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now_booking's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
I enjoyed this addition to the Carpathian series. I’ve been reading these books for 2 decades and recently they became a little stale for me and a little dark and a little plotless. This most recent addition in my opinion, sort of sets the series back on track with a hero (Siv) that actually appears to like the heroine (beyond sex and her restoring his colors) and a heroine that is reasonable and trusts herself and is pragmatic while also having doubts.
The premise is that the portals to the underworld have been breaking allowing demons to infiltrate the headquarters of Lycan society, over which Vasilisa’s family are the ruling monarchs. Tasked with sealing the portals and fighting the demons who threaten their people, warrior Vasilisa meets Afanasiv (Siv) and they immediately connect and know what they are to each other. But with constant threats from the underworld, and the hidden darkness in Siv, their ability to build a relationship is in jeopardy, especially when a coalition force of enemies are set to wipe them all out.
This was good in that it had a strong, action-filled plot, and what we could saw if the characters was likable. I enjoyed the fact that we got to meet and hang out a bit with past characters like Dmitri and Skyler, and Razvan and Ivory. That said, I thought there were a lot of missed opportunities in the character development and relationship-building to make this a more emotionally-compelling story. The addition of old favourites was good, but it would have been nice to explore more deeply the relationships between them and catch up with them more. For Siv and Vasi, it would have been nice for them to engage more on a personal level and talk more through some of the isssues instead of having their entire relationship be centred on battle strategy. And that’s another major issue with this book. All the character relationships felt very much linked to the tension of battle. We didn’t get enough time for them to actually sit in some of the vulnerabilities that were hinted at or mentioned. This afflicted Vasi’s siblings as well. We’re teased with their great love stories early in the book to the extent of them going to the underworld for love, but then subsequently, it felt like those storylines were thrown away and never heard from again. The bonds between the siblings that was spoken about throughout only seemed pertinent in battle- other than that Vasi might as well not have had any siblings, talk less of siblings whose loves she risked her life for.
As for Vasi and Siv, some of the feelings around inadequacy, trauma and PTSD, hurt, betrayal that came up because of Siv’s returning memories were never fully addressed, everything was on the surface. And so it meant that while this was an interesting book due to the action and fighting and battle strategy and world building (if those are your things), it wasn’t at all an emotionally-engaging one, which was sad because I loved the bits of Vasi and Siv we got to see and I loved the potential of their relationship and the care and love and understanding that glimpsed through all the world building and battles.
I feel like with recent books, CF has faced a lot of critical reviews asking for more plot and less misogyny and endless sex scenes stringed together for hundreds of pages with Carpathian chants and with this super slow burner, she’s delivered that and on the balance, I’m here for it. However, I feel this swings a little too far into the opposite directions. Despite being a paranormal fantasy novel, it’s still also at its heart a romance and some of those relationship building elements that makes you connect to characters and gives you the “awwws” was missing. Some of the major emotional moments could have been extended and underscored, and some of the battles could have been a little shorter with a bit less detail in the scene about every villains thought process and battle strategy and reaction and monologue…. I was less interested in that and would have preferred a light touch on that rather than on the actual relationships in this book. Still, I’m excited about the books to come. I’m hoping it’s Petru, but would truly be happy for any of the other ancients.
The premise is that the portals to the underworld have been breaking allowing demons to infiltrate the headquarters of Lycan society, over which Vasilisa’s family are the ruling monarchs. Tasked with sealing the portals and fighting the demons who threaten their people, warrior Vasilisa meets Afanasiv (Siv) and they immediately connect and know what they are to each other. But with constant threats from the underworld, and the hidden darkness in Siv, their ability to build a relationship is in jeopardy, especially when a coalition force of enemies are set to wipe them all out.
This was good in that it had a strong, action-filled plot, and what we could saw if the characters was likable. I enjoyed the fact that we got to meet and hang out a bit with past characters like Dmitri and Skyler, and Razvan and Ivory. That said, I thought there were a lot of missed opportunities in the character development and relationship-building to make this a more emotionally-compelling story. The addition of old favourites was good, but it would have been nice to explore more deeply the relationships between them and catch up with them more. For Siv and Vasi, it would have been nice for them to engage more on a personal level and talk more through some of the isssues instead of having their entire relationship be centred on battle strategy. And that’s another major issue with this book. All the character relationships felt very much linked to the tension of battle. We didn’t get enough time for them to actually sit in some of the vulnerabilities that were hinted at or mentioned. This afflicted Vasi’s siblings as well. We’re teased with their great love stories early in the book to the extent of them going to the underworld for love, but then subsequently, it felt like those storylines were thrown away and never heard from again. The bonds between the siblings that was spoken about throughout only seemed pertinent in battle- other than that Vasi might as well not have had any siblings, talk less of siblings whose loves she risked her life for.
As for Vasi and Siv, some of the feelings around inadequacy, trauma and PTSD, hurt, betrayal that came up because of Siv’s returning memories were never fully addressed, everything was on the surface. And so it meant that while this was an interesting book due to the action and fighting and battle strategy and world building (if those are your things), it wasn’t at all an emotionally-engaging one, which was sad because I loved the bits of Vasi and Siv we got to see and I loved the potential of their relationship and the care and love and understanding that glimpsed through all the world building and battles.
I feel like with recent books, CF has faced a lot of critical reviews asking for more plot and less misogyny and endless sex scenes stringed together for hundreds of pages with Carpathian chants and with this super slow burner, she’s delivered that and on the balance, I’m here for it. However, I feel this swings a little too far into the opposite directions. Despite being a paranormal fantasy novel, it’s still also at its heart a romance and some of those relationship building elements that makes you connect to characters and gives you the “awwws” was missing. Some of the major emotional moments could have been extended and underscored, and some of the battles could have been a little shorter with a bit less detail in the scene about every villains thought process and battle strategy and reaction and monologue…. I was less interested in that and would have preferred a light touch on that rather than on the actual relationships in this book. Still, I’m excited about the books to come. I’m hoping it’s Petru, but would truly be happy for any of the other ancients.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Genocide, Grief, Torture, Bullying, Blood, Body horror, Death of parent, Death, Gore, Kidnapping, Murder, Violence, and War
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Sexism, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Child abuse, Classism, Gun violence, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, and Hate crime
Minor: Cannibalism
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