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esendis's review
adventurous
emotional
inspiring
reflective
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
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual assault, Self harm, Rape, and Suicide attempt
Moderate: Murder and Vomit
Minor: Homophobia
ehmannky's review
emotional
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
3.0
I think overall this book was fine, but would be better served if people knew going in it was less romantasy (the romance is very much a B-plot in this when I felt it should have been the A-plot) and more political/court intrigue and recovery from trauma. There's also not that much magic in it either.
I liked the characters and their relationship, and I liked getting to explore a world where queerness is embedded into the society, but the overall mystery and court intrigue did nothing for me. I think many problems could have been solved had the timeline been drawn out and the characters given more time to adjust to things and interactions with more of the palace residents. Like, this is billed as a slowburn, which I suppose it kind of is considering it's over 500 pages, but the story itself takes place over 3 weeks, with the romance taking place over 1 week. Like for the reader this is a slowburn but it's still soooooo fast in-universe. And since it's such a short timeline, I truly did not care even a little bit about the reveal of who was behind the mysteries, because we really had so little interaction with them throughout the story. I cannot believe there was a villain monologue where every step of the plan was spelled out (because again, the book's timeline is so short, and there's not really any space for the characters to actually solve the mystery or learn about this secondary character). I also didn't care for how there's never any down time. Every single chapter ends with some kind of cliffhanger and interruption. Like, it got to the point where Cae and Vel would have a quiet moment and I'd just brace for someone to knock on the door because they never get to have a normal conclusion to a story.
As many reviewers have pointed out, there is an on-the-page rape very quickly and most of the book is Velasin recovering from it. And even though there are trigger warnings, I think it's important to know that this assault and his first suicide attempt take place within the first 50 pages. Like, avoid if that would be triggering.
I liked the characters and their relationship, and I liked getting to explore a world where queerness is embedded into the society, but the overall mystery and court intrigue did nothing for me. I think many problems could have been solved had the timeline been drawn out and the characters given more time to adjust to things and interactions with more of the palace residents. Like, this is billed as a slowburn, which I suppose it kind of is considering it's over 500 pages, but the story itself takes place over 3 weeks, with the romance taking place over 1 week. Like for the reader this is a slowburn but it's still soooooo fast in-universe. And since it's such a short timeline, I truly did not care even a little bit about the reveal of who was behind the mysteries, because we really had so little interaction with them throughout the story. I cannot believe there was a villain monologue where every step of the plan was spelled out (because again, the book's timeline is so short, and there's not really any space for the characters to actually solve the mystery or learn about this secondary character). I also didn't care for how there's never any down time. Every single chapter ends with some kind of cliffhanger and interruption. Like, it got to the point where Cae and Vel would have a quiet moment and I'd just brace for someone to knock on the door because they never get to have a normal conclusion to a story.
As many reviewers have pointed out, there is an on-the-page rape very quickly and most of the book is Velasin recovering from it. And even though there are trigger warnings, I think it's important to know that this assault and his first suicide attempt take place within the first 50 pages. Like, avoid if that would be triggering.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Rape, Animal death, Violence, Blood, Sexual assault, Death of parent, and Murder
isxelle's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
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
3.25
3-3.4
i forgot to make this review so i can't remember my exact rating.
cute romance combined with healing from trauma and an intriguing political murder mystery. i'm grateful for a book club i’m in for making me pick this one up. i probably wouldn’t have otherwise because i don’t usually gravitate towards books with heavier traumatic topics. TW for sexual assault in ch 2. as a result of this life changing event, we follow vel on his road of healing and recovery. cae is such a perfect man. he’s so whipped for vel and i was living for it.
However, with all these different elements i feel that the overall story ended up lacking in some aspects. there’s a whole other 2 countries on this map that barely get mentioned. off the top of my head, i can’t name a single thing about them and that is if they were even mentioned in this book at all.
another aspect of this world is magic. it turned out to be quite an important detail in this book and i feel like we were told rather little about it. i’m surprised that there aren’t any defenses against magic users. it’s against the law to use magic on others without their consent but that’s that. that’s literally it. there’s no defences or anything talked about in this
it’s kind of surprising that the events of this book took place during a little over a week. the escalation was crazy. i honestly had kind of bad vibes from laecia in the beginning with the way she was saying she’d whip the ralian bruteness out of him. i suppose with ralia’s reputation that was to be expected, but i can’t believe she devolved into madness that fast. maybe she was always like that and had never grown up? cae had mentioned her saying “she deserved it”
in reference to a kid she had got in a fight with and then many years later saying the same thing when killing a groom. she was always getting people to do her dirty work. ALSO what the hell happened to her magical exhaustion. does she just have crazy stamina???? that anad guy said she seemed tired but then a couple hours later she was crushing hearts and frying more nerves. i definitely have a lot of questions.
this part is just be me having a personal ick, but vel is the kind of person who cannot accept a compliment and it pissed me the fuck off at some points. he is so self-deprecating and it was annoying me. yknow those types of people who are like haha i fucking suck lmao. ya that is him.
i liked the beginning and middle more that the last like 100 pages.
i forgot to make this review so i can't remember my exact rating.
cute romance combined with healing from trauma and an intriguing political murder mystery. i'm grateful for a book club i’m in for making me pick this one up. i probably wouldn’t have otherwise because i don’t usually gravitate towards books with heavier traumatic topics. TW for sexual assault in ch 2. as a result of this life changing event, we follow vel on his road of healing and recovery. cae is such a perfect man. he’s so whipped for vel and i was living for it.
However, with all these different elements i feel that the overall story ended up lacking in some aspects. there’s a whole other 2 countries on this map that barely get mentioned. off the top of my head, i can’t name a single thing about them and that is if they were even mentioned in this book at all.
another aspect of this world is magic. it turned out to be quite an important detail in this book and i feel like we were told rather little about it. i’m surprised that there aren’t any defenses against magic users. it’s against the law to use magic on others without their consent but that’s that. that’s literally it. there’s no defences or anything talked about in this
it’s kind of surprising that the events of this book took place during a little over a week. the escalation was crazy.
in reference to a kid she had got in a fight with and then many years later saying the same thing when killing a groom. she was always getting people to do her dirty work. ALSO what the hell happened to her magical exhaustion. does she just have crazy stamina???? that anad guy said she seemed tired but then a couple hours later she was crushing hearts and frying more nerves. i definitely have a lot of questions.
this part is just be me having a personal ick, but vel is the kind of person who cannot accept a compliment and it pissed me the fuck off at some points. he is so self-deprecating and it was annoying me. yknow those types of people who are like haha i fucking suck lmao. ya that is him.
i liked the beginning and middle more that the last like 100 pages.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Self harm
Moderate: Sexual assault, Homophobia, Violence, and Outing
thisqueerreadstoomuch's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
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
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Homophobia, Transphobia, Xenophobia, Sexual content, Rape, Sexual assault, and Murder
readingbee416's review
adventurous
challenging
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? Yes
3.0
This book was a wild ride. I enjoyed it overall and Caethari is a wonderful cinnamon roll character that deserves the whole world (and Markel, too), but MIND THE TRIGGERS. This book has some very dark bits and the author makes some interesting choices.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Animal death, Blood, Suicide attempt, Homophobia, Death, Sexual assault, Outing, Rape, and Animal cruelty
cadereading's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, and Animal death
prairieowl's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
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
4.0
Mixed 3rd person limited and 1st person POV narration.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual assault
glowhoya's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Absolutely delicious, i love arranged marriages and court intrigue!! They’re gay! There’s (a bit of) magic! Nonbinary/trans/gnc people are just there! Not a spectacle, not a commentary, just existing and if ppl don’t like it they’re the weird ones!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual violence, Rape, and Sexual assault
Moderate: Violence
Minor: Vomit
There is on-page depiction of rape and discussions of said rape throughout. It is not gratuitous and the overall story is one of healing.rciurca's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual assault
pipsqueak_squid's review
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
reflective
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? It's complicated
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide attempt, Sexual assault, Self harm, and Rape