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lovebookish's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Injury/Injury detail, Child death, War, and Fire/Fire injury
sandse2's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Good setup for a series but needed more character development. Particularly between characters. The love interests were weakly incorporated and the main character was brash and obnoxious. I wish she would have been developed more in terms of her intelligence. But the storyline is good and I will be reading the second book in the series.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Gore, Colonisation, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Body horror, Classism, Child death, and Death
naluminum's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
hopeful
inspiring
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
This book started by jumping around the timeline a little abruptly. The context for the conflict between the Descended and the Mortals was well presented and a good representation of class differences and how starkly contrasting the priorities on each side are.
Honestly I felt that Diem was not the main character this story needed. Her actions are often rash and other characters, such as her childhood love interest, imply many times that she is ignorant to how her world works. As a consequence Diem is a force of chaos, disrupting the lives of the mortals just trying to survive and the Descended prince who was the last person to see her mother before she disappeared. And of course the ruthless prince wants to protect her as soon as he meets her, no matter how suspicious and standoffish Diem behaves towards him (mostly her personality, but also involvement with a rebel group). I will read the sequel because I’m intrigued by this MC who entirely overdramatic and I hope to see her mature or fail at embracing her heritage.
Honestly I felt that Diem was not the main character this story needed. Her actions are often rash and other characters, such as her childhood love interest, imply many times that she is ignorant to how her world works. As a consequence Diem is a force of chaos, disrupting the lives of the mortals just trying to survive and the Descended prince who was the last person to see her mother before she disappeared. And of course the ruthless prince wants to protect her as soon as he meets her, no matter how suspicious and standoffish Diem behaves towards him (mostly her personality, but also involvement with a rebel group). I will read the sequel because I’m intrigued by this MC who entirely overdramatic and I hope to see her mature or fail at embracing her heritage.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Classism, Murder, Violence, and Fire/Fire injury
dkgreads's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
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? No
4.0
Ooooh, I liked this! I really liked that there was a hint of romance, but the main focus of this installment was on character and world building. There was also action, mystery, and fabulous banter. Definitely looking forward to wherever this series is taking us!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Blood, Death, Injury/Injury detail, and Violence
Moderate: Sexual harassment
Minor: Sexual content
sarah_sedai_blueajah's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
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? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail and Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Grief, Medical content, and Death
amanda_reads13's review against another edition
lighthearted
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Diem is a healer who lives in a divided world. As a human she is a second class citizen to the Descended, those whose ancestors were Gods. When her mother goes missing she starts to question things more.
This was a pretty decent romantasy. The world building was good, yet a little inconsistent. The concept of the plot isn't super original, but kept me interested. There were a lot of common plot devices used in this book - divided society, imbalance of power, secret rebel group, secretly powerful FMC, etc...
There is a lot of this discussion about the injustice of a divided society where one side has all the power and the other has none. Diem struggles between her oath to do no harm as a healer and her rage at the treatment of her people.
Diem is a very frustrating character. She is extremely reckless and doesn't think about the consequences of her actions.It was pretty obvious that she has some magic and was going to be crowned the Queen of Lumnos. There were so many hints throughout the book. I am interested to see the growth of her character.
Henri is a character similar to many others in this genre. I didn't have a great feeling about him from the begining. He is Diem's childhood best friends and wants to marry her.We see very quickly that he wants to have control over her (Think Tamlin).
I had mixed feelings about the second half of the book. I felt like it was too rushed. The romance was not set up well. As the author attempts to speed up the plot line, we miss out on all the buildup and angst of a slow burn. She really needed to spend more time developing the romance for it to make sense and for us to be invested.
I don't have much of an option of Luther yet, as his character was barely developed in this book. He went from casual conversations with Diem to being wildly protective of her for no reason that was explained.
Tropes: enemies to potential lovers, childhood friends to lovers, slow burn
This was a pretty decent romantasy. The world building was good, yet a little inconsistent. The concept of the plot isn't super original, but kept me interested. There were a lot of common plot devices used in this book - divided society, imbalance of power, secret rebel group, secretly powerful FMC, etc...
There is a lot of this discussion about the injustice of a divided society where one side has all the power and the other has none. Diem struggles between her oath to do no harm as a healer and her rage at the treatment of her people.
Diem is a very frustrating character. She is extremely reckless and doesn't think about the consequences of her actions.
Henri is a character similar to many others in this genre. I didn't have a great feeling about him from the begining. He is Diem's childhood best friends and wants to marry her.
I had mixed feelings about the second half of the book. I felt like it was too rushed. The romance was not set up well. As the author attempts to speed up the plot line, we miss out on all the buildup and angst of a slow burn. She really needed to spend more time developing the romance for it to make sense and for us to be invested.
I don't have much of an option of Luther yet, as his character was barely developed in this book. He went from casual conversations with Diem to being wildly protective of her for no reason that was explained.
Tropes: enemies to potential lovers, childhood friends to lovers, slow burn
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gaslighting, Abandonment, Blood, Grief, and Fire/Fire injury
one_more_chapter96's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
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? It's complicated
5.0
An original and intriguing new fantasy plot with great world-building that didn’t bog you down to read. The characters were fun and layered and felt real - some good character development so far as well. Liking the magic system although some more insight into the possibilities of this would be good - perhaps more to come in the next books.
The romance subplot is great and just enough to keep you interested without taking over the story. I think there are a lot of questions unanswered but hinted at.
Beautifully written and so easy to read - finished it within a day.
Excited for more in this series, a great new fantasy romance find.
The romance subplot is great and just enough to keep you interested without taking over the story. I think there are a lot of questions unanswered but hinted at.
Beautifully written and so easy to read - finished it within a day.
Excited for more in this series, a great new fantasy romance find.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Classism, Medical content, and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: War, Sexual assault, Body horror, Abandonment, and Blood
hapalyn's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
4 stars
The world is interesting, and I find it to be very intriguing. I like the way the land is, and I think there's a lot more than meets the eye with this series. That being said, it wasn't a 5 star purely because of the STRESS I was stressing while reading. Personal preference, I just like less of the angst there, but I will continue reading.
Also Henri is so insufferable, and I can't stand him. Diem is an amazing character, yet she's so easily persuaded, which I hope to see her grow out of. Rooting for her and Luther.. but also Teller and Lily. Something tells me though that there's going to be a long, slow burn for our main heroine.
The world is interesting, and I find it to be very intriguing. I like the way the land is, and I think there's a lot more than meets the eye with this series. That being said, it wasn't a 5 star purely because of the STRESS I was stressing while reading. Personal preference, I just like less of the angst there, but I will continue reading.
Also Henri is so insufferable, and I can't stand him. Diem is an amazing character, yet she's so easily persuaded, which I hope to see her grow out of. Rooting for her and Luther.. but also Teller and Lily. Something tells me though that there's going to be a long, slow burn for our main heroine.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Gore, Blood, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Child death, and Cursing
Moderate: Sexual content
Minor: Death of parent and War
larajoye's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Don’t let the 3.5 stars scare you off from this book. It’s fantasy.. the world building and background character development took up most of the book. There were only 2-3 chapters before 75% of the way through the book that really had me invested.. BUT the end of the book is explosive and fantastic. Can’t wait to move on to the second book.
🌶️🌶️🌶️
🌶️🌶️🌶️
Content Warnings
Graphic: Toxic relationship, Violence, Hate crime, and Child death
Moderate: Blood, Sexual content, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Fire/Fire injury
carolibrary's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence and Child death
Moderate: War and Fire/Fire injury