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annamay1021's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
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? No
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: War, Confinement, Xenophobia, Torture, Violence, Sexual content, and Misogyny
frantically's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Growing up is learning that it's okay to rate SJM books less than 5 stars.
Okay, so this book was long and so full of plot and I'm sure I've already forgotten all of it but let's try this:
THE CHARACTERS:
I absolutely loved the cast in this sequel and while the first book was very much a "Bryce and Hunt" novel, this time the big amount of characters we got introduced to in the first book all got their moments to shine and either already had good storylines or we got hints to exciting ones in the future (Ithan, I'm looking at you).
In my opinion, this is the first time SJM has managed to write true morally grey characters (and not just misunderstood bad boys), mainly with Corman and Tharion, who make wild choices, whose purpose isn't solely to make this a better world. Same goes for so many of the female characters, my favourites being Lidia and Celestina. They have their own difficult past and present situations to work with and can't just accept anything that Bryce plans for them.
Bryce really isn't a perfect angel either — she makes really dumb choices in this book but they're also very human choices. She's just getting into this whole Chosen One thing and she really struggles with it and its consequences at times. But as I said, her choices are all understandable (to some degree), you can tell that she only means the best but sometimes we all fuck up and that's portrayed really well here.
Shoutout to Hunt here, who's always portrayed as this big alphahole, but man actually thinks from time to time and questions what Bryce and him are doing. Men in this fantasy thinking over their relationship? In this economy? More likely than you think.
Going against all expectations (mainly my own), I've chosen to break my streak of my favourite character in SJM books always being the bisexual blonde cousin. I really tried to love Cormac as much as I love Mor and Aedion but 1.) I don't love him that much (or at all) and 2.) Ruhn. That's all. But I have hopes of at least keeping the bisexual streak going, we've still got books left, after all.
THE PLOT:
Unpopular opinion but making the human rebellion with very understandable goals and wishes out to be the bad guys alongside the Asteri (who are just straight up villains) is a really dumb idea.
I already didn't understand why we were against this rebellion in the first book because, yes, a lot of our cast is non-human but Bryce at least is half-human and has human parents, and, as a fellow human, I find it hard to get invested in a plot that makes the oppressed humans out to be the bad ones.
Especially Pippa is such a cheap, two-dimensional character and I really had to suspend my beliefs and focus on the actually enjoyable parts of the book (mainly the characters) to accept all these plot points.
We do have some nice world building and it is something completely different to what SJM has done before and it's a nice mix of sci-fi and fantasy plots. We get a bit of a crossover with another series of hers and loads of hints towards ACOTAR and TOG and it was so fun reading those!
I'm thrilled to see how those more fantasy-ish plotlines will develop, so even if I didn't really like the rebellion plot, there were still other nice storylines.
THE REP:
I can't even be bothered with the SJM antis anymore because I know they'll complain no matter what she puts into her books or not. There's so much LGBT+ rep in this and also a lot of those couples have one or two characters that are POC. It isn't made into a big deal, there aren't any cringe coming out scenes, it's honestly so refreshing and nice to see and we finally get our sapphic witches rep. So please, just give her a chance, she's really come a long way since TOG and there's no reason to still keep hating on her when we're not criticising other authors of the era like Kiera Cass.
CONCL:
I rarely read long-ass fantasy novels anymore but I'm so glad I continued reading this series! It was way easier to get into it than it was with the first book and I really enjoyed the novel.
Of course, the last chapter was amazing (post-credit scene vibes) and I hope it won't take me another three years to get to the next book.
Okay, so this book was long and so full of plot and I'm sure I've already forgotten all of it but let's try this:
THE CHARACTERS:
I absolutely loved the cast in this sequel and while the first book was very much a "Bryce and Hunt" novel, this time the big amount of characters we got introduced to in the first book all got their moments to shine and either already had good storylines or we got hints to exciting ones in the future (Ithan, I'm looking at you).
In my opinion, this is the first time SJM has managed to write true morally grey characters (and not just misunderstood bad boys), mainly with Corman and Tharion, who make wild choices, whose purpose isn't solely to make this a better world. Same goes for so many of the female characters, my favourites being Lidia and Celestina. They have their own difficult past and present situations to work with and can't just accept anything that Bryce plans for them.
Bryce really isn't a perfect angel either — she makes really dumb choices in this book but they're also very human choices. She's just getting into this whole Chosen One thing and she really struggles with it and its consequences at times. But as I said, her choices are all understandable (to some degree), you can tell that she only means the best but sometimes we all fuck up and that's portrayed really well here.
Shoutout to Hunt here, who's always portrayed as this big alphahole, but man actually thinks from time to time and questions what Bryce and him are doing. Men in this fantasy thinking over their relationship? In this economy? More likely than you think.
Going against all expectations (mainly my own), I've chosen to break my streak of my favourite character in SJM books always being the bisexual blonde cousin. I really tried to love Cormac as much as I love Mor and Aedion but 1.) I don't love him that much (or at all) and 2.) Ruhn. That's all. But I have hopes of at least keeping the bisexual streak going, we've still got books left, after all.
THE PLOT:
Unpopular opinion but making the human rebellion with very understandable goals and wishes out to be the bad guys alongside the Asteri (who are just straight up villains) is a really dumb idea.
I already didn't understand why we were against this rebellion in the first book because, yes, a lot of our cast is non-human but Bryce at least is half-human and has human parents, and, as a fellow human, I find it hard to get invested in a plot that makes the oppressed humans out to be the bad ones.
Especially Pippa is such a cheap, two-dimensional character and I really had to suspend my beliefs and focus on the actually enjoyable parts of the book (mainly the characters) to accept all these plot points.
We do have some nice world building and it is something completely different to what SJM has done before and it's a nice mix of sci-fi and fantasy plots. We get a bit of a crossover with another series of hers and loads of hints towards ACOTAR and TOG and it was so fun reading those!
I'm thrilled to see how those more fantasy-ish plotlines will develop, so even if I didn't really like the rebellion plot, there were still other nice storylines.
THE REP:
I can't even be bothered with the SJM antis anymore because I know they'll complain no matter what she puts into her books or not. There's so much LGBT+ rep in this and also a lot of those couples have one or two characters that are POC. It isn't made into a big deal, there aren't any cringe coming out scenes, it's honestly so refreshing and nice to see and we finally get our sapphic witches rep. So please, just give her a chance, she's really come a long way since TOG and there's no reason to still keep hating on her when we're not criticising other authors of the era like Kiera Cass.
CONCL:
I rarely read long-ass fantasy novels anymore but I'm so glad I continued reading this series! It was way easier to get into it than it was with the first book and I really enjoyed the novel.
Of course, the last chapter was amazing (post-credit scene vibes) and I hope it won't take me another three years to get to the next book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Sexual content, Slavery, Child abuse, Physical abuse, and Violence
Moderate: Grief and War
Minor: Xenophobia and Torture
ritareadstrash's review
slow-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? It's complicated
2.0
This is going to be shocking (heh), but this review is going to upset some people.
Please tread with caution, not only for extremely light spoilers, but also SA trigger warning. This is super edited for the word limit.
I’ll be up front, I didn’t have high hopes going in. I desperately felt the first book needed an editor, and this wrist breaker could’ve been halved. However, I don’t read these books expecting them to alter my life. I am a raccoon, and this is my trash horde.
Right out the gate, we get this prologue that made me uncomfortable, at best. It reads as WWII, historical fiction, set in a concentration camp, but made fae. It took me about 100-200 pages to realize the prologue is set in the current story timeline and relevant, in some way.
My issue is the rape that occurs and is brushed off with zero CW. In the scene, we get from a man’s perspective, through a type of telepathy. The woman is violently grabbed, hurt, scared, and forced to have sex with her partner. He believes she is being attacked and raped. When he finally reconnects with her she says she’s fine, she was just startled and said yes.
I brought this up in multiple conversations, and everyone brushed it off with “well she wrote that she said yes.” My issue isn’t with the clarification but the lack of acknowledgment that spousal/partner rape occurs. If you want to stick to this terrible WWII allegory SJM has in place, then this is like the many families forced to take in Nazis and “offer” their wives and daughters to have sex with them, or those same women die.
The consensus by readers to not acknowledge this book needs a massive TW/CW to protect real life victims, is a massive slap in the face. This is not a victimless crime. The character says yes to save her life, like women do in real life. there's never any real choice.
There were a lot of other issues for me throughout the book, like why is Bryce constantly in a thong and why do we need to know every time she is, and I’m wide open to discuss it in the comments or DMs to avoid spoilers.
Please tread with caution, not only for extremely light spoilers, but also SA trigger warning. This is super edited for the word limit.
I’ll be up front, I didn’t have high hopes going in. I desperately felt the first book needed an editor, and this wrist breaker could’ve been halved. However, I don’t read these books expecting them to alter my life. I am a raccoon, and this is my trash horde.
Right out the gate, we get this prologue that made me uncomfortable, at best. It reads as WWII, historical fiction, set in a concentration camp, but made fae. It took me about 100-200 pages to realize the prologue is set in the current story timeline and relevant, in some way.
My issue is the rape that occurs and is brushed off with zero CW. In the scene, we get from a man’s perspective, through a type of telepathy. The woman is violently grabbed, hurt, scared, and forced to have sex with her partner. He believes she is being attacked and raped. When he finally reconnects with her she says she’s fine, she was just startled and said yes.
I brought this up in multiple conversations, and everyone brushed it off with “well she wrote that she said yes.” My issue isn’t with the clarification but the lack of acknowledgment that spousal/partner rape occurs. If you want to stick to this terrible WWII allegory SJM has in place, then this is like the many families forced to take in Nazis and “offer” their wives and daughters to have sex with them, or those same women die.
The consensus by readers to not acknowledge this book needs a massive TW/CW to protect real life victims, is a massive slap in the face. This is not a victimless crime. The character says yes to save her life, like women do in real life. there's never any real choice.
There were a lot of other issues for me throughout the book, like why is Bryce constantly in a thong and why do we need to know every time she is, and I’m wide open to discuss it in the comments or DMs to avoid spoilers.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, War, Xenophobia, and Slavery
Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, Murder, Blood, and Grief
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