing, and we get less Maldynado and crew. While I like Yara and Maldynado as characters separately a lot, I just can't get into their romance. It's just not my favorite trope, where you have a guy constantly flirting and annoying with a girl, and the girl pretends like he's a nuisance but secretly she's into him. So I found myself a bit indifferent to them bonding. I did like seeing that Books had figured out what was going on between Amaranthe and Sicarius and telling Maldynado. The amount that none of the rest of the crew understand what Amaranthe and Sicarius are to one another will always be hilarious to me. I also liked the bit about Maldynado's sister and how Amaranthe reminds him of her, and that's why he's always treated her like a sister. Also, everyone teasing Maldynado at all times was a lot of fun, especially about the spelunking comment.
And then there was all the Sicarius/Amaranthe stuff in the second half of the book, which destroyed me.
I also loved him explaining that he had never experienced or understood love before, but that he appreciated that she loved him, and that he would be there for her when she was ready. And that they embraced when he first found her. And the cheek kiss!!! Also in the beginning when he's clearly warring with himself after she's missing about whether to stay with Sespian or go find her, and he ultimately decides to go for her, and then that moment when Amaranthe makes that connection herself, and is like, "Sorry, I know Sespian's your priority," and he's like, "You're both my priorities." I also love how she keeps offering to let him go off and do things because he'll be faster without her, and he's just like, "Nope," every time because there's no way he's letting her out of his sight if he can help it. EVERYTHING in the immediate aftermath of him finding her is so perfect, really — how mad he is about her injuries (and how Amaranthe thinks most of his anger towards Pike is because of his past, but it's so clearly because of what Pike did to her) and that they hug again after Pike's dealt with, and Amaranthe's pride not letting herself agree to be carried but then she passes out and he ends up carrying her anyways DESPITE HAVING JUST RUN THE ENTIRE WAY THERE OVER THE COURSE OF MULTIPLE DAYS WITH ALMOST NO FOOD/WATER. And that he admitted he had considered leaving the team because he felt like him being there made things harder for her but he couldn't walk away from her. IT WAS ALL REALLY GREAT.
And thank god for Sespian FINALLY finding out about Sicarius. My heart broke for Sicarius, and I loved that Amaranthe was there to defend him and try to get through to Sespian. I love that she tells Sicarius she won't give up on trying to redeem him in Sespian's eyes.
Basically this was just another super enjoyable installment of this series!
Luckily the second half more than made up for the slow-ish first half. We get much more time with Amaranthe's POV in the second half, for one thing, and we get less Maldynado and crew. While I like Yara and Maldynado as characters separately a lot, I just can't get into their romance. It's just not my favorite trope, where you have a guy constantly flirting and annoying with a girl, and the girl pretends like he's a nuisance but secretly she's into him. So I found myself a bit indifferent to them bonding. I did like seeing that Books had figured out what was going on between Amaranthe and Sicarius and telling Maldynado. The amount that none of the rest of the crew understand what Amaranthe and Sicarius are to one another will always be hilarious to me. I also liked the bit about Maldynado's sister and how Amaranthe reminds him of her, and that's why he's always treated her like a sister. Also, everyone teasing Maldynado at all times was a lot of fun, especially about the spelunking comment.
And then there was all the Sicarius/Amaranthe stuff in the second half of the book, which destroyed me.
Spoiler
I love how she's so guilty for giving up his secret (even though it wasn't her fault! It's not like she had control over Retta going through her thoughts!) and she's so worried Sicarius will hate her for it, but he just feels guilty in turn that she got captured and that the only reason she's in danger is because of his secrets. And the scenes when they've reunited and are traveling together were everything to me. I loved that when he brought up her and Sespian, she was like stumbling over herself to explain it was nothing, and then he revealed that it just made him realize he wasn't going to let anyone else have her, even his son. The Sespian stuff had not been my favorite up to this point, but I was thrilled that his reaction wasn't "I have to keep my distance from Amaranthe so I don't hurt Sespian," but was instead, "Okay actually I want her, no one else can have her."I also loved him explaining that he had never experienced or understood love before, but that he appreciated that she loved him, and that he would be there for her when she was ready. And that they embraced when he first found her. And the cheek kiss!!! Also in the beginning when he's clearly warring with himself after she's missing about whether to stay with Sespian or go find her, and he ultimately decides to go for her, and then that moment when Amaranthe makes that connection herself, and is like, "Sorry, I know Sespian's your priority," and he's like, "You're both my priorities." I also love how she keeps offering to let him go off and do things because he'll be faster without her, and he's just like, "Nope," every time because there's no way he's letting her out of his sight if he can help it. EVERYTHING in the immediate aftermath of him finding her is so perfect, really — how mad he is about her injuries (and how Amaranthe thinks most of his anger towards Pike is because of his past, but it's so clearly because of what Pike did to her) and that they hug again after Pike's dealt with, and Amaranthe's pride not letting herself agree to be carried but then she passes out and he ends up carrying her anyways DESPITE HAVING JUST RUN THE ENTIRE WAY THERE OVER THE COURSE OF MULTIPLE DAYS WITH ALMOST NO FOOD/WATER. And that he admitted he had considered leaving the team because he felt like him being there made things harder for her but he couldn't walk away from her. IT WAS ALL REALLY GREAT.
And thank god for Sespian FINALLY finding out about Sicarius. My heart broke for Sicarius, and I loved that Amaranthe was there to defend him and try to get through to Sespian. I love that she tells Sicarius she won't give up on trying to redeem him in Sespian's eyes.
Basically this was just another super enjoyable installment of this series!
miloulou's review against another edition
4.0
So, out of all the novels up until this point, this one is my favourite. And that is because, after four long books (that were all great, but well lacking in the romance department for me), this one delivers!
Amaranthe and Sicarius definitely have their moment, though it comes after a horrifying experience. I'm not sure I liked the way her reaction to the experience was handled, but that would be my only complaint.
Spoiler
We're finally introduced to Forge's leaders, at least in part, and there's really a good suspense in how everything is really going to explode now. And not just in the usual ones to escape and/or kill some monsters.Maldynado as well, well I wish wish wish we got more detail about his history. The author only gave hints of depth from him, and it's hard for me to believe that what we got was all there was to him. I don't believe that someone with the strength to walk away from their wealthy family, to work for someone who isn't warrior caste when Maldynado has every reason to be just another arrogant jerk, would only have the one catalytic event in his past, and now be focused on clothes. There's definitely more to his story, but well, this is what we got. And I guess that's what makes this story less than perfect for me.
twoflower77's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
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
5.0
The ultimate hidden gem
pickledpuck's review against another edition
3.0
Something was definitely missing here. Amaranthe's torture sessions with Pike were a bit too distant (I'm pretty used to being in the front seat with scenes like this, so pretty much anything until the description of a blade scraping against bone being audible is not going to shock me, I think). That's my main complaint by the way. Amaranthe gets over her supposed one week of torture in the hands of a supposedly master interrogator with definite sadistic tendencies in the span of another week. I know for a fact that trauma does not fade away that fast (although the scenes depicting her as too jumpy were somewhat satisfying, it wasn't good enough).
The scene when Amaranthe talks to Sespian about his heritage, and the subsequent reactions were perfect though. I felt like Amaranthe hit all the right spots. If not for her being a mercenary, and the setting's discrimination against women, then I think she could've achieved her place in Turgonian's history as the smoothest best damn diplomat ever to have existed, capable of talking down the most successful and feared assassin in the world (hmm, that might be a good spin-off, methinks).
Anyways, this book had a lot of Maldynado in it, so the only thing that kept me going was the fact that I knew Sicarius was going to eventually find Amaranthe, and knowing the author, would make the subsequent reunion scenes as fangirl-able as possible. Which it was. (**********>\€\!\€\£\£\£]!!!!!)
Am curious how the author would take Sespian and Sicarius's relationship.
On to the next book!
(I really should be slowing down with the reading thing.)
The scene when Amaranthe talks to Sespian about his heritage, and the subsequent reactions were perfect though. I felt like Amaranthe hit all the right spots. If not for her being a mercenary, and the setting's discrimination against women, then I think she could've achieved her place in Turgonian's history as the smoothest best damn diplomat ever to have existed, capable of talking down the most successful and feared assassin in the world (hmm, that might be a good spin-off, methinks).
Anyways, this book had a lot of Maldynado in it, so the only thing that kept me going was the fact that I knew Sicarius was going to eventually find Amaranthe, and knowing the author, would make the subsequent reunion scenes as fangirl-able as possible. Which it was. (**********>\€\!\€\£\£\£]!!!!!)
Am curious how the author would take Sespian and Sicarius's relationship.
On to the next book!
(I really should be slowing down with the reading thing.)
loonytoons's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
lighthearted
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.75
digerbop's review against another edition
2.0
Flat characters. Predictable plot. Same old. Same old. Also, the "action" scenes are very slow and wordy.
talknerdybookblog's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Representation: Supporting character is unable to speak and uses sign language
Mature Themes:
• Sex discussed
• Sexual content doesn't surpass kissing
• Swearing
• Alcohol consumption
Possible Triggers: Yes
• Torture
• Discussion of past r@pe of supporting character
• Gun violence
• Knife violence
• Attempted murder
• Murder
• Abduction
• Imprisonment
Ending:HFN
Mature Themes:
• Sex discussed
• Sexual content doesn't surpass kissing
• Swearing
• Alcohol consumption
Possible Triggers: Yes
• Torture
• Discussion of past r@pe of supporting character
• Gun violence
• Knife violence
• Attempted murder
• Murder
• Abduction
• Imprisonment
Ending: