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sophia555's review against another edition
adventurous
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
1.5
Gross, abuse in Estrella's childhood is repeated by Caelum, who gives nonce vibes, calling her "little one", feeding her, treating her like a child. He pushes her boundaries, consent is shakey and not able be be withdrawn.
Her fierce independence and hate of life being controlled by men all disappears when she becomes involved with him.
Plot was slow and the reveal was obvious.
This book made me very angry but I will be reading the second.
Do not recommend.
Her fierce independence and hate of life being controlled by men all disappears when she becomes involved with him.
Plot was slow and the reveal was obvious.
This book made me very angry but I will be reading the second.
Do not recommend.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Suicide attempt
Minor: Violence
ali_k0's review
adventurous
dark
fast-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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, Classism, Death, and Sexism
Moderate: Death of parent
Lord of her village sexually harrasses, it's described in the early page (he does NOT rape her, does grope her) love interest does not harm hertherealredsrecs's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
This story was a tough one. It was fast paced with major happenings every few chapters, but with seemingly no development in terms of the plot or the characters.
There were some hints dropped along the way that had me making predictions for where the book might be going but overall I found the relationship between the main characters toxic and too fast paced, I felt like there was no plot until the last 10% of the book, there were random info dumps but with not enough information added on throughout the book which left me confused in terms of the world building. If it wasn't for the map in the beginning of the book I wouldn't even know where they were going or what the landscape was like.
The pace of the book was a bit contradictory, it seems as if days pass with very succinct days being described, but then the FMC's inner monologue would suddenly talk about weeks and I would have no idea where the extra time came from. This also made me feel more confused in terms of their relationship which seemed to get very co-dependent very quickly.
The only plus from this book is that the spice wasn't too bad, the first two spicy scenes were fun to read and gave some depth to the relationship that was lacking before. The rest of the spicy scenes were a bit dark and maybe a bit disturbing, but if you're kinky, you might just enjoy them.
I still have many unanswered questions and I'm hoping they'll be answered in book 2.
Thank you to Jonathan Ball Publishers for gifting me a review copy of this book.
There were some hints dropped along the way that had me making predictions for where the book might be going but overall I found the relationship between the main characters toxic and too fast paced, I felt like there was no plot until the last 10% of the book, there were random info dumps but with not enough information added on throughout the book which left me confused in terms of the world building. If it wasn't for the map in the beginning of the book I wouldn't even know where they were going or what the landscape was like.
The pace of the book was a bit contradictory, it seems as if days pass with very succinct days being described, but then the FMC's inner monologue would suddenly talk about weeks and I would have no idea where the extra time came from. This also made me feel more confused in terms of their relationship which seemed to get very co-dependent very quickly.
The only plus from this book is that the spice wasn't too bad, the first two spicy scenes were fun to read and gave some depth to the relationship that was lacking before. The rest of the spicy scenes were a bit dark and maybe a bit disturbing, but if you're kinky, you might just enjoy them.
I still have many unanswered questions and I'm hoping they'll be answered in book 2.
Thank you to Jonathan Ball Publishers for gifting me a review copy of this book.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual content, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Suicidal thoughts, Physical abuse, and Violence
frecca95's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
I read this trying to fill the void after finishing ACOTAR and another few in the same vein, however I struggled to finish. The plot itself was fine and followed a typical fated mates pattern, however I found the MMC abhorrent. I couldn't enjoy any of the spice or romance as I found his behaviour and communication so arrogant.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent, Death, Emotional abuse, Sexism, and Sexual harassment
c45p1n's review
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
k i’m making a list
- this book is literaly acotar’s doppelgänger (derogatory) (in regards to the characters)
- very predictable
- ends on a cliff hanger (is part of a trilogy)
- tropes: fae & faeries, fated mates/soulmates, gods, betrayal, one bed trope (sorta? more of a cling-to-each-other-for-body-heat type of one bed), death is a trope., magic, strangers to lovers, (idk how to describe it but) surviving together, i hate everyone but you (male mc), grumpy x grumpier, again (bc there is so much) character death, um yeah. can’t think of anything else, OH “who did this to you” trope ON BOTH SIDES, yeah that’s abt it
- OH: it felt like a video game in the sense that you had to complete a goal and talk to someone and then just be in stasis for the rest of the story, like just the middle 150 pages were nothingness but the FMC & MMC flirting and traveling with nothing actually happening in that chuck of time.
- same with the beginning sorta. it was just 1) the veil shattered, 2) XXX & FMC ran away, 3) 50 pages later they meet the MMC, 4) battle against the enemies, 5) the middle where literally nothing plot-heavy happens til chapter 28
- pretty smutty tbh, not amount-wise but kink-wise
- i’m honestly kinda stumped on what to rate this but i think i’m gonna split it up then find the average and do it from there but you can just use these rates for generality
- plot: 4/10; characters: 7.5/10; smut: 7/10; monologue: 5/10, dialogue: 7/10; world-building: 8/10; fae history explanation: 8/10 (there was a glossary), character likeability: 8/10
- using my 200 dollar calculator, the mean is ≈ 7 so that’s like a 3.25 in my mind
literally everyone died except the main character and love interest💀 - idk why but kinda reminded me of the hunger games
- read TWs before reading the book fs !!!!!!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Toxic relationship, Blood, Death, Violence, Sexual content, and Cursing
Moderate: Sexism, Injury/Injury detail, Confinement, Child abuse, Misogyny, Sexual harassment, War, Sexual assault, and Medical content
Minor: Death of parent and Religious bigotry
luliposatieris's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
it’s a good book; it has a goodish plot but it focuses more on the romance aspect of the story rather than the “fantasy” one. The smut is immaculate, best i’ve ever read.
Caelum isn’t a strong main male character, his only personality and sole purpose is Estrella. He is obsessed with her even to a point where it’s concerning. At first i liked it but when every word that would come out of his mouth was overprotective/extreme jealousy, it annoyed me. PLUS Estrella didn’t even defend herself at times, she thought nothing of it.
The world building is good, it represents the purity culture really well and it shows exactly how poorly women were treated and how the men had all the power. I also liked that Estrella wasn’t brainwashed to think like that. She hd her own opinions and beliefs, even if it didn’t show when Caelum was around.
i saw the “plot twist” coming from KILOMETERS away, it was totally predictable. that annoyed me.
The world building is good, it represents the purity culture really well and it shows exactly how poorly women were treated and how the men had all the power. I also liked that Estrella wasn’t brainwashed to think like that. She hd her own opinions and beliefs, even if it didn’t show when Caelum was around.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, War, Infidelity, Murder, Police brutality, Misogyny, Death of parent, Sexual content, Rape, and Sexism
seklasse's review
adventurous
tense
fast-paced
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Sexism, and Sexual content
Moderate: Sexual assault and Sexual harassment
lostwaterbottle's review
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
Book tok critiques said it all. My top critiques were:
- the overall sexual dynamic felt forced, coercive and imbalanced. There were times I was confused why the male lead was touching the MC when she didn’t want that. Especially when she had a history of sexual abuse.
- his nickname for her was little one and that was just gross and weird
- I thought that after being in an oppressive culture her whole life, the transition out would be more complex and nuanced. There wasn’t a moment when she reveled in just being free or when she caught her conditioning still influencing her. Overall I feel like the MC could have grown so much more than she did.
- there wasn’t a ton of worldbuilding info in the book. Everyone was keeping secrets from the MC and we didn’t know a lot till the end. I kinda just pieced it together based on other fantasy worlds.
- the MC definitely gave off I’m not like other girls vibes, and I’m the context of her upbringing that didn’t really make sense. There would definitely have been other girls like her who had secret solidarity. And being as poor as she was described would play out differently in my opinion than what she described.
- this is more of a personal pet peeve, but I really dislike when books don’t deal with basic human needs like using the bathroom, smelling gross, and menstruation. It makes me not take the characters seriously
- the overall sexual dynamic felt forced, coercive and imbalanced. There were times I was confused why the male lead was touching the MC when she didn’t want that. Especially when she had a history of sexual abuse.
- his nickname for her was little one and that was just gross and weird
- I thought that after being in an oppressive culture her whole life, the transition out would be more complex and nuanced. There wasn’t a moment when she reveled in just being free or when she caught her conditioning still influencing her. Overall I feel like the MC could have grown so much more than she did.
- there wasn’t a ton of worldbuilding info in the book. Everyone was keeping secrets from the MC and we didn’t know a lot till the end. I kinda just pieced it together based on other fantasy worlds.
- the MC definitely gave off I’m not like other girls vibes, and I’m the context of her upbringing that didn’t really make sense. There would definitely have been other girls like her who had secret solidarity. And being as poor as she was described would play out differently in my opinion than what she described.
- this is more of a personal pet peeve, but I really dislike when books don’t deal with basic human needs like using the bathroom, smelling gross, and menstruation. It makes me not take the characters seriously
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Sexism, Sexual assault, Child abuse, and Physical abuse
Moderate: Death of parent, Toxic relationship, Pedophilia, and Gore
rhxda's review
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexism, Infidelity, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, and Adult/minor relationship
Minor: Physical abuse and Death of parent
kingrosereads's review
adventurous
dark
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.25
Look. Was it good? Not really. Will I be reading the sequel? Absolutely. This is the kind of trash reading I really enjoy. If you like ACOTAR or FBAA, this definitely has borrowed themes and characters and plots from them, but very loosely developed. I do like the concept of the Veil and human mates. Caelum is an acquired taste for sure but I enjoy the bantering between him and Estrella. Not a fan of the “little one” nickname. “My star” is fine and very endearing but “little one” is so cringe. “Little” anything is barf. I didn’t like how he became super possessive towards the end especially since Estrella has always been at the mercy of other men and not having any choice in life. This book feels more like the base of a story that you go back and actually develop upon. It’s basically the skeleton of a good story.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny and Sexism
Moderate: Suicide attempt, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Gaslighting, Death of parent, Death, Violence, Sexual content, Religious bigotry, Kidnapping, Gore, Blood, and Physical abuse
Minor: Pedophilia and Stalking