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3.63 AVERAGE
3.63 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
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
It's giving Vigilante Shit.
Truly one of the most unique stories I've ever read, I loved this book.
I lost the plot a couple times and had to go back to try and understand the timeline or remember who was who (there were a lot of characters) but by the end everything more or less made sense.
I'm always here for murderous women seeking revenge on the men who have wronged them.
Truly one of the most unique stories I've ever read, I loved this book.
I lost the plot a couple times and had to go back to try and understand the timeline or remember who was who (there were a lot of characters) but by the end everything more or less made sense.
I'm always here for murderous women seeking revenge on the men who have wronged them.
I stopped reading when the second paragraph info-dumped a mind lock. “During the long interim between empresses four and five, the Emperor of Boren had brought Charm to the capital, implanted a mindlock to enforce obedience, and established her in Orchard House.” For some reason I found it ridiculous to drop that in the second paragraph of the book and couldn’t take it seriously after that. May go back to it someday because I’ve heard from friends that it’s good.
I felt like DNFing this book but I didn't because of several reviews which encouraged readers to push through. Very jumbled presentation - confusing as to who the characters are and how they related to each other. The murder mystery which was one of the main plot lines was not very complicated. The book would have benefitted from an overview from a narrator (info dump) to make things more clearly. The use of the term ghost is not very clear as well, they seem to be laboratory produced clones. Perhaps the storyline could have been salvaged if the presentation weren't so muddied. It would probably be clearer on a reread - but the story is not engaging enough.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
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:
Complicated
What an interesting concept. This book was so mysterious and yet addictive. I listened to the audiobook and I was worried it would be difficult to follow all the characters, but I'm happy to say I managed just fine. I would definitely recommend it to someone looking for an open-minded read. It's not a romantic fantasy book, as I thought it would be. It has a fair amount of graphic abuse and mentions of abuse, which can be brutal. Nevertheless, I enjoyed discovering the laws of this peculiar world, the powers of its inhabitants, the mind lock's logic, and finally - the plot twists. The last ~30% was where it all rapidly came together. I definitely had to rewind some parts because I was so surprised by the subtle reveals of huge plot lines and character connections. Masterful execution by the author. I give 4 and not 5 stars because I felt like there was so much more left unexplained/unexplored. I would've loved an even longer book with detailed explanations of the science/magic side of things.
This book had such an interesting idea and plot points but in the end it all felt like I was missing something by the end of it. I feel like I missed a prequel to this book. You’re thrown into this world and it’s politics but never does it feel fully fledged out. You get only the plot points. I know it’s advertised as a murder mystery but honestly that was the most boring part of the book. What really hooked me and kept me engaged was Mistress Charms mind and the bone ghosts. How they worked, what happened to make them this way, what are their origin stories? I can confidently say I could give you a good guess on most things but shouldn’t I know with certainty by the end? Maybe I’m too smoothed brain but I still don’t understand how that fluid stuff worked and when a certain revelation happens surrounding that stuff the characters reaction was so neutral that I didn’t even bother trying to understand it.
I believe this is the authors first book and you can just tell.
Amazing ideas, poorly executed.
I believe this is the authors first book and you can just tell.
Amazing ideas, poorly executed.
adventurous
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
challenging
dark
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I am still so confused.
I listened to the audiobook and really enjoyed the narration except that my audiobook glitched and cut out the last few words of the final sentence!! Not that I think it would have made a critical difference to my understanding or rating of this book.
This is a slow and dense read with some really interesting ideas I wish had been a little better explained or explored for the reader. I had so many questions about the world-building that were never answered. There was so much time spent on descriptions on clothing or food but never an explanation given for why the marked order were called 'Fire Drinkers' when they seemed capable of wielding fire, but were also telepathic? And how was that truly different from empaths? And also, how and why did bones spontaneously grow on trees? And why were some animal and some human?
Also, it seems likeCharm's division of personality aspects into the bone ghosts was due to trauma, making it sound like a fantasy version of DID but, if so, I'm not sure how well this was handled .
I was so busy trying to keep track of who was who in the rather large cast of characters that I struggled to connect with any of them. That said, the writing was good and I'm curious to see what the author writes next.
I listened to the audiobook and really enjoyed the narration except that my audiobook glitched and cut out the last few words of the final sentence!! Not that I think it would have made a critical difference to my understanding or rating of this book.
This is a slow and dense read with some really interesting ideas I wish had been a little better explained or explored for the reader. I had so many questions about the world-building that were never answered. There was so much time spent on descriptions on clothing or food but never an explanation given for why the marked order were called 'Fire Drinkers' when they seemed capable of wielding fire, but were also telepathic? And how was that truly different from empaths? And also, how and why did bones spontaneously grow on trees? And why were some animal and some human?
Also, it seems like
I was so busy trying to keep track of who was who in the rather large cast of characters that I struggled to connect with any of them. That said, the writing was good and I'm curious to see what the author writes next.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Mental illness, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Murder, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Child death, Pedophilia, War
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Ahhhhh this was SO good. I loved how original it was and the atmosphere really came through so well. I found the ways the bone ghosts died and how they went back to charm and eventually “disappeared” back into her was SOOO well done
Also, I listed to this as an audiobook, and I really wish I had read it instead because I feel like I missed details that would’ve come up later in the story.
Also, I listed to this as an audiobook, and I really wish I had read it instead because I feel like I missed details that would’ve come up later in the story.