Reviews tagging 'Sexual content'

Wrath of the Dragons by Olivia Rose Darling

7 reviews

nadroj26's review against another edition

4.0

dark emotional 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

Content Warnings

simplyhienreads's review against another edition

3.5

adventurous funny mysterious slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Content Warnings

literarymary95's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous dark emotional 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 was a huge fan of Fear the Flames, and Wrath of the Dragon did not disappoint! While there may be less sexual tension and spice, the political intrigue and plot more than make up for it. The love between Elowen and Cayden is still as strong as ever, and I was so invested in their story.

That ending, though! I was not expecting it at all and am already dying to get my hands on the next book—even if I have to wait another year for it.

Content Warnings

a10a's review against another edition

4.5

adventurous lighthearted 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

Je remercie Netgalley pour m'avoir offert cet ARC.

J’ai attendu si longtemps ce livre et il ne m’a pas déçue.

Elowen, LA REINE QUE TU ES !!! 🧎🏽‍♀️🧎🏽‍♀️

Par où commencer ?

Premièrement, pour les personnes qui ont lu Fear the Flames et n’étaient pas sûres de continuer, continuez.

Maintenant, ce que j’en ai pensé :

Wrath of the Dragons reprend directement là où s’est arrêté Fear the Flames. Le rythme du livre est plus lent et plus développé que le premier tome. La première partie se concentre surtout sur la relation entre Cayden et Elowen. Elowen ne lui fait plus confiance, Cayden essaie de réparer ce qu’il a brisé et en parallèle les 2 essaient de montrer qu’ils sont un couple royal uni et puissant. Ils essaient d’assurer leur “légitimité” sur le trône.
Ensuite, a lieu la préparation à la guerre et la formation d’alliances. On fait la rencontre de nouveaux personnages et potentiellement de nouvelles relations ?
Au fur et à mesure du livre, en même temps qu’Elowen on en apprend beaucoup plus sur le monde notamment sur les dieux, royaumes et dragons. Les dragons dans ce tome ont toujours leur côté “animal de compagnie” / “domestique” mais c’est sans rappelé leur côté sauvage et dangereux. Chaque dragon a sa personnalité, je les ai plus aimés que dans le premier tome et j’ai adoré leur relation avec Elowen.
La dernière partie est celle attendue le plus et a été inattendue pour certains points notamment la fin.

Un de mes passages préférés à la fin, attention spoliers :

Cayden quand il est fou de rage, tristesse et qu’il dit "Bring me Nykeem!”, "BRING HIM TO ME OR I WILL PEEL YOUR FLESH FROM YOUR BONES!”

Un de mes passages préférés, what a king.

Le seul point "négatif", même si ça ne l'est pas vraiment, j’aurais aimé avoir plus de moments entre Finnian et Elowen car je ne pourrai jamais en avoir assez et d’autres moments avec la bande toute réunie.

J'attends le troisième tome avec impatience.

English version

I would like to thank Netgalley for offering me this ARC.

I have waited so long for this book and it did not disappoint.
Elowen, the queen that you are !! 🧎🏽‍♀️🧎🏽‍♀️

Where to start?
Firstly, for those of you who have read Fear the Flames and weren't sure whether to continue, keep going.
Now, what I thought:

Wrath of the Dragons picks up right where Fear the Flames left off. The pace of the book is slower and more developed than the first volume. The first part focuses mainly on the relationship between Cayden and Elowen. Elowen no longer trusts him, Cayden is trying to repair what he has broken and, at the same time, the 2 are trying to show that they are a united and powerful royal couple. They're trying to ensure their “legitimacy” on the throne.
Then comes the preparation for war and the formation of alliances. We meet new characters and potentially new relationships?
As the book progresses, along with Elowen, we learn a great deal more about the world, particularly the gods, kingdoms and dragons. The dragons in this tome still have their “pet” / “domestic” side, but that's without recalling their wild and dangerous side. Each dragon has its own personality, I liked them more than in the first volume and I loved their relationship with Elowen.
The last part was the is the one we were waiting for the most and was unexpected especially the ending.
One of my favorite passages at the end, attention spolier
Cayden quand il est fou de rage, tristesse et qu’il dit "Bring me Nykeem!”, "BRING HIM TO ME OR I WILL PEEL YOUR FLESH FROM YOUR BONES!”
Un de mes passages préférés, what a king.

The only "negative" point, even if it's not really, is that I would have liked more moments between Finnian and Elowen because I can never get enough of them and more moments with the gang all together.

Content Warnings

kimwritesstuff's review against another edition

3.0

adventurous 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

This is the second book in the series, you definitely need to have read the first to understand this book.

If you like Romance Fantasy as a genre, you'll probably enjoy both books immensely. For me, I had several issues with the overall pacing and plot for this to be a 5-star read. I did enjoy the story, but I felt like the ending was a gotcha moment done for shock. It felt like the author ran out of ideas and that's where she decided to take the story.

We start the story right after the events of the first book. The first 100ish pages are Cayden and Elowen rebuilding their relationship....which was about 50 pages too much. There was so much time spent mooning over each other and not enough time furthering the plot. Even when they go to rescue more of Elowen's people, it's still kind of dull. Once the pair get married, there is a swifter movement in the plot. I did enjoy the battle scenes and the political intrigue. Especially Cayden and Elowen meeting other royals. I felt like we had more opportunities for them to grow as a couple and individual characters. Cayden and Elowen also each had some separate story lines. I like it when characters can develop outside of the love story.

The main issue I had besides the pacing was that there were too many tropes. We have soul bonds, inappropriate use of a signet ring, magical tattoos, touch her and die, and other common tropes. It just felt like too many one right on top of each other. It just felt like the author was regurgitating other people's writing. I just wished there had been more original writing. Also, no matter how many times there was evidence of Gods/Goddesses, both Cayden and Elowen would deny their existence. It was frustrating and also very naive. Like you have all this evidence around you that these beings are real and you're just going to be like nah. That makes no sense.

Am I going to keep reading this series? Probably. Am I going to love it? I don't know, I'm hoping the next book will exceed my expectations.

Thanks to NetGalley and Ballantine Delacorte Press for the advanced copy, all opinions are my own.

Content Warnings

ambeanie's review against another edition

3.5

adventurous dark emotional funny sad tense medium-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: Yes

Wrath of the Dragons picks up right where Fear the Flames left off. Unfortunately, there was a lot I did not remember from the end of FtF so I paused to refresh myself. (Would love if every author included a refresher at the beginning of each new book in a series.)

Now that Elowen has her dragons and is set to marry Cayden, she's got a lot to prepare for before a showdown with her daddy. A huge chunk of this book is expanding upon the world that Olivia Rose Darling built to forge alliances. We are introduced to more characters and they visit a lot of different places. Sometimes it was confusing to keep all the new characters straight (I'm looking at you, Zale and Zarius). There were times when I felt like there was stuff happening with the side characters (I love Finnian, Saskia, and Ryder) and I found myself wanting to know what was going on with them versus the MCs storyline.

While I liked this book more than book 1, I still had some issues with it. I felt that FtF was super tropey and with WotD, it felt very much like a mashup of a bunch of other books and this series struggles with it's own originality. I know that a lot of romantasies can feel the same but here, we were all over the place and it was painfully obvious where inspo was taken from. The pacing was super fast the last 15-20% of the book and I do feel like we needed more background on things cos sometimes, they didn't really make sense or weren't explained (see below past spoiler warning if you've already read the book).

I will say that I was 100% NOT expecting that ending and I was crying like a baby. Of course, I need book 3 cos that was rough. Just please please please do not let book 3 be a repeat of "The Songbird and the Heart of Stone" by Carissa Broadbent cos this could be really really cool or boring as all hell.

Appreciate NetGalley and Ballantine | Delacorte Press for providing the opportunity to read and review this book.

Things I loved/disliked below - beware of ⚠️ SPOILERS ⚠️
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Loved
- Cayden in general and getting his POV
- Dragon rep cos I was screaming about them being nonexistent in FtF 🐉
- Elowen and Cayden being marked by the gods 🥰✨
- Finnian and Elowen's relationship - would love our side character's POVs in the next book or maybe a novella after the next book?
- Ryder and Cayden's bromance
- Elowen and her dragon's wrath 🔥

Disliked
- Elowen v. Daddy felt anticlimactic and that mage came out of nowhere to be the baddie we didn't know we had to watch out for? What was that?
- While I assumed that Cayden would present with some sort of magic, when they came out during his vengeance spree and it was shadow related, I did do an eye roll only because at this point, don't we have enough shadow daddies?!
- Obviously Elowen dying
- Cayden going to immediately summon the Goddess of Souls after he takes care of business. While I love an MMC who will burn down the world for his FMC, he's literally a king and at the end I was like "who's gonna be in charge to clean up this mess?" Cayden is now ruling over an expanded kingdom but peaced out without a convo with anyone

Questions I need answers to!
- What kind of magic/power was displayed when Elowen and Cayden were in the water with the kraken? I wanted to know more but get that they were at war so there was no time for explanations
- In general I need more explanation about the magic/powers cos they seem to come up only as conveniences to move the plot forward
- Do we assume that daddy's new queen is just a consort cos she was left alive?
- Who's dealing with the aftermath of the war? Aren't we worried about potential breaking of alliances?
- Did Zarius kill daddy and take the Thirwin throne? I assume yes but it all happened off page so I would love that to be touched upon in the next book

Content Warnings

shawniejo's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny sad tense medium-paced

Content Warnings

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