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grace_b_3's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
While I enjoyed the worldbuilding, the romance wasn't for me; there was too much Reylo influence in it. The world was interesting, and I think this book had pretty solid worldbuilding, especially for a fantasy romance.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, War, Abandonment, Addiction, and Violence
Minor: Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Child abuse
littlemissmommy's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
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
This book is my new empire!
I loved every minute of this book. It’s a true enemies to lovers story and I am so here for it. The world building is superb, complete with a whole new set of wildlife, slang and colloquialisms, and a cool magic system. The story is a mix of war and politics. Talasyn is a fantastically angry girl, full of snark and fueled by rage and determination. Alaric on the other hand is such an awkward morally grey a-hole. And he’s my new number one book boyfriend.
I’ll be honest, about half way through this book I was getting Kylo Ren vibes from Alaric, only better and it took me until the end of the book and Alaric’s stupid, inelegant attempt at affection for me to piece together why I love him so much. Alaric reminds me of Zuko. A shadow daddy version of Zuko and I’m done. This beautiful, awkward boy needs love and care.
This book has a couple steamy scenes and one mildly spicy scene, I’d call it a 2-2.5 on the spicy level, as they haven’t gone all the way YET. But based on that one scene I am eagerly awaiting a higher spice level next book.
Also this ends with a mild cliff hanger. Nothing that will have you throwing a book or your phone against a wall and screaming into the void, but a solid plot hook to ensure you want to read book 2.
Anyways, if you’re hesitating to read this, or thinking about waiting until the whole series comes out, don’t wait. Take the plunge, and fall in love. I promise this book is going to blow everything else out of the water. Also I need more people to suffer along with me in the wait for October.
Off to preorder book two!
I loved every minute of this book. It’s a true enemies to lovers story and I am so here for it. The world building is superb, complete with a whole new set of wildlife, slang and colloquialisms, and a cool magic system. The story is a mix of war and politics. Talasyn is a fantastically angry girl, full of snark and fueled by rage and determination. Alaric on the other hand is such an awkward morally grey a-hole. And he’s my new number one book boyfriend.
I’ll be honest, about half way through this book I was getting Kylo Ren vibes from Alaric, only better and it took me until the end of the book and Alaric’s stupid, inelegant attempt at affection for me to piece together why I love him so much. Alaric reminds me of Zuko. A shadow daddy version of Zuko and I’m done. This beautiful, awkward boy needs love and care.
This book has a couple steamy scenes and one mildly spicy scene, I’d call it a 2-2.5 on the spicy level, as they haven’t gone all the way YET. But based on that one scene I am eagerly awaiting a higher spice level next book.
Also this ends with a mild cliff hanger. Nothing that will have you throwing a book or your phone against a wall and screaming into the void, but a solid plot hook to ensure you want to read book 2.
Anyways, if you’re hesitating to read this, or thinking about waiting until the whole series comes out, don’t wait. Take the plunge, and fall in love. I promise this book is going to blow everything else out of the water. Also I need more people to suffer along with me in the wait for October.
Off to preorder book two!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Violence, Abandonment, War, Grief, and Sexual content
Minor: Death
ayeitsdaye's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
It took longer than I expected to get into this story, considering I came into it knowing it’s a reylo fic. The author’s rich vocabulary bordered on purple prose at times, but overall added depth.
My biggest complaint would be that Talasyn and Alaric’s POVs, while executed in a way that disrupted continuity the least, I felt like the depth on each side was out of sync? Overall it was worth a read, and I’ll be looking out for the sequel!
My biggest complaint would be that Talasyn and Alaric’s POVs, while executed in a way that disrupted continuity the least, I felt like the depth on each side was out of sync? Overall it was worth a read, and I’ll be looking out for the sequel!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Sexual content, War, and Colonisation
Minor: Pregnancy, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, and Xenophobia
kiwij96's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Very trope-y but enjoyable slow burn romantasy with good worldbuilding and magic system.
Could easily have been a longer book to develop the magic system a bit better but hopefully the next book will manage that. Gives more of a sci-fi vibe with the worldbuilding including spaceships.
Romance was very slow-burn and I appreciated that.
At times I found it very topical and hard to read as a form of escapism with everything that's going on in the world. This book handles land invasion and genocide and the villains acting like they are the righteous heroes liberating a rogue state.
Could easily have been a longer book to develop the magic system a bit better but hopefully the next book will manage that. Gives more of a sci-fi vibe with the worldbuilding including spaceships.
Romance was very slow-burn and I appreciated that.
At times I found it very topical and hard to read as a form of escapism with everything that's going on in the world. This book handles land invasion and genocide and the villains acting like they are the righteous heroes liberating a rogue state.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment, Death, Violence, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, and War
Moderate: Child abuse, Genocide, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Pregnancy, Sexual content, and Xenophobia
isabelgrace18's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
hopeful
informative
mysterious
reflective
relaxing
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: War, Death, and Violence
Moderate: Pregnancy
roseleebooks's review against another edition
adventurous
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
This was a solid read for me and I really enjoyed it overall. I wasn't sure going in how much Guanzon's fanfic might play into it and having never read it can say that other than some of the character descriptions and descriptions of the magic system at times I would not have realized that it originated from that.
What I liked: the ambition of the plot. There was a lot happening but it felt cohesive and like it was progressing in a way that made sense. The political aspects were more enjoyable than I would have expected. The tension between Talasyn and Alaric was very well written also. Early in the book I was looking forward to scenes where they interacted. I also really liked listening to this on audiobook. I read some of it in book format but the writing and dialogue really lend themselves well to an audio format.
What I didn't like: sometimes the angst and arguments between Talasyn and Alaric were a little too much for me. And maybe this was because I wasn't quite in the mood to read about that type of relationship.Also, the earlier parts of the book during the war felt very abrupt and didn't allow us to develop much connection to the events and the side characters. However, none of this detracted enough from the book to be a big issue enough.
Overall this was an entertaining read and I will be continuing the series with the next book.
What I liked: the ambition of the plot. There was a lot happening but it felt cohesive and like it was progressing in a way that made sense. The political aspects were more enjoyable than I would have expected. The tension between Talasyn and Alaric was very well written also. Early in the book I was looking forward to scenes where they interacted. I also really liked listening to this on audiobook. I read some of it in book format but the writing and dialogue really lend themselves well to an audio format.
What I didn't like: sometimes the angst and arguments between Talasyn and Alaric were a little too much for me. And maybe this was because I wasn't quite in the mood to read about that type of relationship.
Overall this was an entertaining read and I will be continuing the series with the next book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: War, Xenophobia, Violence, Colonisation, Death, Death of parent, Sexual content, Injury/Injury detail, Child abuse, and Cursing
Moderate: Emotional abuse
mels_reading_log's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
This is a romantacy book about two shoulders from waring lands. He has shadow powers and she has light powers, they could each be the other’s downfall. But for some reason they can’t convince themselves to cast the death blow. And then they realize they need each other, but can they truly trust each other.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, War, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, and Xenophobia
Moderate: Abandonment, Pregnancy, and Child abuse
amy_in_the_city's review against another edition
adventurous
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
I didn't know going into this that it was a Reylo fanfic with the serial numbers filed off, but I figured it out about 50 pages in. There were a few issues I think were caused in part by it originally being a fanfic. First, the characters were underdeveloped in the beginning, and I didn't quite buy that they were really enemies. They were truly enemies because they were on opposite sides of a war, but I would have liked for there to be a more personal element to it. Maybe one or both of them could have personally killed someone the other one loved or he could have been responsible for destroying her village, or something like that. In a fanfiction, we have this backstory already because it's in the source material, but since these are new characters, we don't know what they've done to really cause them to hate each other.
The magic system also wasn't very well developed. The shadow magic and the light magic didn't do anything different from each other. They both just formed weapons that did the same things but in different colors. I chalk this up to this being adapted from Star Wars fanfiction where the characters originally probably used the same source of power (the Force) and the same type of weapon (lightsabers).
The pacing was off. It took almost 200 pages for the main characters to actually have a conversation and interact beyond a few fight scenes. It was so weird to have a romance book where the couple hardly interacts for the first half of the book. Once the romance got started, I did enjoy how it developed. I was put off a bit by the insta-lust. The characters would be in the middle of trying to kill each other and then they'd be thinking about how the other one's eyes are so beautiful. Despite the insta-lust, I'd say the romance itself is a slow burn. They started getting to some good character development towards the end as they began to really explore the differences in their ideologies and the conflict that causes in their relationship.
Overall, I enjoyed this well enough, and it definitely picked up towards the end. I'm not sure if I'll read the next book in the series as I'm not super invested in the plot or characters though.
The magic system also wasn't very well developed. The shadow magic and the light magic didn't do anything different from each other. They both just formed weapons that did the same things but in different colors. I chalk this up to this being adapted from Star Wars fanfiction where the characters originally probably used the same source of power (the Force) and the same type of weapon (lightsabers).
The pacing was off. It took almost 200 pages for the main characters to actually have a conversation and interact beyond a few fight scenes. It was so weird to have a romance book where the couple hardly interacts for the first half of the book. Once the romance got started, I did enjoy how it developed. I was put off a bit by the insta-lust. The characters would be in the middle of trying to kill each other and then they'd be thinking about how the other one's eyes are so beautiful. Despite the insta-lust, I'd say the romance itself is a slow burn. They started getting to some good character development towards the end as they began to really explore the differences in their ideologies and the conflict that causes in their relationship.
Overall, I enjoyed this well enough, and it definitely picked up towards the end. I'm not sure if I'll read the next book in the series as I'm not super invested in the plot or characters though.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Genocide, War, Abandonment, Death, Violence, and Colonisation
Moderate: Grief, Animal cruelty, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Sexual content, and Domestic abuse
sfdogmom's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
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
3.75
Good! One 🌶️
Content Warnings
Graphic: War, Violence, and Colonisation
Moderate: Death
Minor: Sexual content
sleepygym's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual content, Violence, and War