Reviews

Blood of Desiderium by Ali Stuebbe

floofymoosereads's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This is the first book in the The Divide Duology, a dark new adult romantic fantasy duology. Tropes include shadow daddy, found family, hidden powers, who did this to you, good girl praise and sassy FMC. This book does include adult spicy content and dark themes so please check content warnings. 

The Lovely: I loved the characters, both main and side. I love the FMC’s fight for her freedom and how she pushes back against those who control her. It’s not until a bit into the book that we know who the MMC really is and even then there’s a twist in regards to him, which I loved. Like, I legit squealed. I love the adventure the characters go on in the second half of the book And how the FMC reacts to having a taste of that freedom she craves. The romance is kind of a slowburn at first but once it heats up, it’s 🥵🥵. 

The Mundane: It did take me a while to get into the book - it wasn’t until about the halfway point that I was sure I’d finish the book/duology. I think a large part of this slow build was the amount of inner monologues by the characters about their thoughts and circumstances, without much corresponding action. It felt like the first 250 pages could have been condensed down to get the story started off with more of a bang. 

Rating: 4/5 Stars 3/5 Flames 

Recommendation: I read this based on the recommendation of a couple friends who generally have similar tastes in books. The ending is a decently large cliffhanger for both of the main characters and there are a lot of questions I hope to learn the answers to in the next book. Once I got into it I really enjoyed the adventure and relationships and I plowed through that second half. I’ve already started book two. 

dayday_reads's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-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

5.0

natff_11's review

I had to stop reading this book because the author wrote in so much unnecessary detail that I found myself skipping through the pages. The FMC is kind of annoying too and she’s horrible at communication with the other characters, especially the ones who love her the most. 

I might pick this back up again at some point, but I really just want to move on from this right now lol. The author really should’ve done some editing

themoonchild's review against another edition

4.0

This book has ⚠ Trigger Warnins ⚠ so please be aware that this book has Violence, Gore, Death, Grief, Profanity, Mental Health Themes, Mention of Suicidal Intentions, and Torture.
Comes with a Pronunciation Guide.

tippedmango's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

lohopkins's review

dark

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

hebberelle's review

2.0

DNF at 23%

I can’t decide if this could be amazing later or if it’s just going to get worse, and I’m not sticking around to find out.

Emma has been abused forever, and pretty much every man in her life wants to control her, despite maybe being nice to her occasionally. So she sneaks out, runs into basically an angry zombie plague, then along comes some OTHER guy who’s an asshole to her. I’m betting its the same guy she’s already betrothed to, and we’ll get a long play by play of her internal self torture with which guy she wants before she finds out they’re the same damn person. Either that or it’s the prince of some other kingdom moonlighting as a zombie killer and she can’t decide which actual person to screw. Maybe it’ll be both since she can’t seem to think through the consequences of her choices.

The author also describes everything with EXCRUCIATING detail. Paragraphs on food or clothes, whole chapters on room decor and fights or how sexy she feels. It’s exhausting to read and doesn’t push the plot along at all.

nyxesss's review

3.0

Second review:

It's only been 5 months since I've read this but I didn't remember anything when I started this again but that doesn't mean a lot because I've read lots of book since then more than 300 books (330 to be exact). Take from this what you will.

And the author can't rhyme for shit.

Characters 4
Writing 4
Plot 6
Entertainment 7
5.3★

First review:

The writing is annoying because the same sentences are repeated over and over again, and the book describes the same thing twice, for example: The MC lied and we were told she lied and also the book described that MC crosses her fingers behind her back.

Characters 4
Writing 3
Plot 7
Entertainment 7
5.3★

kendalliskiwii's review

4.0

i actually, truly hate myself for not realizing the second book to this wasnt out yet. because what the HAILLLL was that ending ??????

maadreads's review

5.0

Just did a re-read, and it was just as good as the first time. I love a strong FMC and a dark, tortured MMC. I forgot how much I hate certain characters, but I feel like that's great storytelling. The writing style is easy to get into and follow along. I can't wait to see where this story takes us.