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abicaro17's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
This book starts off so strong. Alessandra is the second daughter of an earl looking to gain power and acknowledgement by marrying the Shadow King, Kallias. The problem? She plans to kill him right after. Alessandra is cunning, vicious, manipulative, and talented in many ways. I think the general plot was so fun! I love a good murderess and mystery. Alessandra is fun to read as well with all her inner monologue and complex feelings about people. My issues with this book stem from development (or lack thereof). To me, Alessandra and the world building feel underdeveloped. Alessandra is supposed to be this devious murderess with this plot, but her idea is quite literally just to poison him and hope the blame gets placed on a neighboring kingdom. Also past the first few chapters she doesn't seem very murder prone. I think her initial characterization was much more interesting than what we were left with. My other issue stems from world building. In terms of kingdoms and the country laws we are never given any explanations. This leaves me at a loss at times for why things are the way they are politically. I think this book could definitely benefit from some elaboration and possibly a different ending?
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Classism, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Gore, Infidelity, Sexism, Violence, War, Alcohol, Gun violence, Murder, Adult/minor relationship, Cursing, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, and Toxic friendship
kccool12255's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
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? Yes
4.75
This book is the SLOWEST slow-burn romance I think I've ever read in my LIFE. For that reason, it's also my favorite. The SEXUAL TENSION in this book is PERFECTION. It took them SO LONG TO KISS AND IT WAS SO WORTH IT. The plot twists were pretty good, I liked the characters a lot, they dealt really well with Kallias's faults and his flaws as a character, which is good. Dealing with Hektor's murder was also really well dealt with, I thought it would just be a passing mention, but it actually plays into the plot. Leandros plot twist is also nice, I mean it was a bit predictable but it was pretty good. I definitely didn't see it coming. The one criticism I have is that this book tries a little bit too hard just in being a YA novel. The dog's name is Demodocus, and there's a character named Hestia. Like, why the Greek mythology? It's just a little bit too superfluous. But overall, it was AMAZING, I couldn't put it down.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder
Moderate: Violence
Minor: Death of parent, Cursing, Blood, Sexual content, and Death
rensreading's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
by chapter 2, i was seriously considering DNFing this book but i carried on because the synopsis promised me a love interest that hadn’t been introduced yet and i wanted a glimpse of him before i DNFed.
i’m so glad i waited for him. he carried this novel on his back, his poor shoulders must be breaking under the strain of all that success. kallias is my everything. he was the only reason i started liking alessandra. and by the time he learns of what she did to her first lover (though his age is never brought up, i’m still of the opinion that hektor groomed her) then laughs about it, i realized they really deserved each other.
(in reality, i started liking alessandra when she schemed her friend out of a marriage he would have hated and solved her own problem of unwanted suitors with it. how could i not adore a girlboss?)
the political intrigue and the plot were absolutely marvelous. i started suspecting the assassin by the time that he confessed to alessandra while kallias was listening. i kept wondering why alessandra didn’t see it until it was almost too late but i am glad that his sexism was what caused his demise. a man like him truly assumed that alessandra was nothing less than a noblewoman newly scorned by her ex-lover. what a mistake!
kallias was down bad for alessandra and i loved that fact by the end too lol definitely a 5 stars read for me (:
i’m so glad i waited for him. he carried this novel on his back, his poor shoulders must be breaking under the strain of all that success. kallias is my everything. he was the only reason i started liking alessandra. and by the time he learns of what she did to her first lover (though his age is never brought up, i’m still of the opinion that hektor groomed her) then laughs about it, i realized they really deserved each other.
(in reality, i started liking alessandra when she schemed her friend out of a marriage he would have hated and solved her own problem of unwanted suitors with it. how could i not adore a girlboss?)
the political intrigue and the plot were absolutely marvelous. i started suspecting the assassin by the time that he confessed to alessandra while kallias was listening. i kept wondering why alessandra didn’t see it until it was almost too late but i am glad that his sexism was what caused his demise. a man like him truly assumed that alessandra was nothing less than a noblewoman newly scorned by her ex-lover. what a mistake!
kallias was down bad for alessandra and i loved that fact by the end too lol definitely a 5 stars read for me (:
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Murder, Sexism, and Violence
Moderate: Body horror and Alcohol
Minor: Classism, Grief, Sexual harassment, and Emotional abuse
Slut shaming happens a lot as well.pagesbycaroline's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Blood, Murder, and Death
Minor: Alcohol, Car accident, Sexual content, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, and Murder
ednam0dewannabe's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Misogyny, Injury/Injury detail, Sexism, and Medical content
Moderate: Death, Death of parent, and Blood
Minor: Toxic relationship, Sexual content, Murder, War, Alcohol, Car accident, Cursing, Child death, and Child abuse
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