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emilylovesgoodbooks's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death of parent, Murder, and Death
bea_reads_books's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood
Moderate: Cursing, Death, Alcohol, Body horror, Violence, Animal death, Gore, and Grief
Minor: Death of parent
tifftastic87's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
First off, this book needs content warnings (I know they're below but they need to be here too).
⚠️ Self-harm (cutting)
When presented with her destiny as a human sacrifice, Redarys appears to take it on the chin. Really she's hiding from magic that wants to consume her. Eammon, the Wolf, is Warden of the Wilderwood where Red is destined for. But the Wilderwood is dying and Eammon is determined to save and Red and he is not accepting applications for assistants.
Supposedly, this is a Beauty and the Beast retelling, but I fail to see it. The only similarities is a curse that makes the town think a man is a monster and love breaking that curse. The two main characters are both stubborn martyrs and that is where most of the conflict comes from. If they could be honest and communicate from the beginning things would have been better. But the main story is politics and religion.
The actual plot of the story, which is shadowed a bit by the romance plot, is one of religious fanaticism that is actually really well done. There's a dark versus light magic trope used where the religious use the dark magic and are out for power. The damn athiests only wantinf peace, love, and healthy trees.
That being said, the magic system was a little confusing. Its clear that is blood magic but it reacts different in different settings and different people. It isnt predictable unless it is. I would have liked to have seen this worked out a bit better.
Oh ya and the age gap, centuries to 20 years....
⚠️ Self-harm (cutting)
When presented with her destiny as a human sacrifice, Redarys appears to take it on the chin. Really she's hiding from magic that wants to consume her. Eammon, the Wolf, is Warden of the Wilderwood where Red is destined for. But the Wilderwood is dying and Eammon is determined to save and Red and he is not accepting applications for assistants.
Supposedly, this is a Beauty and the Beast retelling, but I fail to see it. The only similarities is a curse that makes the town think a man is a monster and love breaking that curse. The two main characters are both stubborn martyrs and that is where most of the conflict comes from. If they could be honest and communicate from the beginning things would have been better. But the main story is politics and religion.
The actual plot of the story, which is shadowed a bit by the romance plot, is one of religious fanaticism that is actually really well done. There's a dark versus light magic trope used where the religious use the dark magic and are out for power. The damn athiests only wantinf peace, love, and healthy trees.
That being said, the magic system was a little confusing. Its clear that is blood magic but it reacts different in different settings and different people. It isnt predictable unless it is. I would have liked to have seen this worked out a bit better.
Oh ya and the age gap, centuries to 20 years....
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Self harm, Violence, and Blood
Moderate: Suicide attempt, Kidnapping, Eating disorder, and Murder
anniereads221's review
slow-paced
5.0
Eammon and Red own my whole heart, but not only that i love Lyra and Fife as well, Neve and Raffe were also good but these characters i am so excited to see how they will be in For The Throne.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Sexism, Gore, Murder, Violence, Death, Death of parent, Grief, and Body horror
hbae'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
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Self harm, and Death
chloescozycorner's review
4.5
I feel like some of the world building could have been tightened up a bit. Also there were moments where the confusion I felt was not caused with a reason, but from lack of clarity in the writing. BUT I loved Red and Eammon. I loved the themes of religion and nature. Loved the eerie vibes, and I was sucked in to all of that. If the first aspects mentioned were tightened up this would be 5 stars for sure.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood and Self harm
Moderate: Death of parent and Death
luckylulureads's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment, Blood, Body horror, Death, and Self harm
Minor: Alcohol and Death of parent
Self harm aspects are not for suicidal reasons but for Magic reasons. Still, it can be hard to read, especially as some characters martyr themselvesasipofcozy's review
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
It's been awhile since I finished a book fully. I have been picking up and putting down so many and honestly this one almost made the pile of books I haven't finished.
I really enjoyed the concept of the book, the magic, the characters and the overall arching theme. However, this is definitely a beauty and the beast retelling rather than the red riding hood that the vibes give. And when I mean you know it's a Beauty and the Beast retelling it's very obvious.
I enjoyed the characters and thought that they added to the story...somewhat. However all the side characters Raffe, Kiri, Neve, Arick, the five kings were just fillers in spaces and didn't have much personality to them.
Then there is the magic system...of which is never fully explained to us. There is a forest that is quite alive but we are never given the backstory on how it came to have magic. Then there is the whole folk lore of the five kings that once again we get very little explanation on, even the character Red keeps asking about this information and isn't given it!
Then you have the dual POV's with the sisters and I was not interested in Neve what so ever. The time gaps in this book and the jumping around created a lot of plot confusion (of which I felt like there was at least 3 different plot lines going on at once). However, Neve is well naive. While she does love her sister she only cares about herself and her own decisions and while I get she wants to save her sister she is blinded by everything.
In the end, I did enjoy some aspects of the book but wasn't totally won over by it. However, I would be interested to see Neve's development in For the Throne.
I really enjoyed the concept of the book, the magic, the characters and the overall arching theme. However, this is definitely a beauty and the beast retelling rather than the red riding hood that the vibes give. And when I mean you know it's a Beauty and the Beast retelling it's very obvious.
I enjoyed the characters and thought that they added to the story...somewhat. However all the side characters Raffe, Kiri, Neve, Arick, the five kings were just fillers in spaces and didn't have much personality to them.
Then there is the magic system...of which is never fully explained to us. There is a forest that is quite alive but we are never given the backstory on how it came to have magic. Then there is the whole folk lore of the five kings that once again we get very little explanation on, even the character Red keeps asking about this information and isn't given it!
Then you have the dual POV's with the sisters and I was not interested in Neve what so ever. The time gaps in this book and the jumping around created a lot of plot confusion (of which I felt like there was at least 3 different plot lines going on at once). However, Neve is well naive. While she does love her sister she only cares about herself and her own decisions and while I get she wants to save her sister she is blinded by everything.
In the end, I did enjoy some aspects of the book but wasn't totally won over by it. However, I would be interested to see Neve's development in For the Throne.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Self harm, Blood, Gore, Death of parent, and Death
hales_1243's review
adventurous
dark
hopeful
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Suicide, Blood, and Self harm
Moderate: Sexual content
epohlig's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
This was an interesting book. I actually started it before my listed start day, but had only read the first chapter or two and didn’t feel that engaged, so I put the start date to when I started reading more regularly. Besides the somewhat slow start (I’m not sure why it was slow, it could have just been me), I really liked it for a while; there was plot and character development, and I was curious about what would happen next.
I did notice, however, that it started to get repetitive in the middle-ish: there would be some kind of problem with the woods and then Eammon would go to fix it and needed Red’s help, but he refused to let her do anything… blah blah blah
The storyline did pick up a bit towards the end: there was a lot going on and it was more of what I’d been looking for from the book, but a few scenes did rub me the wrong way as well. Personally, if my sister had just disappeared to the Shadowlands, or if I’d just found out that she was in danger and I needed to leave the woods, an intimate moment with the love interest would not just make me immediately forget everything until the next chapter. Might just be me, though.
Overall, it was a pretty good book, beyond my little quibbles with certain points. I’m still unclear of if I’ll read the sequel, but it’s honestly more of a “when” question (not sure though).
I did notice, however, that it started to get repetitive in the middle-ish:
The storyline did pick up a bit towards the end: there was a lot going on and it was more of what I’d been looking for from the book, but a few scenes did rub me the wrong way as well.
Overall, it was a pretty good book, beyond my little quibbles with certain points. I’m still unclear of if I’ll read the sequel, but it’s honestly more of a “when” question (not sure though).
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood and Self harm
Moderate: Death and Violence
Minor: Murder