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callistag1's review
adventurous
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexism, War, Sexual assault, Xenophobia, Violence, and Sexual harassment
Minor: Animal death, Grief, Infidelity, Murder, Classism, and Pregnancy
seekerxr's review
adventurous
challenging
emotional
mysterious
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? It's complicated
4.25
This book grabbed me by the throat and physically dragged me out of a reading slump, so I'd give it a good rating just for that.
But besides that, this story just absolutely enchanted me. It's not the best book I've ever read but it sucked me in from the very beginning and I just flew through it. First, I'll say that I'm a sucker for any story that incorporates a tavern in a fantasy setting. I don't really know why, but it's just a little story thing that I really love. So having a princess run away from an arranged marriage to work in a tavern? I was just plain tickled and I was having a great time.
The little found family she has? Absolutely love it. Berdi being like a second mother and Gwyneth being the mysterious but loving older sister? Obsessed. She's hiding even more secrets I feel, and I can't wait to see what happens with her but something must.
Lia's relationship with Pauline is SO precious, and I'm scared about how a particular plot point is going to affect their relationship but I think they're gunna pull through.
Rafe? Love of my life. Literally riding across the continent to save her are you KIDDING?
The only thing I dislike about this book isKADAN. Oh I liked him just fine at first but after he kidnappd her and dragged her to Venda and he was pulling a full Gale from Hunger Games syndrome with me like. First of all she flirted with you ONCE. ONE TIME that was actually just to make Rafe jealous! Second of all you literally took her prisoner and are dragging her across enemy lines (under what you believe to be a LIE no less) and you want her to be...grateful that you didn't kill her? You kidnap her, keep the fact that her brother's wife's is murderer is traveling with her, and show some BASIC human empathy over your job of murdering people and you expect her to just go along and be cooperative? Give me a fucking break, truly.
Don't even SPEAK TO ME about Chapter 67-69. That was so unbelievably sad I was genuinely tearing up. Reading Lia not only burying her BROTHER whom she WATCHED DIE but also carrying each and every dead soldier to a grave she dug while their killers watched on? Singing for them and blessing them and giving them the only dignity she could in death? I am absolutely ruined after reading that.
This book was an absolute RIDE and I WILL be picking up the next one.
But besides that, this story just absolutely enchanted me. It's not the best book I've ever read but it sucked me in from the very beginning and I just flew through it. First, I'll say that I'm a sucker for any story that incorporates a tavern in a fantasy setting. I don't really know why, but it's just a little story thing that I really love. So having a princess run away from an arranged marriage to work in a tavern? I was just plain tickled and I was having a great time.
The little found family she has? Absolutely love it. Berdi being like a second mother and Gwyneth being the mysterious but loving older sister? Obsessed. She's hiding even more secrets I feel, and I can't wait to see what happens with her but something must.
Lia's relationship with Pauline is SO precious, and I'm scared about how a particular plot point is going to affect their relationship but I think they're gunna pull through.
The only thing I dislike about this book is
This book was an absolute RIDE and I WILL be picking up the next one.
Content Warnings
Minor: Sexism
sweetchocolatez's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
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? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Xenophobia, Death, Violence, Kidnapping, Sexism, Grief, Animal death, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Police brutality, Misogyny, Sexual harassment, Alcohol, Murder, Sexual violence, and Rape
Minor: Blood and Vomit
dianaschmidty's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
inspiring
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
My only thoughts: Team Rafe
Content Warnings
Graphic: War, Violence, Toxic relationship, Murder, Medical content, Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Death, Confinement, Child death, and Blood
Moderate: Animal death, Pregnancy, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Stalking, and Torture
giulia_books's review
adventurous
emotional
inspiring
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? It's complicated
3.75
I found this book very enjoyable, an it was easy to get into. The first 20 pages got me slightly confused because of all the place names mentioned, but after that it got a lot better.
I grew into loving the characters of this book more and more as the story continued, and I also liked the fact that Lia wasn’t “naturally skilled” in fighting like a lot of the main characters in fantasy books.
What I liked a bit less, is that in a very big part of the book, there is spoken about “the gift”, but it isn’t really clear what it is exactly. In the last part of the book things get a bit clearer, but it’s still a bit vague. I haven’t read the other books yet, so maybe those will clear things up.
Minor spoilers ahead
Another thing that didn’t feel quite right to me is that Lia just stole the papers of the Counselor without a good reason, and in a big part of the book those papers are just there while Lia doesn’t do anything with them. When she started to translate them, more things started to get clear so I liked that part.
Pretty big spoiler
I also really liked the concept of “the assassin” and “the prince”, and that you didn’t really know who is who. My guess was that Rafe was the Assasin and Kaden the prince.
Oh how wrong I was. . .
This also caused a lot of confusion when Lia was kidnapped by Kaden and the other Vendan assassins. It made me happy though, because I actually didn’t want Lia to end up with the assassin, but it looked like that was gonna happen.
Conclusion:
This was a very enjoyable, pretty fast paced YA fantasy book, that gave me kind of throne of glass vibes (I don’t know why, but I finally got that feeling I got while reading ToG again) Of course the book also has a few imperfections, and for as far as I know it barely/ doesn’t have representation for POC or Lgbtq+ people, which is a bit disappointing, because there was more than enough space for that.
I’m definitely gonna read the next books. The writing was magnificent and the plot is amazing, so I’d definitely recommend this
I grew into loving the characters of this book more and more as the story continued, and I also liked the fact that Lia wasn’t “naturally skilled” in fighting like a lot of the main characters in fantasy books.
What I liked a bit less, is that in a very big part of the book, there is spoken about “the gift”, but it isn’t really clear what it is exactly. In the last part of the book things get a bit clearer, but it’s still a bit vague. I haven’t read the other books yet, so maybe those will clear things up.
Minor spoilers ahead
Another thing that didn’t feel quite right to me is that Lia just stole the papers of the Counselor without a good reason, and in a big part of the book those papers are just there while Lia doesn’t do anything with them. When she started to translate them, more things started to get clear so I liked that part.
Pretty big spoiler
I also really liked the concept of “the assassin” and “the prince”, and that you didn’t really know who is who. My guess was that Rafe was the Assasin and Kaden the prince.
Oh how wrong I was. . .
This also caused a lot of confusion when Lia was kidnapped by Kaden and the other Vendan assassins. It made me happy though, because I actually didn’t want Lia to end up with the assassin, but it looked like that was gonna happen.
Conclusion:
This was a very enjoyable, pretty fast paced YA fantasy book, that gave me kind of throne of glass vibes (I don’t know why, but I finally got that feeling I got while reading ToG again) Of course the book also has a few imperfections, and for as far as I know it barely/ doesn’t have representation for POC or Lgbtq+ people, which is a bit disappointing, because there was more than enough space for that.
I’m definitely gonna read the next books. The writing was magnificent and the plot is amazing, so I’d definitely recommend this
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Grief, and Murder
Moderate: Sexual assault, Animal death, and Pregnancy
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Sexism, and Misogyny
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