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losthought323's review against another edition
adventurous
fast-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? No
2.75
I don't think SJM books are for me anymore. This was an okay story--all the plot questions from the previous books are addressed, and all the usual SJM writing hallmarks are here. But, the answers to these questions are either huge exposition dump of information that probably should have come up earlier, or a character has magically figured out a solution that no one else has at the last possible second, and the reader never really gets clued into how or why they find this answer.
The pacing is breakneck on this one. There's a conflict, there's the outcome of that conflict, and then the characters have about three lines of witty dialogue about how messed up that all is before they're running to put out the next fire. I know time is supposed to be limited, which is supposed to add tension, but It leaves the character and their development feeling topical at best.
My specific problems with this book:
1) THE POV CHANGES IN THE MIDDLE OF CHAPTERS???? WHYY???? And it's always awkward to jump from a cliffhanger to a separate plot thread that ends in another cliffhanger? Round and Round it goes.
2) I hate Bryce in this book. She constantly rages against The Astari and the Fae Lord and Ladies of the World for using their powers to abuse people, but half the time, she's just as bad as the people she hates.
-Early on Selene gives a condensed world history lesson to Bryce. Bryce spends the entire time ranting about how selfish it was for the sisters not to save the people behind her when she portal-ed away. Then, Bryce immediately takes two powerful weapons she doesn't know how to use, awakens an Ancient, and endangers two strangers and the entire planet because her world, her answers, and her people are more important than everyone else.
-She doesn't want to be a Fae Queen or associated with the Fae, but she will play the royal Fae card whenever it's convenient or necessary to save her friends and family.
-Towards the end of the book, Bryce uses the horn to contact Nesta to give her the death Mask and sends her human parents to the other world to get the powerful mask. But also admits she's just sending her parents because they're humans and in danger. There's a whole argument about not having enough time to save civilians. But there's enough time to call a helicopter, her friends, and her allies's friends to Allowen and fly to Nena, but not enough time to take a couple more people and send them to the non-Astarhi world.
3) Every problem, small or large, in this plot follows the same formula: The characters gather together and ask how we are going to take on this problem. Bryce is says she has a plan. During the plan, she fakes her way through and says something like, "I'm not sure what I'm doing," and then magically figures out exactly what she needs to do at the right time. Cue fawning side characters, mates and enemies---saying i knew she could do it!
Early in the book, Bryce is with Nesta and Azriel in tunnels. The story at the time is in Bryce's POV. Azriel notes her hand scraps aren't healing, but her knees are. Bryce makes an excuse that she's half human, and that's why it's not working. As a reader, I know Bryce, at this point, is in a strange world, with people she's not sure she can trust and seeking dangerous answers. I know she's holding her cards close to her chest for a reason. But the writing never gives us a hint of her intentions. We get context clues of whats coming-Nesta mentions the wyrm monster, the cave shakes, and i think we see the a dead one's bones. So it's not totally out of left field when Bryce is like haha, i have summoned the Wyrm with my blood as a distraction so I can run off. But why even have this chapter in Bryce's perspective if we never really get to be in her head? Wouldn't there be more stakes and tension here if Bryce explained even a bit of her actions and how she hid them from Nesta and Azriel? (The only way I can justify her not once not thinking about any plans whatsoever here is maybe she's worried about Rhysand hearing her thoughts. But it wouldn't be hard for there to be a line about her being paranoid he's listening.)
Another 'what the f***' moment of this for me was when Bryce portals home and "is held hostage" in her house. For most of the scenario, while she is home, there are no clues that she went there on purpose. She opens the chapter by saying my powers have a sense of humor for slamming my face into that wall. Then she whines and complains and banters with her dad for about two chapters, during which they trade information. Then, Bryce reveals she was faking being a hostage, stole a key to unlock her magic handcuffs from Ruhn's room (THAT'S SUPER CONVENIENT), and was just using her villainous' dad's massive ego to figure out the information she wanted on the magic blades and her star powers. Do we see her search for the key? No, we did see her hide in her borhters room and cry about her brother and husband being tortured on his bed. THE WHOLE CHAPTER IS IN HER POV--so why aren't we, as readers, privy to her master chess moves?
Bryce pulls out a notebook she stole from the Autumn King to barter with Morwen. When did she take that?
Bryce figures out how to use the swords when she thrust them inside Pollack's ribcage. How? She's collected the three-star magic batteries of her evil ancestors, so she just knows how to do it i guess?
The only reason this sort of Sherlock Homes' Suprise reveals work in other media is that the clues are visible if you look for them, and the convoluted answer as to how they arrived at that solution is also revealed dramatically in a conversation or internal monologue where they tell you had they did it. Bryce's surprise reveals you are just surprised out of the left field that is convenient to get her to the next plot point and gives us no insight on her actual character.
3) What is the point of Sigrid's character? Ithan could have had a perfectly compelling reluctant leader of the Pack arc without her. Instead, we get 65% of the book of him running around trying to resurrect her just so he can bump into Jezebel and Hypaxia, who will offload some more ancient history exposition and conveniently have all the tools they need to save Bryce from death.
4) What's the point of Baxian's character? His mate was killed, all of his rebel allies were killed, and he was tortured. He also reveals a tragic backstory about why he became a monster before switching sides. But hey, look, the pegasus are back. Baxian's lost his mate and part of his soul, been tortured, and lost all of his rebellion allies--sorry all your friends are dead, but hey, alien parasites didn't eat your mate's soul, she's in heaven. Please don't immediately unalive yourself. Instead, keep acting as a steward to Bryce's country because the ancient Pegasus has returned.
5) Characters withholding important information for dramatic reveals.
-Jezebel is the caretaker of a wiped-out human civilization history that explains a time before the Astari. Her people died 1500 years ago to protect this knowledge and ensure it wasn't forgotten. She proceeds to make sure it is forgotten because a demon cursed her and because it is not really powerful--just theoretical math books or literature. Even though knowing there was a world before the Asteri would have been helpful for the main character to know two books ago.
-The Prince of Hels doesn't tell Hunt he has the power to override the inked crown on his head because Hunt had to suffer/be tortured or else they would find out he was Hel test tube baby. The also don't tell Bryce any of the information Helena or Silene had infor dumped earlier on because she wasn't ready yet.
-Danika is still a character who knows the secrets of everything and everyone in the book. Everyone attributes some aspect of the rebellion's success or their character development to her.
6) Love heals mass amounts of trauma and tosses away what could be interesting explorations of complex and deeply hurt characters by making them mates.
-Hunt's got PTSD the size of an entire universe about being a commanding officer of the army and watching his friends die because of his orders and decisions. Bryce tells him to get over it and that she loves him. Hunt does.
-Ruhn has a hard time coming to terms with the fact that the woman he was in love with is a double agent who betrayed him and his sister, helped torture him, and historically has murdered and tortured lots of people. Then he finds out she did everything cause she's a mom and also thinks she's hot. What trauma? We're mates now.
Theorion is an immature guy who just wants to have some fun and continually makes bad decisions because he's unwilling to face his own emotions. Then he gets married, and he's suddenly ready to be a hero.
7) The smut in this book all felt like the same scene written over and over again regardless of the parties involved.
The pacing is breakneck on this one. There's a conflict, there's the outcome of that conflict, and then the characters have about three lines of witty dialogue about how messed up that all is before they're running to put out the next fire. I know time is supposed to be limited, which is supposed to add tension, but It leaves the character and their development feeling topical at best.
My specific problems with this book:
1) THE POV CHANGES IN THE MIDDLE OF CHAPTERS???? WHYY???? And it's always awkward to jump from a cliffhanger to a separate plot thread that ends in another cliffhanger? Round and Round it goes.
2) I hate Bryce in this book. She constantly rages against The Astari and the Fae Lord and Ladies of the World for using their powers to abuse people, but half the time, she's just as bad as the people she hates.
-Early on Selene gives a condensed world history lesson to Bryce. Bryce spends the entire time ranting about how selfish it was for the sisters not to save the people behind her when she portal-ed away. Then, Bryce immediately takes two powerful weapons she doesn't know how to use, awakens an Ancient, and endangers two strangers and the entire planet because her world, her answers, and her people are more important than everyone else.
-She doesn't want to be a Fae Queen or associated with the Fae, but she will play the royal Fae card whenever it's convenient or necessary to save her friends and family.
-Towards the end of the book, Bryce uses the horn to contact Nesta to give her the death Mask and sends her human parents to the other world to get the powerful mask. But also admits she's just sending her parents because they're humans and in danger. There's a whole argument about not having enough time to save civilians. But there's enough time to call a helicopter, her friends, and her allies's friends to Allowen and fly to Nena, but not enough time to take a couple more people and send them to the non-Astarhi world.
3) Every problem, small or large, in this plot follows the same formula: The characters gather together and ask how we are going to take on this problem. Bryce is says she has a plan. During the plan, she fakes her way through and says something like, "I'm not sure what I'm doing," and then magically figures out exactly what she needs to do at the right time. Cue fawning side characters, mates and enemies---saying i knew she could do it!
Early in the book, Bryce is with Nesta and Azriel in tunnels. The story at the time is in Bryce's POV. Azriel notes her hand scraps aren't healing, but her knees are. Bryce makes an excuse that she's half human, and that's why it's not working. As a reader, I know Bryce, at this point, is in a strange world, with people she's not sure she can trust and seeking dangerous answers. I know she's holding her cards close to her chest for a reason. But the writing never gives us a hint of her intentions. We get context clues of whats coming-Nesta mentions the wyrm monster, the cave shakes, and i think we see the a dead one's bones. So it's not totally out of left field when Bryce is like haha, i have summoned the Wyrm with my blood as a distraction so I can run off. But why even have this chapter in Bryce's perspective if we never really get to be in her head? Wouldn't there be more stakes and tension here if Bryce explained even a bit of her actions and how she hid them from Nesta and Azriel? (The only way I can justify her not once not thinking about any plans whatsoever here is maybe she's worried about Rhysand hearing her thoughts. But it wouldn't be hard for there to be a line about her being paranoid he's listening.)
Another 'what the f***' moment of this for me was when Bryce portals home and "is held hostage" in her house. For most of the scenario, while she is home, there are no clues that she went there on purpose. She opens the chapter by saying my powers have a sense of humor for slamming my face into that wall. Then she whines and complains and banters with her dad for about two chapters, during which they trade information. Then, Bryce reveals she was faking being a hostage, stole a key to unlock her magic handcuffs from Ruhn's room (THAT'S SUPER CONVENIENT), and was just using her villainous' dad's massive ego to figure out the information she wanted on the magic blades and her star powers. Do we see her search for the key? No, we did see her hide in her borhters room and cry about her brother and husband being tortured on his bed. THE WHOLE CHAPTER IS IN HER POV--so why aren't we, as readers, privy to her master chess moves?
Bryce pulls out a notebook she stole from the Autumn King to barter with Morwen. When did she take that?
Bryce figures out how to use the swords when she thrust them inside Pollack's ribcage. How? She's collected the three-star magic batteries of her evil ancestors, so she just knows how to do it i guess?
The only reason this sort of Sherlock Homes' Suprise reveals work in other media is that the clues are visible if you look for them, and the convoluted answer as to how they arrived at that solution is also revealed dramatically in a conversation or internal monologue where they tell you had they did it. Bryce's surprise reveals you are just surprised out of the left field that is convenient to get her to the next plot point and gives us no insight on her actual character.
3) What is the point of Sigrid's character? Ithan could have had a perfectly compelling reluctant leader of the Pack arc without her. Instead, we get 65% of the book of him running around trying to resurrect her just so he can bump into Jezebel and Hypaxia, who will offload some more ancient history exposition and conveniently have all the tools they need to save Bryce from death.
4) What's the point of Baxian's character? His mate was killed, all of his rebel allies were killed, and he was tortured. He also reveals a tragic backstory about why he became a monster before switching sides. But hey, look, the pegasus are back. Baxian's lost his mate and part of his soul, been tortured, and lost all of his rebellion allies--sorry all your friends are dead, but hey, alien parasites didn't eat your mate's soul, she's in heaven. Please don't immediately unalive yourself. Instead, keep acting as a steward to Bryce's country because the ancient Pegasus has returned.
5) Characters withholding important information for dramatic reveals.
-Jezebel is the caretaker of a wiped-out human civilization history that explains a time before the Astari. Her people died 1500 years ago to protect this knowledge and ensure it wasn't forgotten. She proceeds to make sure it is forgotten because a demon cursed her and because it is not really powerful--just theoretical math books or literature. Even though knowing there was a world before the Asteri would have been helpful for the main character to know two books ago.
-The Prince of Hels doesn't tell Hunt he has the power to override the inked crown on his head because Hunt had to suffer/be tortured or else they would find out he was Hel test tube baby. The also don't tell Bryce any of the information Helena or Silene had infor dumped earlier on because she wasn't ready yet.
-Danika is still a character who knows the secrets of everything and everyone in the book. Everyone attributes some aspect of the rebellion's success or their character development to her.
6) Love heals mass amounts of trauma and tosses away what could be interesting explorations of complex and deeply hurt characters by making them mates.
-Hunt's got PTSD the size of an entire universe about being a commanding officer of the army and watching his friends die because of his orders and decisions. Bryce tells him to get over it and that she loves him. Hunt does.
-Ruhn has a hard time coming to terms with the fact that the woman he was in love with is a double agent who betrayed him and his sister, helped torture him, and historically has murdered and tortured lots of people. Then he finds out she did everything cause she's a mom and also thinks she's hot. What trauma? We're mates now.
Theorion is an immature guy who just wants to have some fun and continually makes bad decisions because he's unwilling to face his own emotions. Then he gets married, and he's suddenly ready to be a hero.
7) The smut in this book all felt like the same scene written over and over again regardless of the parties involved.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content and Torture
Moderate: Death, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Blood, Colonisation, Body horror, Child abuse, and Cursing
Minor: Genocide
tiana_king's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
This didn’t really go the way I expected. Like at all. The author definitely left the door open for more books. The pacing was great, the characters stayed awesome, and the ending was solid. *spoilers*
My only beef was we didn’t spend near enough time in ACOTAR and the alpha mystic character was pointless
My only beef was we didn’t spend near enough time in ACOTAR and the alpha mystic character was pointless
Content Warnings
Graphic: Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, Confinement, Kidnapping, Torture, Blood, Gore, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Death, Murder, Sexual content, and Violence
Moderate: Child death, Child abuse, and Domestic abuse
Minor: Genocide and Slavery
justbooker's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
The conflicts between Hunt and Bryce felt unnecessary and, frankly, annoying. Bryce also felt a bit wishy-washy in terms of her goals and overall feelings. One moment she's Queen, the other she wants to burn it all down, and then she's right back to Queen mode . There's also Ithan, who I could not have cared less about for most of the book. It felt like he only became truly relevant at the end. I understand what his character development was supposed to be throughout the book and why everything happened with him. However, ever chapter from his perspective felt like a slog.
On the other hand, I believe this book has the best lore building moments of the series. The information dumps were easy to follow and engaging. With the lore building in the first book, it felt very scattered and needlessly confusing. This books had smooth, consistent lore that felt properly woven between character dialogue.
As far as characters go, Lidia is probably my favorite. I appreciate the depth and growth that she shows with Ruhn. Every development between her and Ruhn kept me on the edge of my seat, desperately rooting for them. I would love to seeher children be further developed in the next book.
Overall, the plot felt alright. I appreciated the loose ends that were tied up. I cheered when Ruhngot to finally kill his father , when Lidia got to kill Pollux , and just all characters getting their moment of justice. The Asteri conflict has been resolved, and while there is the oncoming struggle of setting up a new government , it feels like everything is alright. The saying "Through love, all things are possible" is repeated time and time again, and this book really drives that theme home. I will not forget the frustrations I had with the book/series, but in the end I enjoyed my time in the world and am glad to have read it.
On the other hand, I believe this book has the best lore building moments of the series. The information dumps were easy to follow and engaging. With the lore building in the first book, it felt very scattered and needlessly confusing. This books had smooth, consistent lore that felt properly woven between character dialogue.
As far as characters go, Lidia is probably my favorite. I appreciate the depth and growth that she shows with Ruhn. Every development between her and Ruhn kept me on the edge of my seat, desperately rooting for them. I would love to see
Overall, the plot felt alright. I appreciated the loose ends that were tied up. I cheered when Ruhn
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, War, Murder, Torture, Vomit, Excrement, Death, Death of parent, and Violence
Moderate: Child abuse, Trafficking, Child death, Domestic abuse, Confinement, Misogyny, Kidnapping, Cursing, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Sexism, Alcohol, and Body horror
Minor: Sexual assault, Racism, Classism, Pregnancy, and Rape
savvyrosereads's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
inspiring
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? No
5.0
Rating: 5/5 stars
This is the third book in the Crescent City series and I literally can’t say anything more about the plot than that without spoilers.
Let me start by saying that as a newer member of the SJM fandom, this was my first time getting to live through the release of a new SJM novel in real time/on release day, and honestly I think participating in the hype and staying up until ridiculous hours to read absolutely added to the experience. I stayed up until 5am on release day just to finish this, and even though my sleep schedule still hasn’t recovered a week later, I don’t regret it in the slightest.
On to the actual book—I don’t want to post any spoilers so this will be a pretty generic review, but I LOVED this one. It’s absolutely my favorite in the Crescent City series so far, and it solidified certain characters as all-time favorites for me. It also made me more emotional than any book I’ve ever read before, and I sobbed (real, gasping, ugly cry, fill-up-the-sea kind of sobs) for roughly an hour straight through the final 200 pages or so.
If you’re not already reading SJM books, you should fix that!
CW: Lots of violence/war/death/blood/injury/torture; sexual violence
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Torture, Violence, War, Child death, Death, Gore, Sexual violence, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Murder, Sexual assault, Child abuse, and Physical abuse
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