Reviews

I very much enjoy being surprised because it doesn’t happen often… but this one did it. Every single major player shocked the shit out of me in the last 80 ish or so pages. And though I’m heartbroken over some of it, I’m on the edge of my seat metaphorically (bc I’m about to fall over dead asleep as I type this… at 1:41 am) and cannot WAIT to see where all of these avenues lead.

Doesn’t take away from the indifference I felt for maybe the first 150-200 pages. I get world building, truly. I have read a lot of high/epic fantasy. I’m not sure what it was with this because it moved at a decent pace; maybe the character development was slower than the pace. Sleepy brain isn’t braining well.

I’m finding I also really enjoy when politics are heavily interwoven with the story. Scheming, bribing, lying, risks, assassination attempts.

Maybe I’ll add to this when I’m awake and coherent tomorrow. My dogs will be waking me up in about 5 hours to eat and go outside 🙄

Halfway thoughts:

At the halfway mark currently. It’s a decent story so far and I’m interested in at least one character (Nahri) and one plot (Ali and his sympathies for the downtrodden).

I do want to know how Dara was summoned after 1400 years when all other Djinn only survive a few centuries in their mortal bodies as set per the Solomon guy.

But also I’ve been reading this book since 4/28 and it’s 5/2 now and this shouldn’t have taken me more than two evenings after work. True, I’ve been a little busier than usual and at least one day I didn’t read at all, but I definitely think it dragged in places at first. Maybe it’s the world building, but that doesn’t usually bother me at all; I enjoy epic fantasy for the details and harshly judge books with minimal world building.

Idk. We’ll see. I bought all 3 of the series at B&N without ever hearing about them so I’m gonna like them 😂

e_j_cook's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional 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? No

3.0

nelleplett's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

4.5

tencutepuppies's review against another edition

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1.0

I DNF’d this book at page 218. Some interesting things happened before this and the worldbuilding is clearly very carefully constructed. Most of my problems with this book may be personal preference, but I thought it was extremely confusing and excessive description was given in the wrong places. I read some pieces several times and still was unable to figure out the differences between the races and tribes in the story. I also could kind of see where the story was going in terms of Nahri and Dara’s romance and character development and I wasn’t interested. In my opinion it just felt like another generic adventure fantasy novel where the worldbuilding is too focused on, losing the connection to the characters rather quickly—which is a real shame because I’d heard such great things about it. I may eventually pick this one back up to see if I can break through to the place where it gets interesting.

sophie_joan's review against another edition

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adventurous hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

nyxesss's review against another edition

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4.0

Characters 8
writing 9
plot 8
entertainment 6
7.8★
The world & magic system is very special and unique. I have never read anything like it and for that along you should read the book

kiki_tyler's review

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adventurous emotional mysterious 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? It's complicated

5.0

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