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wildatheart1339's review
4.75
Graphic: Kidnapping, Murder, and Sexual content
Moderate: Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Domestic abuse, Animal death, Blood, and Grief
Minor: Death, Drug use, Death of parent, Medical content, Chronic illness, Alcohol, Cursing, Fire/Fire injury, and War
tragicgloom's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Sexual content and Murder
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Violence, and Kidnapping
Minor: Child abuse, Blood, Death of parent, Drug use, and War
akirokis's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Kidnapping, Confinement, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, Torture, Murder, and Violence
Moderate: War
anniereads221's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Murder, Gore, Sexual content, Medical content, Death, and Violence
wardenred's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
His arm doesn’t feel like a chain around Whisper’s waist; it’s a shield.
Oh wow, this book! It took me a bit to get into the writing style (third person past tense isn't my favorite), but once I adjusted to it, I was absolutely hooked throughout. It's been a while since I read such awesome hurt/comfort outside of fanfiction. Whisper and Julien absolutely melted my heart, and there were so many little moments that made me feel like this book was written for me. I loved the way they were growing closer through the secrets, Whisper's inner turmoil, Julien's kindness, the D/s overtones in the bedroom, everything. I kind of want to forget this book and read it again, to get all the feels afresh.
I also greatly enjoyed the supporting cast—so many colorful personalities and great people. A lot of the characters didn't get a lot of screen time, and still they left a very distinct impression. I'd love to read a book with almost any single one of them as a more prominent presence. I also really liked the worldbuilding. It's a combination of "a lot packed into it" and "broad strokes"; there are all those politics, assassin orders, different types of magic, dragons, magical drugs, cats with superpowers, and each of these cool details just makes me want to dig deeper into it.
The setting is also completely queernorm: no one assumes that a marriage necessarily involves a man and a woman, there's a lovely casual mention of a character being trans, etc. I remember not so long ago fantasy queer romances (especially the ones with royalty) used to have all the homophobia-induced drama, but nowadays, I keep seeing these wonderful queernorm worlds where the characters are free to have and sort out problems that don't have anything to do with their orientation. I'm absolutely digging all these beautiful fantasy worlds.
Back to the book: the one reason I'm not giving it a full five-star mark is that one twist at the end, the one with the betrayal. I feel like it simplified the conflict and the solutions to it. There might have been ways to get to the happy ending without that, too—though admittedly I would probably fall off the edge of my sit if the author went with some alternate route. :D But, yeah. Not really a fan of that specific character turning out to be a manipulator. Very much a fan of absolutely everything else in this book, though!
Graphic: Kidnapping and Confinement
Moderate: Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Child abuse
mallorypen's review against another edition
- 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
4.75
The concept of the Assassins guild isn’t new, nor is the the idea of controlling the members. But the blood magic, the “father and children” element, granting boons of freedom just to send your next child assassin to clean up loose ends, and the casual cruelty of calling them Hounds in a Kennel … I was totally bought in.
I also expected Julian to be an asshole with the way he was initially described, and I adored the twist to make him his brother’s champion. His self doubt about inheriting his father’s magic and not wanting to turn into him felt a little weak, but overall Julian delighted me.
Whisper was such a great character - frank about his own shortcomings, distracted by giant cats, trying to protect people even when he shouldn’t have any empathy left. His dynamic with Julian was very hot, and easy to fall in love with.
I think my favorite thing about this book was the world building. The casual mentions of creatures like dragons, wyrms and fell cats place the story into a fantasy setting without trying too hard with lengthy, ungainly backstory and exposition. The rivalries between the three countries and political machinations were complex while still being laid out in an easy-to-follow manner. I loved the two queens, and that they got children by way of a biological father without giving him a right to the offspring; that dynamic was explained well and also grounded the character behaviors without needing to use dozens of pages to ascribe importance or motivations.
When
That said, this was an enjoyable and highly entertaining read! The narrators were both wonderful and embodied their characters well.
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Violence, Sexual assault, Child abuse, Death, and Murder
brims's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Graphic: Sexual content and Murder
Minor: Suicide, Child abuse, and Sexual assault
prettynerdy3's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Cursing, Death of parent, Kidnapping, Murder, and Sexual content
Moderate: Alcohol, Blood, Child abuse, Death, Death of parent, Drug use, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, and Violence