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3.95 AVERAGE
3.95 AVERAGE
Ok I have now read POTS for a second time and changed to 5 stars. This is definitely a book that gets better with rereading (not that it’s bad by any means the first time) as there are so many small details to notice. I absolutely adore cylvan. He’s so dramatic and silly at times. Saffron is also so relatable. him falling in love with cylvan through his annotations… swooning when is it my turn etc. also Baba Yaga <3333 wife me up
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
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
adventurous
dark
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:
Yes
I almost dnfed this in the very beginning but I'm so glad I stuck with it because I was immersed before I even knew it.
The world is fascinating and I found the prince very interesting and likeable. The story is compelling but I wish some things could have been explained more. A lot of things are confusing and I didn't fully know what was going on or what the motivations for everyone was.The ending left me in confusion more than anything honestly.
Despite all of this I'm waiting patiently for the next book.
The world is fascinating and I found the prince very interesting and likeable. The story is compelling but I wish some things could have been explained more. A lot of things are confusing and I didn't fully know what was going on or what the motivations for everyone was.The ending left me in confusion more than anything honestly.
Despite all of this I'm waiting patiently for the next book.
4⭐️ an excellence start to a series! | tropes: grumpy/sunshine, servant x prince, fae x human | medium steam | digital + audio
characters:
🩶 Saffron is a changeling living in the Fey world as a Beantighe, a human worker for the High Fey. I loved his character at lot. He is a hopeless romantic and so empathetic (even to his own detriment).
🩶 Prince Cylvan was such a complex character. At first you think he's an arrogant powerful prince but slowly we get to see how desperate and afraid he is with the weight of fae politics and powers pushing against him.
favorite bits:
🖤 The world building of this book was interesting. The idea of humans who live in the Fey world as servants who live similar to peasants in the human world made up of both people who were born there and changelings. The dynamics between the humans and the fae were really interesting and I'm hopeful it will be delved into even more in future books. p
🖤 I loved how Saffron and Cylans characters grew to really care for each other. I really understood what each character saw in the other and felt them bond in impossible situations.
issues:
❌ I got a little confused towards the end and hopefully book 2 will clear up that confusion. I think I need to understand the world more to really connect to the weight of things occurring.
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Loveable characters:
Complicated
I really wanted to love this book. It pains me that I don't. There's interesting bones here. I'd say the first 30-35% was the strongest. But once we hit around 40% and the prince's personality totally flips???? It wasn't believable to me and it didn't feel earned. I needed more buildup before the attempt at redemption. Something that went between the dislike/hate/whatever and the prince suddenly giving a shit.
Also, it's quite maddening to have this blossoming romance, to have Saffron absolutely smitten--and his friends are literally being murdered??? Huh?? I don't think it all fell on Saffron to solve the mystery. He's being oppressed, after all. Just like the rest of his friends. But because Saffron wasn't more impacted by the deaths, I wasn't either. The mystery and murders ended up feeling like it didn't belong in this book.
The setting was beautiful, the creatures were interesting, the lore was cool--but there were too many descriptions for me and not enough character, imo. At times, the book was hard to follow. Not because the plot was particularly complicated (it wasn't) but because sentences were worded weirdly at times? Idk, I'm no grammar expert, but it felt off.
Also, it's quite maddening to have this blossoming romance, to have Saffron absolutely smitten--and his friends are literally being murdered??? Huh?? I don't think it all fell on Saffron to solve the mystery. He's being oppressed, after all. Just like the rest of his friends. But because Saffron wasn't more impacted by the deaths, I wasn't either. The mystery and murders ended up feeling like it didn't belong in this book.
The setting was beautiful, the creatures were interesting, the lore was cool--but there were too many descriptions for me and not enough character, imo. At times, the book was hard to follow. Not because the plot was particularly complicated (it wasn't) but because sentences were worded weirdly at times? Idk, I'm no grammar expert, but it felt off.
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
A fun read, and I was pleasantly surprised that it wasn't as brainless as I thought it was going to be! I think this has a good combination of character, plot, worldbuilding, and politics without being overwhelmingly skewed in one direction or another, which is how I prefer my fantasy reads tbh.
Praise: I love a good enemies-to-lovers, and I also love a good human-fey romance, so we were already off to a good start. Also, a lot of the "high" or "second world" fantasy I've read tends to set up bigotry between, like, orcs because they're ✨️so warlike✨️ versus the other ✨️more civilized✨️ species, so it was kind of fresh for me at least that in this book it seemed to be set up between high fey vs. humans based on their access to certain types of magic, with the "good" and "bad" magic being defined less by the actual results and more byone queen who was so pissed at her boyfriend she made his existence illegal .
(Side note, does anyone else feel that the terms high/low fantasy and second/first world fantasy are becoming increasingly meaningless as speculative fiction and specifically romantasy becomes more developed as a genre? Or is that just me?)
I also like that our main character isn't afraid to be emotional, but also that his emotions include rage and determination and bravery even when being brave means being stupid. He doesn't need to be saved by our big handsome prince, and in fact he's more than willing to kick the prince's ass and call him an idiot to his face.
Gripes: I think this book could have used a better editor. There are a lot of places where the sentence structure disagrees with itself: Page 112, "Practically hopping up and down as he reached the entranced, Cylvan just rolled his eyes and stepped off to the side." The first half of the sentence is grammatically describing Cylvan, but it's actually Saffron who's doing the hopping. And this exact structure shows up a lot. There are sooo many sentences that are structured "[Verb]ing, [character] does blahblah..." but in many cases the prose would be better served by a simpler construction, e.g. "Saffron was practically hopping up and down by the time he reached the entrance, but Cylvan just rolled his eyes and stepped off to the side." I don't know if this is the kind of thing anyone else notices but I noticed it to the point of being distracted by it, at least in the beginning.
Additionally, I do honestly feel like we skimmed past the part whereCylvan sets Saffron up to basically be gang-r*ped a little too quickly?? Either that or I read a much more severe implication into the party scene with the powdered fairy fruits, but to me it felt like Cylvan gave Saffron the fruit knowing it would make him incapable of consent, which is why he split so fast after... And then it's like largely not touched on ever again, even in the scene where Cylvan is begging forgiveness . That was kinda wild.
But still, despite the above gripes I did enjoy the book and I'll probably read books 2 and 3, while crossing my fingers deeply that it doesn't take until the end of book 3 for them to finally figure it out and get together...
Praise: I love a good enemies-to-lovers, and I also love a good human-fey romance, so we were already off to a good start. Also, a lot of the "high" or "second world" fantasy I've read tends to set up bigotry between, like, orcs because they're ✨️so warlike✨️ versus the other ✨️more civilized✨️ species, so it was kind of fresh for me at least that in this book it seemed to be set up between high fey vs. humans based on their access to certain types of magic, with the "good" and "bad" magic being defined less by the actual results and more by
(Side note, does anyone else feel that the terms high/low fantasy and second/first world fantasy are becoming increasingly meaningless as speculative fiction and specifically romantasy becomes more developed as a genre? Or is that just me?)
I also like that our main character isn't afraid to be emotional, but also that his emotions include rage and determination and bravery even when being brave means being stupid. He doesn't need to be saved by our big handsome prince, and in fact he's more than willing to kick the prince's ass and call him an idiot to his face.
Gripes: I think this book could have used a better editor. There are a lot of places where the sentence structure disagrees with itself: Page 112, "Practically hopping up and down as he reached the entranced, Cylvan just rolled his eyes and stepped off to the side." The first half of the sentence is grammatically describing Cylvan, but it's actually Saffron who's doing the hopping. And this exact structure shows up a lot. There are sooo many sentences that are structured "[Verb]ing, [character] does blahblah..." but in many cases the prose would be better served by a simpler construction, e.g. "Saffron was practically hopping up and down by the time he reached the entrance, but Cylvan just rolled his eyes and stepped off to the side." I don't know if this is the kind of thing anyone else notices but I noticed it to the point of being distracted by it, at least in the beginning.
Additionally, I do honestly feel like we skimmed past the part where
But still, despite the above gripes I did enjoy the book and I'll probably read books 2 and 3, while crossing my fingers deeply that it doesn't take until the end of book 3 for them to finally figure it out and get together...
4.25/ 5 ⭐️
This book was so good; I wasn’t planning on binging it tonight but it happened anyways. The characters were all so dynamic and I love how the relationship between Cylvan and Saffron has developed so far. The plot had me gripping my water bottle, I literally could not stop reading because I was so desperate to know what was going to happen next. Not so happy with the cliffhanger, especially because I can’t keep reading tonight. But I’m excited to continue with the second book tomorrow night.
This book was so good; I wasn’t planning on binging it tonight but it happened anyways. The characters were all so dynamic and I love how the relationship between Cylvan and Saffron has developed so far. The plot had me gripping my water bottle, I literally could not stop reading because I was so desperate to know what was going to happen next. Not so happy with the cliffhanger, especially because I can’t keep reading tonight. But I’m excited to continue with the second book tomorrow night.
adventurous
dark
emotional
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:
Yes
I love this book more than anything I love the characters, the lore, how I am always wondering what will happen next.