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kmjmg's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
hopeful
sad
tense
fast-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
All I can say is "WOW". Such an incredible story. So much better that the first book.
trin_ney18's review against another edition
4.0
This book was kindly given to me for review from NetGalley. This in no way influences my thoughts or feelings
4/5 Stars
I love series and I appreciate the ones that are able to carry on for ages without getting repetitive or mundane. However, I have an immense appreciation for books that can wrap up a huge plot line with twists and turns within one to three novels. I absolutely loved this ending and I couldn't have asked for a better conclusion.
It is very violent. There is slight animal abuse but it's mostly blood and gore and graphic war scenes. But that is one thing this book does very well. It touches on the realities of violence and fighting that are universal to anyone exposed to these situations.
The characters have some great development and though we only get one perspective we are able to see the progression of mentalities and also the trauma that one is left to deal with after something as violent as war.
It did feel somewhat repetitive with the choices made by the characters and the actions they took to accomplish their goal. Other than that I had such a fun time reading in this world again. I am a little sad that we're all wrapped up and I don't get to experience some of the people anymore but, like I said, I absolutely loved the ending.
4/5 Stars
I love series and I appreciate the ones that are able to carry on for ages without getting repetitive or mundane. However, I have an immense appreciation for books that can wrap up a huge plot line with twists and turns within one to three novels. I absolutely loved this ending and I couldn't have asked for a better conclusion.
It is very violent. There is slight animal abuse but it's mostly blood and gore and graphic war scenes. But that is one thing this book does very well. It touches on the realities of violence and fighting that are universal to anyone exposed to these situations.
The characters have some great development and though we only get one perspective we are able to see the progression of mentalities and also the trauma that one is left to deal with after something as violent as war.
It did feel somewhat repetitive with the choices made by the characters and the actions they took to accomplish their goal. Other than that I had such a fun time reading in this world again. I am a little sad that we're all wrapped up and I don't get to experience some of the people anymore but, like I said, I absolutely loved the ending.
popthebutterfly's review against another edition
4.0
Disclaimer: I received this e-arc from the publisher and pre-ordered my own copy. Thanks! All opinions are my own.
Book: Warmaidens
Author: Kelly Coon
Book Series: Gravemaidens Book 2
Rating: 4/5
Recommended For...: fantasy lovers, romance lovers, ya readers
Publication Date: December 15, 2020
Genre: YA Fantasy
Recommended Age: 16+ (violence, gore, romance, ptsd, animal violence, attempted rape)
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Pages: 384
Synopsis: Just a few moons after escaping the tomb in Alu, Kammani and the other runaway maidens have found refuge in the city-state of Manzazu. There, Kammani has become a respected healer, especially among the warriors she’s brought back from the brink of death. Now that the nightmares of Alu are fading, she can finally decide whether or not to take Dagan’s hand in marriage.
But when an assassin murders a healer he believes is Kammani and attempts to kill the displaced queen of Alu, the maidens realize they’ve been found.
Hungry for revenge, Manzazu’s queen wants to strike back at Alu with her fiercest weapons—her scorpion warrior maidens—but Kammani knows that war harms more than it heals. To save the innocents and any chance of a future with Dagan, Kammani must take down Alu’s ruler before their lives burn up in the flames of war.
Review: For the most part this was a well done book. The world building is amazing and the character development is awesome. The pacing is pretty on key and the story is very interesting and hooked me from the beginning.
There were a few things I didn't like as much in this book. The book takes place 9 months after the events in the first book but fails to reintroduce characters you might have forgotten. The language, while immersive, also takes a bit to get used to and there's no directory in the book to help with words used. The main character is also one who, throughout the majority of the series, wanted to be childless but then in the end gave a hint that she did want kids in the future. I think that's kind of a sad blow to women who don't want to kids and takes away a character that they could have looked up to.
Verdict: I loved this book, but it could have been a little better.
Book: Warmaidens
Author: Kelly Coon
Book Series: Gravemaidens Book 2
Rating: 4/5
Recommended For...: fantasy lovers, romance lovers, ya readers
Publication Date: December 15, 2020
Genre: YA Fantasy
Recommended Age: 16+ (violence, gore, romance, ptsd, animal violence, attempted rape)
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Pages: 384
Synopsis: Just a few moons after escaping the tomb in Alu, Kammani and the other runaway maidens have found refuge in the city-state of Manzazu. There, Kammani has become a respected healer, especially among the warriors she’s brought back from the brink of death. Now that the nightmares of Alu are fading, she can finally decide whether or not to take Dagan’s hand in marriage.
But when an assassin murders a healer he believes is Kammani and attempts to kill the displaced queen of Alu, the maidens realize they’ve been found.
Hungry for revenge, Manzazu’s queen wants to strike back at Alu with her fiercest weapons—her scorpion warrior maidens—but Kammani knows that war harms more than it heals. To save the innocents and any chance of a future with Dagan, Kammani must take down Alu’s ruler before their lives burn up in the flames of war.
Review: For the most part this was a well done book. The world building is amazing and the character development is awesome. The pacing is pretty on key and the story is very interesting and hooked me from the beginning.
There were a few things I didn't like as much in this book. The book takes place 9 months after the events in the first book but fails to reintroduce characters you might have forgotten. The language, while immersive, also takes a bit to get used to and there's no directory in the book to help with words used. The main character is also one who, throughout the majority of the series, wanted to be childless but then in the end gave a hint that she did want kids in the future. I think that's kind of a sad blow to women who don't want to kids and takes away a character that they could have looked up to.
Verdict: I loved this book, but it could have been a little better.
mangoseaquest's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
3.75
gatorademachinegun's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
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? N/A
littlewhiterabbitreads's review against another edition
dark
emotional
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.5
leahsbooks's review
5.0
For my full review of this book and others, visit me at:
http://leahs-books.com/2020/11/22/warmaidens/
I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley. I am providing my honest opinion voluntarily.
TRIGGER WARNING: alcohol abuse, gore, torture
I was so excited to get my hands on an ARC of this book, especially since I enjoyed the first book so much (see review here http://leahs-books.com/2020/08/04/gravemaidens/). This one was just as good, in my opinion. It picks up the story 9 months after Gravemaidens ends, and gives the reader time to catch up without info dumping or recapping the entire previous book (which tends to bore me).
It was really interesting to see how much most of the characters had changed and grown since they left Alu. Kammani and Dagan seemed to have changed the least, since they had already been working to provide for their families, and generally acting as parental figures. Kammani still struggled with her need to control situations and take all the responsibility on her shoulders, along with the blame when things don’t go the way she expects.
Kammani continues to be torn between her love for Dagan and her fierce desire to be independent. She’s such a feminist, and hates the idea that a woman loses all of her rights in a marriage, becoming little more than the property of her husband and forced to do whatever he says, even though she knows that Dagan isn’t the kind of man who would ever take away from her independence. It got a little frustrating at times, because it felt like she didn’t really trust Dagan, although I really tried to understand how stifling a society where women had to give up all their rights in a marriage, and it was a little easier to extend some empathy towards Kammani.
It was great to see Nanaea really step up, become more responsible, and act more mature than she had in the previous book. The notable exception was Iltani, but I got the feeling from the start that she had the biggest character arc to demonstrate. I loved the focus on a female ruled society in Manzazu, and especially one in which the elite warriors were an all-female force. The Koru were awesome.
The action started quickly and was consistent throughout the entire story. The whole book was fairly fast-paced and it never felt like it lagged. I was quickly wrapped up in the story, and it honestly felt like visiting with an awesome group of friends that I haven’t seen for a while. The characters work well together, and most have their flaws that make them feel realistic. The only exceptions seemed to be Dagan and Nanaea, who are pretty perfect. I let it slide, though, since Nanaea made such progress between the last book and this one, and Dagan has his moments towards the end of this one (but I can’t talk about it because … no spoilers.
Overall, I loved the story and the duology in general. The book made me feel as if I was transported to Manzazu and Alu along with the characters, and I was always on the edge of my seat, waiting to see what would happen next. Kelly Coon is absolutely an author to watch, and I’m going to be waiting to see what she puts out next!
http://leahs-books.com/2020/11/22/warmaidens/
I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley. I am providing my honest opinion voluntarily.
TRIGGER WARNING: alcohol abuse, gore, torture
I was so excited to get my hands on an ARC of this book, especially since I enjoyed the first book so much (see review here http://leahs-books.com/2020/08/04/gravemaidens/). This one was just as good, in my opinion. It picks up the story 9 months after Gravemaidens ends, and gives the reader time to catch up without info dumping or recapping the entire previous book (which tends to bore me).
It was really interesting to see how much most of the characters had changed and grown since they left Alu. Kammani and Dagan seemed to have changed the least, since they had already been working to provide for their families, and generally acting as parental figures. Kammani still struggled with her need to control situations and take all the responsibility on her shoulders, along with the blame when things don’t go the way she expects.
Kammani continues to be torn between her love for Dagan and her fierce desire to be independent. She’s such a feminist, and hates the idea that a woman loses all of her rights in a marriage, becoming little more than the property of her husband and forced to do whatever he says, even though she knows that Dagan isn’t the kind of man who would ever take away from her independence. It got a little frustrating at times, because it felt like she didn’t really trust Dagan, although I really tried to understand how stifling a society where women had to give up all their rights in a marriage, and it was a little easier to extend some empathy towards Kammani.
It was great to see Nanaea really step up, become more responsible, and act more mature than she had in the previous book. The notable exception was Iltani, but I got the feeling from the start that she had the biggest character arc to demonstrate. I loved the focus on a female ruled society in Manzazu, and especially one in which the elite warriors were an all-female force. The Koru were awesome.
The action started quickly and was consistent throughout the entire story. The whole book was fairly fast-paced and it never felt like it lagged. I was quickly wrapped up in the story, and it honestly felt like visiting with an awesome group of friends that I haven’t seen for a while. The characters work well together, and most have their flaws that make them feel realistic. The only exceptions seemed to be Dagan and Nanaea, who are pretty perfect. I let it slide, though, since Nanaea made such progress between the last book and this one, and Dagan has his moments towards the end of this one (but I can’t talk about it because … no spoilers.
Overall, I loved the story and the duology in general. The book made me feel as if I was transported to Manzazu and Alu along with the characters, and I was always on the edge of my seat, waiting to see what would happen next. Kelly Coon is absolutely an author to watch, and I’m going to be waiting to see what she puts out next!
bellebookcorner's review
2.0
To be honest, I like the first book better than this one. Sure this one has more action seeing there's a battle. But as I was reading this one, I kept thinking when will they finally meet the lugal and killed him and be done with it...
It just took so longggg and somewhere along the story I'm starting to lose interest.
Now that I think about it, this story can be wrap up into a standalone rather than a duology
Well despite all my annoyance toward this book, at least I can be happy that FINALLY Kammani and Dagan are officially together now and Alu is with its rightful ruler.
I would have like it more if there's more story regarding the boatman and the goddess they believed because I really like the ending part with the boatman.
Overall, I like reading this book but I guess I wanted more from this story because I think it has potential to be better.
It just took so longggg and somewhere along the story I'm starting to lose interest.
Now that I think about it, this story can be wrap up into a standalone rather than a duology
Spoiler
if Kammani would not taken so long to find out who poisoned the first lugal and if their plan didn't failed again and again. The reason the plan failed miserably over and over again is because Kammani hasn't change a bit much from the first book. She is still scared and didn't trust other opinions and want to do everything by herself huft.... The lack of character development might be the reason I got annoyed more in this book than the first one.Well despite all my annoyance toward this book, at least I can be happy that FINALLY Kammani and Dagan are officially together now and Alu is with its rightful ruler.
I would have like it more if there's more story regarding the boatman and the goddess they believed because I really like the ending part with the boatman.
Overall, I like reading this book but I guess I wanted more from this story because I think it has potential to be better.
belindaclemons_123's review
5.0
Warmaidens was a great way to end this epic duology. Kammani is granted the Koru's highest honor the symbol of Linaza, their goddess of love and war for everything she has done for them. Things get messy when an assassin mistakenly kills the wrong healer thinking she is Kammani, and attempted to kill the Queen of Alu, causes the queen to call for her warriors to descend on the Anu. for revenge. This causes friction as Kammani knows the she cant allow the war to happen so she needs to stop the Queen if she is to live happily with Dagan and to save all the innocents in the middle. The Last chapters were amazing