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adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Murder, Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Child death
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
It’s been a while since I’ve lost sleep reading a book. But this magical world is filled with so many twists and turns. Elspeth and the nightmare are extremely engaging unreliable narrator and the love story has me hooked (not smutty tho only one love scene). But I immediately bought the second book and will begin reading immediately. It’s that good!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Gore, Sexual assault, Violence, Blood, Murder, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail
adventurous
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Cursing, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Classism
Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Sexual content, Abandonment
Minor: Genocide, Infidelity, Murder, Alcohol
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Loveable characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Murder, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Death of parent, Alcohol
Minor: Cursing, Self harm, Vomit
adventurous
dark
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:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Sexual content, Murder
Minor: Child abuse, Child death, Death of parent, Abandonment
adventurous
dark
emotional
tense
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:
Yes
What a refreshing read. I'm so glad the author avoided very classic tropes, such as "you lied to me, and now that I know your deep dark secret, you're dead to me ". Concepts such as understanding and forgiveness within a relationship makes this an enjoyable read, especially with the world building and magic system used. And Raven makes me swoon.... lol I also really liked the different examples on the theme of consent, as most of them are not related to sex. Body autonomy, yes absolutely, but not sex. It examplifies that sex is not the only time where consent is needed. Also, the writing is so beautiful??? Both the poetry and the narration. It's why I gave it a full 5 stars.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Terminal illness, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Police brutality, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Body horror
Minor: Animal death, Child death, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury
Drugging
adventurous
mysterious
fast-paced
Loveable characters:
Yes
Content Warnings
Moderate: Murder
dark
emotional
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:
Complicated
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, Murder, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail
adventurous
dark
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Body horror, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Torture, Vomit, Murder, Alcohol
Minor: Cursing, Terminal illness, Death of parent
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
What happened to yearning
yet again I need to stop listening to tiktok's hype train. don't get me wrong, i was thoroughly entertained, but this entertained me as a fantasy the same way bridgerton scratches my cringe romance itch. it did what it needed to do but it did not soar to the expectations i was sold.
the main reviews i heard about this book from the internet was that for rachel gillig's first publish, the writing is exceptional. i wouldn't go as far as exceptional but i will applaud her for not falling into caravalesque trappings of language that make you want to burn a dictionary. she has a great control of tone and pacing and, to be fair to the internet, most of her scenes were really well crafted with convincing and beautiful language. it did fall short of the usual lyricism i look for in fantasy, and i think i was especially looking for it since this is a gothic fantasy but I can also appreciate that I do know many other ways that rachel gillig could have crafted this book outside of the voice it already has without taking away from the story itself.
that being said, my eye did twitch a lot reading this. that ending especially. the first half of the book was a lot of fun, exploring the dynamics between everyone. i was ready for yearning but i didn't even have time to yearn before elsepth and ravyn (i can't believe she chose that creative decision) were at each other. all the time. and i still enjoyed their scenes together, even if as main characters they are a little bit bland. for me elm was the obviously better choice for mmc but that's another conversation. the last half though really choked me with the cringe, wattpad level plot. i can appreciate a cliffhanger and i am really curious how rachel gillig is going to navigate this new monster (praying she does 3rd pov) but i'd be lying if i said i wasn't rushing through that torture scene.
as for the characters themselves, it might just be better if i do bullet points cos my god:
yet again I need to stop listening to tiktok's hype train. don't get me wrong, i was thoroughly entertained, but this entertained me as a fantasy the same way bridgerton scratches my cringe romance itch. it did what it needed to do but it did not soar to the expectations i was sold.
the main reviews i heard about this book from the internet was that for rachel gillig's first publish, the writing is exceptional. i wouldn't go as far as exceptional but i will applaud her for not falling into caravalesque trappings of language that make you want to burn a dictionary. she has a great control of tone and pacing and, to be fair to the internet, most of her scenes were really well crafted with convincing and beautiful language. it did fall short of the usual lyricism i look for in fantasy, and i think i was especially looking for it since this is a gothic fantasy but I can also appreciate that I do know many other ways that rachel gillig could have crafted this book outside of the voice it already has without taking away from the story itself.
that being said, my eye did twitch a lot reading this. that ending especially. the first half of the book was a lot of fun, exploring the dynamics between everyone. i was ready for yearning but i didn't even have time to yearn before elsepth and ravyn (i can't believe she chose that creative decision) were at each other. all the time. and i still enjoyed their scenes together, even if as main characters they are a little bit bland. for me elm was the obviously better choice for mmc but that's another conversation. the last half though really choked me with the cringe, wattpad level plot. i can appreciate a cliffhanger and i am really curious how rachel gillig is going to navigate this new monster (praying she does 3rd pov) but i'd be lying if i said i wasn't rushing through that torture scene.
as for the characters themselves, it might just be better if i do bullet points cos my god:
- ravyn - it took me 2 days to actually accept that his name is actually just a stupid rearranging of the bird, even though it's not phonetic; bog standard dark haired 7ft tall cookie cutter fantasy boyf who gets twitchy any touches his girl (who's been his girl all of 3 days at the first point of violence); bland but plenty of room for improvement
- jespyr - at the point at which she's introduced i really started to wonder if their parents had that white people naming their babies problem because what is with the y - it's only marginally more phonetic than ravyn but it still pissed me off; ngl i don't really get why she was here other than causing me to question if she was going to be the gay rep (ambiguous so far)
- elm - so obviously the better mmc, took me a minute to adjust to the fact that he's not blonde but it was nice of rachel gillig to use auburn instead of ginger; if he goes for ione i will be very sad
- ione - her motives didn't really make sense to me or feel natural to the story but get it girl i guess
- emory - honestly forgot he was here
elspeth spindle needs her own subsection cos this girl had me reeling in embarrassment
- perfect gal for ravyn because she is also cookie cutter fmc - i liked her (at times) but i still feel like I've seen several different renditions of her before
- this girl can not catch a clue to save her fucking life omg even when she has a 500 year old monster in her head literally giving her the answers to everything she is still shocked at what is happening around her
- this book was the definition of being stuck inside a painful pov because it is easily the most predictable plot I've read in literal years - and I'm actually horrendous at getting plot and even i got it bitch
- the chalice scene pissed me off so much because why are you wasting your turn with stupid questions you already know the answer too - OF COURSE HE WAS ALREADY USING THE SCYTHE CARD ON HER AND OF COURSE SHE ISN'T HAPPY
- also that dress on the cover is so fugly it hurts the more i look at it
i know for all my complaining I'm making this seem like a bad book, but it's really not - it's a solid fantasy read and for a first publish, it's still impressive that rachel gillig has such a way with words. girl, if leigh bardugo can go from shadow and bone to six of crows, you can do anything if this is your starting line. i will be reading the second one as soon as i can because i want it desperately to get better. the plot was predictable and the magic was a bit confusing at times to actually understand, and the world is..random, but hopefully this can be fleshed out a little bit more in the next and we can get a bit more purpose for everybody. i truly mean for everybody.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Physical abuse, Violence, Murder, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Sexual content