Reviews

This was really interesting. I do think my main issue with this is that I didn’t love the writing and it made it a bit difficult for me to really get into the story and the characters. I did enjoy this a lot though. I think the concept was very unique and I liked the little element of romance that was in this too

erintempleton's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious tense fast-paced

Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.5

three words i would use to describe this book, in no particular order: trauma, tension, and soup. there is an abundance of all three, which i will discuss below.

Trauma - these characters, especially our dear sweet Remington, have massive amounts of unresolved trauma, and it was a rollercoaster ride the whole time, albeit a pretty carefully realistic one. it never felt like Remy's experiences were shallow or trivial, and i really appreciated the way that Zidan and Xiaodan help him unlearn some of the harmful messages he was taught from childhood. A++ for that.

Tension - i mean this not only as sexual tension but also just plain suspense and court intrigue. there is so much to be drawn in by, and the narration really hooked me from the beginning. i'm a huge sucker for an outsider MC who uses humor as a coping mechanism, as it always lends itself to learning about the 'inside' world in non-obvious/cheesy ways. With the introduction of Zidan and Xiaodan, Remy's whole outsider bit gets flipped on its head, and it was really enjoyable to watch him struggle with that intimacy by fighting it the whole time.
the sexual tension was GREAT too, i just wish that their first time together would have been different:/ the way it was all wrapped up in

Remy's immediate need for healing and the weird connection between ingesting vampire blood, healing, and horniness

kinda spoiled the momentum for me. Just left a weird taste in my mouth, that's all, especially considering Remy's understandable wariness with manipulation and sex.

Soup - this might seem odd, but i noticed that 'soup-like' was an unusually common description here. in chapter six, specifically, it's used like three times in the span of ten or so pages?? so i just kept tracking it, and it came up a couple other times too. idk, it just struck me as a weird thing to say about fog or a dead monster. maybe Remy just really likes soup.

Ultimately, i'm giving this a 3.5 rating. It was really well done and exciting, but i don't think i'll read it again, as it was (imo) a bit too painful at times to read Remy's inner monologue about not being worthy of love. fans of Gideon the Ninth would probably really love this book, if that helps, and i would recommend it to anyone who can get on board with the content warnings! there are a lot of them, or there should be, so just be aware.

Content Warnings

tenshiwing07's review against another edition

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adventurous dark fast-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? No

4.75

inezs's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

4.5

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