Scan barcode
tinysierra's review
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
-Enemies to Lovers (knife to throat!!)
-Forced Proximity
-Reluctant Allies
-Fake Dating (kinda?)
Based on the TikTok hype and the sypnosis, I assumed that this would be a high stakes, fast paced adventure similar to Six of Crows and Guilded Wolves. While there was a bit of an adventure in the first few chapters, the book overall was slow paced, focused on characters, family, romance and politics. It was more akin to Graceling.
The title was fitting. It felt like a dance or a game being played between the main characters. We get both Kazi and Jase’s POVs, which was a nice setup for the story.
I have a soft spot for thieves with angsty backstories so I loved Kazi. I liked the way that she came up with riddles.
The romance was well done. It felt like it developed a bit fast but it made sense considering the forced proximity, and they continue to develop their feelings over the rest of the book.
The fatal flaw of the book for me was the amount of telling instead of showing.
It ends on a cliffhanger but I personally will be ignoring the last chapter and will not be reading the next book.
Graphic: Death of parent, Kidnapping, Death, Blood, Child death, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder
Moderate: Grief, Classism, Trafficking, and Torture
Minor: Pregnancy, Vomit, and Miscarriage
recreated's review against another edition
- 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
Moderate: Violence and Physical abuse
Minor: Kidnapping and Classism
pageafter_paige's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
It was definitely a slow burn romance wise. I think the book had a pretty good pace, maybe a little slow at some parts but not too bad.
Honestly the thing that annoyed me the most was how the FMM being constantly described as an untouchable warrior but like we see she makes mistakes that seem a little obvious… maybe she blinded by love though so who am I to judge.
Overall I liked Jase’s character a lot and hearing the history of his family was VERY interesting I almost wish there was a book on that! Kazi was also likable and gave me Inej vibes form Six of Crows (except Inej is actually untouchable lmao). I’ll be interested to see what happens with them in the second book.
Moderate: Stalking, War, Alcohol, Bullying, Child abuse, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Pedophilia, Sexual content, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Excrement, Trafficking, Abandonment, Classism, Gaslighting, Toxic relationship, Blood, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Violence
librarianheaven's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Blood, Injury/Injury detail, and Death
Moderate: Kidnapping
Minor: Cursing, Medical content, Animal death, Classism, and Torture
her's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Death of parent, Death, Injury/Injury detail, and Grief
Moderate: Kidnapping
Minor: Animal death, Child death, Classism, Excrement, Miscarriage, Confinement, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Pregnancy, Stalking, Torture, War, and Medical content
ashleycmms's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Child death, Classism, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Murder, Blood, Kidnapping, Child abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Trafficking, Death, Death of parent, Grief, and Violence
Minor: Miscarriage
virdix14's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
Moderate: Death, Blood, and Classism
Minor: Kidnapping, War, and Abandonment