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4.07 AVERAGE
4.07 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
medium-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:
Complicated
I loved the representation of anxiety in this book, and about loving the darkness and the light of another.
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-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:
Complicated
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
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
I really enjoyed this book! It’s giving dark Pirates of the Caribbean vibes but with magic. It has a unique magic system and enjoyed the world building. Can’t wait to start book two!
adventurous
dark
emotional
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Characters: 3⭐️
Setting: 3⭐️
Plot: 3⭐️
Themes: 2⭐️
Personal enjoyment: 3⭐️
Emotional Impact: 2⭐️
Overall rating: 3/5⭐️
Spice 3/5 🌶️
Spicy pirate fae romantasy. Rivals to lovers. Captor/captive. Dual POV. Morally grey MMC.
I found the FMC to be bland and boring. The MMC though, Erik Bloodsinger, is ruthless in his pursuit of revenge.
The plot took a good minute to pick up for me. This is mostly a romance driven fantasy book. Very little slow burn or tension.
The world building and magic system was minimal. You have the sea fea and earth fae who have been at war for years. Erik is the king of the sea fae and his blood is poisonous but if he sings it cures the poison. He has been trapped for years beneath the sea imprisoned. Livia, the FMC, is an earth fae princess whose magic can heal the land.
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Boring 🥱
adventurous
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
3 stars
thank you to berkley for the e-ARC
I have very polarized feelings on this book. it has quite fun romantasy vibes and I was loving the world and conflict. I just really got brought out of my enjoyment by the gender and consent politics of this book.
the MMC uses SA as a threat against the FMC early on when she’s a prisoner. and then later he gets in a tiff because she thinks he might be a perpetrator or supporter of sexual violence. and it’s like yeah, you kinda said you were. I wanted there to be more of an explicit reckoning about how that threat is used in war by men—there could have been a powerful moment where he had to acknowledge how he took advantage of women’s fear of rape—but we just moved on so that there could be a romance. I think romantasy really trades in weird consent dynamics because of the fantasy setting, but it stood out in this book for me. I can deal with dark but it felt like I watched the character get rewritten into a feminist later on….. like huh?
so idk. I think a lot of readers are able to read around this sort of thing, and I think the text encourages it. so many will enjoy this (and I know a lot of people already do). I just found the lighthearted treatment of assault threats a bit too much for me.
thank you to berkley for the e-ARC
I have very polarized feelings on this book. it has quite fun romantasy vibes and I was loving the world and conflict. I just really got brought out of my enjoyment by the gender and consent politics of this book.
the MMC uses SA as a threat against the FMC early on when she’s a prisoner. and then later he gets in a tiff because she thinks he might be a perpetrator or supporter of sexual violence. and it’s like yeah, you kinda said you were. I wanted there to be more of an explicit reckoning about how that threat is used in war by men—there could have been a powerful moment where he had to acknowledge how he took advantage of women’s fear of rape—but we just moved on so that there could be a romance. I think romantasy really trades in weird consent dynamics because of the fantasy setting, but it stood out in this book for me. I can deal with dark but it felt like I watched the character get rewritten into a feminist later on….. like huh?
so idk. I think a lot of readers are able to read around this sort of thing, and I think the text encourages it. so many will enjoy this (and I know a lot of people already do). I just found the lighthearted treatment of assault threats a bit too much for me.