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adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
⭐⭐⭐⭐💫
🌶🌶
The coolest magic system, something I have not read before. Ghosts, people! Ghosts with rare "signets" aka powers that they bestow upon their human. Semantics shemantics, read it and find out, but I loved it!
It was a slow start for me, it took a while with world building and just getting our characters where they needed to be, that is my main critique. I wish that the story and the relationship started building earlier in the story, but the build up between Dae and Nizzara felt so natural and was perfect for the story, even though I selfishly wanted it to be faster.
I'd say it was slow to medium paced, both character and plot driven. Nizzara, our FMC, was definitely one of those strong headed ones, though they both had their past traumas that they were trying to heal/move on from. Dae's heart is like no other, he is one of the sweetest, but also touch her and die MMC's and I could see every smirk and I loved it.
All in all, amazing debut book, debut author, I'm hooked. Can't wait for Book 2 and for the 1.5 novella that is out next!
🌶🌶
The coolest magic system, something I have not read before. Ghosts, people! Ghosts with rare "signets" aka powers that they bestow upon their human. Semantics shemantics, read it and find out, but I loved it!
It was a slow start for me, it took a while with world building and just getting our characters where they needed to be, that is my main critique. I wish that the story and the relationship started building earlier in the story, but the build up between Dae and Nizzara felt so natural and was perfect for the story, even though I selfishly wanted it to be faster.
I'd say it was slow to medium paced, both character and plot driven. Nizzara, our FMC, was definitely one of those strong headed ones, though they both had their past traumas that they were trying to heal/move on from. Dae's heart is like no other, he is one of the sweetest, but also touch her and die MMC's and I could see every smirk and I loved it.
All in all, amazing debut book, debut author, I'm hooked. Can't wait for Book 2 and for the 1.5 novella that is out next!
adventurous
emotional
fast-paced
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
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
I was reading it just to read something and put it down and never went back nor missed it
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
fast-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
adventurous
challenging
emotional
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I’m not going to lie, the beginning of this book intimidated me. I opened my copy to find a glossary and multiple royal lineage charts as well as a pronunciation guide and the Sydney who decided to start this at 11:30 at night was a little overwhelmed.
However, once I actually started reading I didn’t feel like I was punched in the face with world building and I quickly got sucked into the story.
The magic system in this book is so unique. In this world people can have vessels— rings that allow you to bond with a spirit. By bonding with a spirit you are able to communicate with them and open yourself up to a two piece magic system. And if the bond is compatible you have a unique magical ability called a Mark.
So what do these people do with their vessels? They host a giant fighting ring tournament that brings the three kingdoms together. The winner of the tournament gets to ask a gift from the three Kings.
Our main character, Nizzara, enters this tournament in an attempt to cancel her betrothal before it too late (so basically she a magic wielding urban fantasy Merida).
Enter Dagen, the deceased King that Nizzara’s father dethroned. He has been sent by the god of death to collect Nizzara’s soul. But she has the give it over willingly, so he sets off of a mission to earn her trust.
With Nizzara’s resilience and Dagen’s passion, they make an interesting pair. Set against each other, they should be enemies in every sense. But they quickly realize they’re not that different at all.
I truly enjoyed this one. I did see the twist coming at the end, but it was done really well so I didn’t mind.
There are some heavier topics in this book so be sure to read the trigger warnings.
4.5 ⭐️
2🌶️
Favorite Quote:
“She’s loyal. Not just when it is easy, or convenient… but fiercely, unconditionally loyal.”
DNF'ed at about 20%. I really liked the concept of this book, but the pacing was just really slow for me. I read reviews hoping they would convince me to keep reading, but everyone talked about how much they loved the first part of the book but that the middle part dragged. So I think it's best for me to just revisit this in the future.