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hsecen's review against another edition
3.5
This was a solid start to the series. I got lots of found family vibes that I really hope hold over to the next books, and following the politics, hierarchies, how magic works was easy enough. The pacing sometimes felt off to me, but maybe that was the actual pacing of the audio narrator speaking? And also there were a few quesrionable moments from the characters, where I thought is now really the time for this? But the ending I honestly didn’t see that coming so I’m intrigued enough to find out more in the next book!
rochell21's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.0
taylasfootnotes's review against another edition
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
abbys_10's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
taylorlk19's review against another edition
adventurous
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? It's complicated
3.0
smuttea_matcha's review against another edition
5.0
Really pleasantly surprised with how much I enjoyed this book. I loved Cas even when you want to bang your head and say no, why would you do that? She's impulsive with a big heart, but she's fierce and skilled enough to back it up. I enjoyed the mystery around Varen and Elander and enjoyed even more that it didn't devolve into a triangle. The myths of their world are interesting, but not developed enough. We don't really know much about their gods and goddesses other than what their powers are and what they symbolize. I'd like to see that fleshed out more in book 2. The romance between Elander and Cas was paced well and I'm excited to see what else we uncover about Cas's past.
eli_sa's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
tense
fast-paced
4.0
I can't explain what happend in this book but I loved it
amandareads23's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
3.75
cat_m's review against another edition
adventurous
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
3.0
“Luck was a lesser-spirit that only the lazy and the foolish prayed to.”
The beginning was very mysterious and atmospheric start, we follow Casia that was hired to discover what the emperor’s army is doing close to a gate surrounded by myst, until she gets in trouble and is forced to work for the king.
There are gods, and characters with magic inherited from gods, and a sickness spreading through the realm and getting more fatal. Casia is one of the infected, hidden and persecuted by the Emperor since a little child.
It was a fast read for me, I was hooked to the meeting and interactions with Elander
“You’re much nicer after you’ve had a near-death experience. You should almost die more often.”
Casia also deals a lot with anxiety attacks. It was nice to see it explained on page instead of told she was having anxiety
“Okay. Well, I guess it’s like…everything feels so weighted, suddenly. It feels like every breath, every inch I try to move might end in disaster and so I just…I can hardly breathe. I can hardly move. And I can’t make it go away. I can’t turn it off, can’t lift that weight from my chest, my lungs…my entire body is encased in that heaviness.”
The plot was left a bit on the background, slow moving, and there’s a big revelation at the end that I did not see coming!
There’s kind of a found family - with a really adorable fox! - but its not much explored and the characters feel very shallow, in the background.
As mentioned there were a lot of gods, upper gods, middle gods and lesser spirits, mentioned in passing that made me feel overwhelmed and the hierarchy is never really explained.
We got a brief appearance of a dragon from another realm!! I am a simple girl, I will read the next book if we get more dragons :D