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3.7 AVERAGE
3.7 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
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:
Complicated
SPOILER FREE REVIEW AHEAD
THIS BOOK LIVES UP TO THE HYPE!
It started off slower than I expected, but man it really builds. It was a total page Turner. I finished it in less than 48 hours- could not put it down. I even made myself nauseous reading it in the car and powered through to finish just now! The characters were good in this & were endearing. I thought I had the key figured out and I was wrong about that! There were twists and turns I did not see coming and I enjoyed the world building immensely! I’m eagerly awaiting NightBane to read the follow up! Alex Aster has a new fan! What a brilliant new author!
THIS BOOK LIVES UP TO THE HYPE!
It started off slower than I expected, but man it really builds. It was a total page Turner. I finished it in less than 48 hours- could not put it down. I even made myself nauseous reading it in the car and powered through to finish just now! The characters were good in this & were endearing. I thought I had the key figured out and I was wrong about that! There were twists and turns I did not see coming and I enjoyed the world building immensely! I’m eagerly awaiting NightBane to read the follow up! Alex Aster has a new fan! What a brilliant new author!
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
DNF at 22% into the audiobook.
Oh no, this book just isn't for me. It felt very heavy-handed on the 'tropes' and very light on the character work and world building. I found the premise really interesting, and the magic system intriguing enough, but the execution was actually pretty bad.
Oh no, this book just isn't for me. It felt very heavy-handed on the 'tropes' and very light on the character work and world building. I found the premise really interesting, and the magic system intriguing enough, but the execution was actually pretty bad.
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
tense
slow-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
A deadly contest, 6 rulers each with their own curses and powers and kingdoms all at stake, and the opportunity to break their curse... if they are willing to make the ultimate sacrifice. The story follows Isla, one of the six rulers, who is a Wildling and a ruler, however, her darkest secret is that she has no powers. Every 100 years the island of Lightlark appears to host the Centennial, a deadly game that invites the 6 rulers to play, and the game offers the rulers a chance to break their curse.... except this might be the final chance for any of them to break it. Isla has no powers, and she is entering into a deadly game with more seasoned players with even deadlier powers, who can she trust and what is truly going on? Alliances will be broken, hearts will be broken, and there will be one ruler dead by the end of it. The story hooked me, I am always down for a deadly contest with magic, and I did enjoy how Isla had to navigate the game and her alliances when she is the player with the least advantages. What I didn’t enjoy and was baffled by was the love triangle, the one between her, Oro, and Grim. See the Grim and Isla thing is definitely prominent and understandable, however the Oro and Isla relationship came completely out of left field in the last 20% of the book that had me scratching my head and asking myself what I missed???? I am always down for angsty betrayals, revenge, and complicated villain gets the girl trope, but this love triangle with her switching over to suddenly wanting Oro, who she never really wanted or mentioned wanting earlier in the story while it was so heavily focused on Grim left me a bit baffled by the ending of the book. Oro didn’t feel like. a love interest, he barely felt like more than a side character, so when he is suddenly moved into love interest territory I was left scratching my head. I definitely was having fun with the book until the entire twist and the love triangle, and as you can tell, the love triangle aspect was what really lowered the star ranking for me. I enjoyed the game and the alliances and even the romance between Grim and Isla., however I just was so thrown off by the ending that it definitely changed how I rated the book. I will definitely be reading the second book because I just have to see how this all plays out, I am especially invested in seeing how the entire Grim storyline plays out. Despite everything I am still rooting for him, even if it’s just for him to survive because honestly, he was the most fascinating and fun character in this book.
*Thanks Netgalley and PiqBooks for sending me an arc in exchange an arc in exchange for an honest review*
*Thanks Netgalley and PiqBooks for sending me an arc in exchange an arc in exchange for an honest review*
challenging
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
medium-paced
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This book was slower for me but the last 100 pages really brought it all together.