Reviews

Glorian - Honestly could read about the Berethnet’s forever and ever and not get tired of them. Plots about court politics and being born into a bloodline that the protagonist is expected to never divert from or break the mould are just chefs kiss. Love her so much
Wulf - An icon honestly. Not much more to say. Loved his super sweet friendship with Glorian and his obliviousness towards Thrit
and the scene at the end when he was in the barn with Sabran… then getting knighted knowing he might never speak to Glorian again… tears were shed
Dumai - Although similar to Tané, I liked her a lot, especially when she was travelling and
communicating in her dreams with Glorian.
Her and Nikeya’s development was also SOOOO GOOD.
Tunuva - I liked her, but at a certain point I am a single childless teenager so there was little about her story I could connect with, since she mainly deals with motherhood, aging, and her straining relationship with her partner.
The plotline about Canthe vs Esbar also made me really fucking angry

Definitely think that I would have enjoyed this more if I read it before Priory, since I basically knew what was going to happen. Parts of this were very slow, bordering on boring.

This took me forever to read so now I can barely remember reading another book. (The reason for this is my birthday was last week and I finally got bg3 since previously I had only been watching playthroughs like you @maddieoftheorangetree. It has taken over my life. I’m playing as a druid if anyone is wondering)

masonjreads's review against another edition

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medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.5

itsalbaby's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful tense medium-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

4.5

4.5 stars ⭐️ i wish i could have given this five stars because i truly did love it, but it just fell a BIT short of my expectations after TPOTOT. Don’t get me wrong this was still an amazing book; the characters are rich and multi dimensional despite the sheer number of them, the love stories are beautiful, the universe is incredibly immersive and there is once again amazing diversity and representation without it feeling cheap or forced.

However, the plot just lacked the same level of excitement we experienced in TPOTOT. Some of this was kind of unavoidable, it is just the nature of a prequel that you lose some of the suspense when you know the future. I guess for such a long book it just still feels like it’s missing something. I disagree with people saying this should have been shorter, I think if it was shorter we would have missed out on some major character development. But I will admit after the middle of the book my interest started waning until the last 100 pages or so. I just think we could have felt the stakes a little more.

Despite my criticisms, I did really love this book. Shannon does a great job of tying up the ending in a way that’s satisfying but still leaves a lot to the imagination. This universe is beautifully built and it’s easy to lose myself in it. I’m definitely excited to know that there will be more of this world in the future.

roromcg's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional inspiring 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

4.5

laurax2304's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.5

louiselenka's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad 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? It's complicated

5.0

dariusmortee's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional 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? No

5.0

I really loved this book. The characters, the world, the way this prequel linked into the first book, very well done. I seriously hope we will get another prequel as I still have a lot of questions that could be answered there.

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