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3.5 AVERAGE
3.5 AVERAGE
challenging
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-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'm probably going to be in the minority here, but I did not really like this book. Sure, some of the elements saved it from being a dnf..
Some things I liked:
-the enemies to lovers romance, even if I thought this story missed the mark a bit
-the steamy scenes.
-I love a good mates trope
-The story was catchy enough that I was interested to see how it would end.
Now on to the problamatic parts:
I love a good enemies to lovers, but I'm a firm believer that there are some lines that should not be crossed. Some horrors that should not be forgiven, no matter how good the sex is. Killing her FATHER is one of them. How in the world could that evil be forgiven? He was a loving, if distant, father, wasn't evil, wasn't abusive, wasn't anything... and she watched Dade murder him. But the sex is sooo good that it just makes up for the fact he murdered her father? no. not okay. The entire story had me furious that he seemed to think that her "betrayals" (ie her letting a tortured prisoner go) was on par with him MURDERING HER FATHER. I still can't comprehend how she could fall in love with him..that part of the story did not work. & he never really seemed to care, he seemed to think he was owed her being his mate despite the horrors he had inflicted on her. These issues never get resolved.. it was infuriating.
Which leads me into my next point: Dade spent the entire story feeling entitled to Opal's affections & her body without doing a single thing to earn it, because she is his mate. All while he continues to murder her people, including her own father. He tells her she is not allowed to let another man kiss her. He kidnaps her. He keeps her in a gilded cage. He won't give her freedom.. freedom to run, to choose her own destiny, to be away from his murdering ass. He gives her nothing, but expects blind faith, obedience, and loyalty. He reacts with anger and possessiveness.. and not the swoon worthy kind. The author clearly was trying to make a morally gray but lovable character and she did not succeed. I hated him for the entire story. I half wanted him to stay dead at the end. I fully wanted Opal to leave him, permanently.
Then, when Opal was captive by the humans (which, itself, was an odd, confusing, and irrelevant storyline tangent), Dade visited her in captivity. He was furious that she would allow the human prince a kiss, but made no move to free her? It was such an odd tangent, and just felt so out of place in the book. Why couldn't she break out? Why didn't he help her? Why was there even a need to have a weird rumplestiltskin moment?
To much was going on in this book. The rumplestiltskin plot line was irrelevant, Opal never seemed to have powers, which was disappointing.. I kept waiting for her to rise up and give Dade a good ass kicking, but noooo she was just a bird in a gilded cage with no other options so she gave up and just gave in to her sexual desires to a man who murdered her father. The reasonings for the wars made little sense. The ending was all over the place. All in all, this is not a book I would recommend.
Some things I liked:
-the enemies to lovers romance, even if I thought this story missed the mark a bit
-the steamy scenes.
-I love a good mates trope
-The story was catchy enough that I was interested to see how it would end.
Now on to the problamatic parts:
I love a good enemies to lovers, but I'm a firm believer that there are some lines that should not be crossed. Some horrors that should not be forgiven, no matter how good the sex is. Killing her FATHER is one of them. How in the world could that evil be forgiven? He was a loving, if distant, father, wasn't evil, wasn't abusive, wasn't anything... and she watched Dade murder him. But the sex is sooo good that it just makes up for the fact he murdered her father? no. not okay. The entire story had me furious that he seemed to think that her "betrayals" (ie her letting a tortured prisoner go) was on par with him MURDERING HER FATHER. I still can't comprehend how she could fall in love with him..that part of the story did not work. & he never really seemed to care, he seemed to think he was owed her being his mate despite the horrors he had inflicted on her. These issues never get resolved.. it was infuriating.
Which leads me into my next point: Dade spent the entire story feeling entitled to Opal's affections & her body without doing a single thing to earn it, because she is his mate. All while he continues to murder her people, including her own father. He tells her she is not allowed to let another man kiss her. He kidnaps her. He keeps her in a gilded cage. He won't give her freedom.. freedom to run, to choose her own destiny, to be away from his murdering ass. He gives her nothing, but expects blind faith, obedience, and loyalty. He reacts with anger and possessiveness.. and not the swoon worthy kind. The author clearly was trying to make a morally gray but lovable character and she did not succeed. I hated him for the entire story. I half wanted him to stay dead at the end. I fully wanted Opal to leave him, permanently.
Then, when Opal was captive by the humans (which, itself, was an odd, confusing, and irrelevant storyline tangent), Dade visited her in captivity. He was furious that she would allow the human prince a kiss, but made no move to free her? It was such an odd tangent, and just felt so out of place in the book. Why couldn't she break out? Why didn't he help her? Why was there even a need to have a weird rumplestiltskin moment?
To much was going on in this book. The rumplestiltskin plot line was irrelevant, Opal never seemed to have powers, which was disappointing.. I kept waiting for her to rise up and give Dade a good ass kicking, but noooo she was just a bird in a gilded cage with no other options so she gave up and just gave in to her sexual desires to a man who murdered her father. The reasonings for the wars made little sense. The ending was all over the place. All in all, this is not a book I would recommend.
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
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
adventurous
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
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
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
adventurous
dark
emotional
medium-paced
dark
tense
fast-paced
Plot - 2.5 - I feel like this plot wasn’t very well thought out and scenes happened just to get to the next thing. I really didn’t like how quickly we were introduced to the MMC or some of the decisions the characters made. LIKE GETTING WITH THE GUY THAT JUST KILLED YOUR DAD!? I think the plot had potential I liked the gold weaving. And I like the plot twist with Fang/Dade being the king at the start of the book.
Characters - 2 - The characters didn’t really have any development and I just felt that they were two dimensional plot devices. I think there were some interesting aspects to the characters (shifting & abilities) that could’ve been explored more. Opal was so freaking hot and cold
Format - 3 - I listened to the audiobook which was fine but Daden’s voice actor was shocking haha
Reveal / Ending - 3 - the ending was mid and tied it all off nicely. I think they completed everything as well as they could have given the rest
Emotion - 1.5 - I felt nothing but a need to finish this book as quickly as possible and an anger at the decisions the characters were making.
Total - 2.4
This is the first time I'm DNF-ing an audiobook and it's because I could not get through the male narrator's first chapter. I hope to pick up the physical or e-book in the future