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3.77 AVERAGE
3.77 AVERAGE
1.5 stars.. I didn't ABSOLUTELY hate it.... but I really really really really really DID NOT LIKE IT. It was just bad...
1. Needs more plot
2. Less action more talking
3. Did I mention PLOT is missing?
4. Who the hell has a FULL on conversation while having sex? - forreals though one minute they're getting hot and heavy the next they're conversing
This book seemed right up my alley, but when it came down to it, it was just TOO much. It's supposed to be 2 POVs but the characters seem identical... I also didn't get a chance to connect with either because they swapped POVs waaaaaay too often.
Did anyone else notice that much didn't change in 1,000 years? It almost felt like the same time line...
Overall it was super disappointing and which they scaled back.
Edit: the only redeeming factor was that it was read by Fiona Hardingham....
1. Needs more plot
2. Less action more talking
3. Did I mention PLOT is missing?
4. Who the hell has a FULL on conversation while having sex? - forreals though one minute they're getting hot and heavy the next they're conversing
This book seemed right up my alley, but when it came down to it, it was just TOO much. It's supposed to be 2 POVs but the characters seem identical... I also didn't get a chance to connect with either because they swapped POVs waaaaaay too often.
Did anyone else notice that much didn't change in 1,000 years? It almost felt like the same time line...
Overall it was super disappointing and which they scaled back.
Edit: the only redeeming factor was that it was read by Fiona Hardingham....
4,25/5 ⭐️
TO BYŁO ŚWIETNEEE!
Dawno nie czytałam czegoś tak innego, tu nie uraczycie tony schematów.
Byłam mocno zaangażowane w obie perspektywy, ale chyba nieco mocniej w Rielle (bo ten prolog mnie kupił), ale to nie oznacza, że Eliana mi nie siadła, bo też było świetne.
W pewnym momencie już nie wiedziałam, czyją perspektywę chce czytać w tej chwili, przy każdej końcówce rozdziału zmieniałam zdanie.
Próbowałam wyłapać wszystkie te wskazówki i czytałam bardzo uważnie. I jestem z siebie dumna bo i udało mi się kilka rzeczy rozgryźć i mam kilka teorii do następnego tomu.
Byłam zaangażowana w każdy wątek romantyczny. Pamiętajcie tylko, że to nie jest romantasy, być może następny tom będzie, ale tu są ważniejsze i bardziej wciągające rzeczy niż romans. ALE fani romansów też nie powinni płakać, bo te relacje wcale nie są aż tak spychane na drugi plan. Jako naczelna romansiara, mogę szczerze polecić.
Odjęłam troszeczkę bo niektóre wątki mogły być bardziej rozbudowane. Np przyjaźń Eliany i Navi, autorka lubi zamykać coś w jednym rozdziale i jak wracamy do tej bohaterki w następnym to uznaje, że praca rozwijania tej relacji została wykonana i już są psiapsi. Nie jest to na jakąś dużą skalę, ale gdzieniegdzie potrzebowałam dopieszczenia i rozwinięcia.
Jestem mega ciekawa następnych tomów, bo ponoć po przeczytaniu całości, to pierwszy tom nabiera jeszcze innego sensu
TO BYŁO ŚWIETNEEE!
Dawno nie czytałam czegoś tak innego, tu nie uraczycie tony schematów.
Byłam mocno zaangażowane w obie perspektywy, ale chyba nieco mocniej w Rielle (bo ten prolog mnie kupił), ale to nie oznacza, że Eliana mi nie siadła, bo też było świetne.
W pewnym momencie już nie wiedziałam, czyją perspektywę chce czytać w tej chwili, przy każdej końcówce rozdziału zmieniałam zdanie.
Próbowałam wyłapać wszystkie te wskazówki i czytałam bardzo uważnie. I jestem z siebie dumna bo i udało mi się kilka rzeczy rozgryźć i mam kilka teorii do następnego tomu.
Byłam zaangażowana w każdy wątek romantyczny. Pamiętajcie tylko, że to nie jest romantasy, być może następny tom będzie, ale tu są ważniejsze i bardziej wciągające rzeczy niż romans. ALE fani romansów też nie powinni płakać, bo te relacje wcale nie są aż tak spychane na drugi plan. Jako naczelna romansiara, mogę szczerze polecić.
Odjęłam troszeczkę bo niektóre wątki mogły być bardziej rozbudowane. Np przyjaźń Eliany i Navi, autorka lubi zamykać coś w jednym rozdziale i jak wracamy do tej bohaterki w następnym to uznaje, że praca rozwijania tej relacji została wykonana i już są psiapsi. Nie jest to na jakąś dużą skalę, ale gdzieniegdzie potrzebowałam dopieszczenia i rozwinięcia.
Jestem mega ciekawa następnych tomów, bo ponoć po przeczytaniu całości, to pierwszy tom nabiera jeszcze innego sensu
absolutely incredible. the pacing of this book is unreal. i have never felt so present for the entirety of a book. every twist and turn and moment felt so intentional and purposeful and i cannot wait to see how all of this continues to unfold.
i was so equally invested in both eliana and rielle’s stories. even being left at cliffhangers at the end of one chapter, i was so excited to flip back to the other story. claire legrand is such a phenomenal storyteller to be able to hold us equally captive in two different storylines.
i will say this one takes a lot of brain power with the two timelines and all the world building and so many characters but if you’re in the right headspace to take it all in, it is so worth the investment.
i was so equally invested in both eliana and rielle’s stories. even being left at cliffhangers at the end of one chapter, i was so excited to flip back to the other story. claire legrand is such a phenomenal storyteller to be able to hold us equally captive in two different storylines.
i will say this one takes a lot of brain power with the two timelines and all the world building and so many characters but if you’re in the right headspace to take it all in, it is so worth the investment.
Book 1 in a completed trilogy. We hit the ground RUNNING in this one. There was more action in the first few pages than the next 100. We follow 2 queens 1,000 years apart under the same threat.
Rielle risks everything to save the love of her life, exposing herself as one of a pair of prophesied queens: a queen of light, and a queen of blood. To prove she is the Sun Queen, Rielle must endure seven elemental magic trials. If she fails, she will be executed...unless the trials kill her first.
One thousand years later, the legend of Queen Rielle is a fairy tale to Eliana Ferracora. A bounty hunter for the Undying Empire, Eliana believes herself untouchable--until her mother vanishes. To find her, Eliana joins a rebel captain and discovers that the evil at the empire's heart is more terrible than she ever imagined.
This almost reminds me of the anime Seven Deadly Sins with the magic and angels. Anyway, I'm not as sucked into this world as I would like, but I am interested in the characters enough to keep reading. I already started book 2 and am glad that I did.
Rielle risks everything to save the love of her life, exposing herself as one of a pair of prophesied queens: a queen of light, and a queen of blood. To prove she is the Sun Queen, Rielle must endure seven elemental magic trials. If she fails, she will be executed...unless the trials kill her first.
One thousand years later, the legend of Queen Rielle is a fairy tale to Eliana Ferracora. A bounty hunter for the Undying Empire, Eliana believes herself untouchable--until her mother vanishes. To find her, Eliana joins a rebel captain and discovers that the evil at the empire's heart is more terrible than she ever imagined.
This almost reminds me of the anime Seven Deadly Sins with the magic and angels. Anyway, I'm not as sucked into this world as I would like, but I am interested in the characters enough to keep reading. I already started book 2 and am glad that I did.
Kolme tähteä siitä, että tykkäsin kirjoitustyylistä ja aikamatkustus oli ihan kiva lisä. Mut ei sitten kuitenkaan sellainen tarina, että jaksaisin jatko-osiin mennä.
This book was amazing! The change of character in every chapter kept me reading! I wanted to find out more! I cannot wait to read the second book!
This was super fun, it felt like female-driven, YA fantasy candy to me (and yes, I'm going to say 'fun' too much in this review because it really just encompasses my experience). There's a lot of fun things going on here, from the world, to the characters, to the overall momentum of the plot, to the themes explored. That isn't to say it's all done exceptionally well, but it was a fun ride regardless.
I've seen some polarizing opinions on this book, and I totally get why. This is going to sound harsh, and I don't mean it in the way you may initially think, but don't go into this book thinking it's going to be good. Now, let me backtrack. By that, I mean, go into this book knowing that it doesn't really do any of the things its trying to do incredibly well. This isn't to say any of these elements are done badly, it just feels like a messy foundational book that still managed to be a fun ride despite that. I think if you go in expecting to enjoy a cool, complex (too complex for its own good at times), world, with characters that yes, you've definitely seen before, but being used to explore themes that maybe you haven't seen explored in this way, then you'll have a good time.
As I mentioned, these characters are really nothing unique. The two main characters and our main villain are by far and away the best of them, unlikeable angry female leads that manage to be messy in an intentional way, and really manage to center the story, even when the two feel so disparate at times you think you're really reading two different novels. The side characters are likable enough, but fill fantasy molds we've seen time and time again (which goes along with my whole, comforting, candy, feel the book has). The male characters--main villain aside--are honestly cardboard, so boring, and in Simon's case, doesn't feel like the same character we met at the beginning by the end (and not in a, oh he developed so wonderfully type of way, but in a, this feels contradictory to the way he was initially presented type of way) but if cardboard male characters are what I have to trade in order to get two pissed off female leads, it's well worth it.
This is one of those first books in a series where the plot aside from the final 100 or so pages really doesn't matter and only serves to provide build-up to that point. Which is, not the best, but because everything that comes before it is infused with those fantasy tropes I've come to know and find comfort in, I was having a fine enough time living through that and waiting for the actual story to kick in that it didn't bother me, although I can see why it made many DNF.
The themes and the world go hand in hand in that they're very ambitious, especially for YA, and at times they get ahead of themselves. This book is trying to be a lot all at once and I commend the ambition and I see the vision, it just hasn't all come together yet. I do think that this is very much a first book syndrome thing, and that it will get the time it needs to develop throughout the rest of the trilogy. But, here it did feel a little like throwing a handful of world elements at a wall and seeing if the noodle sticks situation at times. And as for the themes, the main theme of female rage, which I adore more than anything, was so heavy-handed here that I missed the nuances that this theme affords. I hope that it can be viewed in a more dynamic way in future books, because so far it's felt very surface level.
This is all to say that there's a lot of comfortable familiarity here mixed with a lot of ambitious, unfamiliar things. Sometimes these two worlds meld wonderfully, and sometimes they clash in a messy knot. The comfortable was enough for me to feel rooted and let it linger like a piece of hard candy, while also acknowledging how it was scraping the roof of my mouth at the same time. I have a good feeling that this series will only get better and mature in quality as it continues, so I do plan on reading the sequel(s)!
I've seen some polarizing opinions on this book, and I totally get why. This is going to sound harsh, and I don't mean it in the way you may initially think, but don't go into this book thinking it's going to be good. Now, let me backtrack. By that, I mean, go into this book knowing that it doesn't really do any of the things its trying to do incredibly well. This isn't to say any of these elements are done badly, it just feels like a messy foundational book that still managed to be a fun ride despite that. I think if you go in expecting to enjoy a cool, complex (too complex for its own good at times), world, with characters that yes, you've definitely seen before, but being used to explore themes that maybe you haven't seen explored in this way, then you'll have a good time.
As I mentioned, these characters are really nothing unique. The two main characters and our main villain are by far and away the best of them, unlikeable angry female leads that manage to be messy in an intentional way, and really manage to center the story, even when the two feel so disparate at times you think you're really reading two different novels. The side characters are likable enough, but fill fantasy molds we've seen time and time again (which goes along with my whole, comforting, candy, feel the book has). The male characters--main villain aside--are honestly cardboard, so boring, and in Simon's case, doesn't feel like the same character we met at the beginning by the end (and not in a, oh he developed so wonderfully type of way, but in a, this feels contradictory to the way he was initially presented type of way) but if cardboard male characters are what I have to trade in order to get two pissed off female leads, it's well worth it.
This is one of those first books in a series where the plot aside from the final 100 or so pages really doesn't matter and only serves to provide build-up to that point. Which is, not the best, but because everything that comes before it is infused with those fantasy tropes I've come to know and find comfort in, I was having a fine enough time living through that and waiting for the actual story to kick in that it didn't bother me, although I can see why it made many DNF.
The themes and the world go hand in hand in that they're very ambitious, especially for YA, and at times they get ahead of themselves. This book is trying to be a lot all at once and I commend the ambition and I see the vision, it just hasn't all come together yet. I do think that this is very much a first book syndrome thing, and that it will get the time it needs to develop throughout the rest of the trilogy. But, here it did feel a little like throwing a handful of world elements at a wall and seeing if the noodle sticks situation at times. And as for the themes, the main theme of female rage, which I adore more than anything, was so heavy-handed here that I missed the nuances that this theme affords. I hope that it can be viewed in a more dynamic way in future books, because so far it's felt very surface level.
This is all to say that there's a lot of comfortable familiarity here mixed with a lot of ambitious, unfamiliar things. Sometimes these two worlds meld wonderfully, and sometimes they clash in a messy knot. The comfortable was enough for me to feel rooted and let it linger like a piece of hard candy, while also acknowledging how it was scraping the roof of my mouth at the same time. I have a good feeling that this series will only get better and mature in quality as it continues, so I do plan on reading the sequel(s)!
Well, lessons were learned. When you receive an ARC in your subscription box that everyone seems hyped about, please Patty do learn, don't wait 6 months before reading it...
This is like the fifth time that I did not want to know anything about the hype and ended up feeling stupid for that.
We read the book throughout 2 perspectives; Rielle who lives in the past and Eliana who lives in the present, roughly a thousand years apart.
Somehow these story lines are connected with each other via a fight/war that doesn't take place in this book but the event as well as the consequences play a big part in both of their lives.
Story: 4/5 , want more!
Characters: 4/5 , There were some I liked more than others, but a good balance overall.
Writing: 4/5 , it was really easy to emerge in the world.
Reread: Yes, definitely. I would love to read all Rielle's chapters in one go and then do the same with Eliana's.
I am really looking forward to the next book in this trilogy, I am ready to dive deeper into this world and it's history.
This is like the fifth time that I did not want to know anything about the hype and ended up feeling stupid for that.
We read the book throughout 2 perspectives; Rielle who lives in the past and Eliana who lives in the present, roughly a thousand years apart.
Somehow these story lines are connected with each other via a fight/war that doesn't take place in this book but the event as well as the consequences play a big part in both of their lives.
Story: 4/5 , want more!
Characters: 4/5 , There were some I liked more than others, but a good balance overall.
Writing: 4/5 , it was really easy to emerge in the world.
Reread: Yes, definitely. I would love to read all Rielle's chapters in one go and then do the same with Eliana's.
I am really looking forward to the next book in this trilogy, I am ready to dive deeper into this world and it's history.
I have a bit of a love-hate relationship with this one. I think the idea was there but the execution was not. It's a fascinating world on the surface but it lacks depth. The characters aren't particularly likable either, with Eliana abandoning her friends at every turn and Rielle harboring romantic feelings for a man who's manipulating her. My biggest complaint though is that it was just too long. Rielle is meant to go through seven trials, and honestly, they all felt the same. Give me one trial with all the elements and add in more world-building and character development. Jury's still out on whether I'll read the rest of the trilogy. Rielle's storyline holds some potential, very Anakin Skywalker-esque.