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jo_d's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Blood, and Confinement
Moderate: Torture
Minor: Sexual assault
anna_eryn's review against another edition
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Domestic abuse
Minor: Sexual assault
takarakei's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
I unfortunately feel like I might need to reread a physical copy of this cause I didn’t enjoy the audiobook narration (specifically of them doing the male voice characters). So I don’t really think I can give it a fair review or rating yet.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood and Violence
Moderate: Torture and Death of parent
Minor: Sexual content, Animal cruelty, and Sexual assault
midnacine's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
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
4.5
"The world doesn't work with only your eyes, Princess. There's truth in more than what you can see."
I had a hard time getting into this at first, which was really surprising to me cuz pirates are like... my thing. Around 80 pages, while I loved the characters introduced, I found myself just not clicking with the book as much as I wanted to. It could very well just be me taking time to warm to a new series, because I consider myself notorious on that front. It could have also just been that I was trying desperately to not pick up a new book as soon as it released (I've been avoiding spoilers like the plague). But I think the main culprit is just there's a ton of exposition that's not extremely necessary to the plot of the book- maybe it could have been saved for later, even for book two. But once we were introduced to Vataea, that something clicked.
I'm not sure if I just sensed the missing dynamic when Vataea wasn't there or what, because it wasn't her character itself that made the book hard to put down, just the fact that she kind of pulled everything together. All of the sudden, I could actually read 20-40 pages at a time without even realizing it. And the little bit of romance between Amora and Bastian coming to fruition didn't hurt, either.
To me, the best part about this book were the last 150 pages. Riding the emotional journey of discovering the Montara family's secret with Amora was incredibly satisfying, as well were all of the battle scenes we get to experience from her perspective. And the internal struggle she faces in the final act? It was the nail in the coffin that got me to connect with Amora on a deeper level.
Overall, I really enjoy Adalyn Grace's writing style and I look forward to reading the second! Maybe I'll even add Belladonna to my TBR soon!
I had a hard time getting into this at first, which was really surprising to me cuz pirates are like... my thing. Around 80 pages, while I loved the characters introduced, I found myself just not clicking with the book as much as I wanted to. It could very well just be me taking time to warm to a new series, because I consider myself notorious on that front. It could have also just been that I was trying desperately to not pick up a new book as soon as it released (I've been avoiding spoilers like the plague). But I think the main culprit is just there's a ton of exposition that's not extremely necessary to the plot of the book- maybe it could have been saved for later, even for book two. But once we were introduced to Vataea, that something clicked.
I'm not sure if I just sensed the missing dynamic when Vataea wasn't there or what, because it wasn't her character itself that made the book hard to put down, just the fact that she kind of pulled everything together. All of the sudden, I could actually read 20-40 pages at a time without even realizing it. And the little bit of romance between Amora and Bastian coming to fruition didn't hurt, either.
To me, the best part about this book were the last 150 pages. Riding the emotional journey of discovering the Montara family's secret with Amora was incredibly satisfying, as well were all of the battle scenes we get to experience from her perspective. And the internal struggle she faces in the final act? It was the nail in the coffin that got me to connect with Amora on a deeper level.
Overall, I really enjoy Adalyn Grace's writing style and I look forward to reading the second! Maybe I'll even add Belladonna to my TBR soon!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Blood, Body horror, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, and Violence
Moderate: Gore, Alcohol, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Trafficking, and War
Minor: Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexism, and Rape
angstifies's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
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? Yes
3.75
i had a fun time with this book, didn’t connect much with the characters and i’ll admit i wasn’t interested in the romance at all, those two characters together didn’t make sense to me and i found some things very predictable. the magic and the world were really cool i wish we got even more of that!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Violence, Death, and Gore
Moderate: Suicide and Death of parent
Minor: Misogyny, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Alcohol, and Confinement
offbrandclubsoda's review against another edition
adventurous
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? No
3.5
This was a decent fantasy romance book. I didn’t absolutely love it, but I will probably read the sequel.
The world building was decent, though the explanation of soul magic was a bit confusing and hard to follow. There was some info-dumping at the beginning which always turns me off a bit, but it wasn’t unforgivable.
I thought the plot was somewhat rushed, and I especially thought the romance was built up too quickly and didn’t feel real to me. I like when the author makes me work for it haha
I was disappointed that mermaids weren’t more involved in the plot.
In one sentence, I would say the book has a similar vibe to a Court of Thorns and Roses, but not as good.
Spice level: 🌶🌶/5
Specific to the audiobook:
I want to preface this by saying that I absolutely love audiobooks, so a negative review is rare from me. Unfortunately, I strongly disliked the narration of this book and would recommend skipping the audiobook. The narrator seemed too focused on creating different voices for each character, and ended up making most of them sounds incredibly annoying…I also noticed some weird editing where it was obvious that different takes had been spliced together. Finally, the narrator’s constant pronunciation of silent G’s grated my nerves the entire book. (“ding-Guh-y”, “sing-Guh-ing”, etc).
The world building was decent, though the explanation of soul magic was a bit confusing and hard to follow. There was some info-dumping at the beginning which always turns me off a bit, but it wasn’t unforgivable.
I thought the plot was somewhat rushed, and I especially thought the romance was built up too quickly and didn’t feel real to me. I like when the author makes me work for it haha
I was disappointed that mermaids weren’t more involved in the plot.
In one sentence, I would say the book has a similar vibe to a Court of Thorns and Roses, but not as good.
Spice level: 🌶🌶/5
Specific to the audiobook:
I want to preface this by saying that I absolutely love audiobooks, so a negative review is rare from me. Unfortunately, I strongly disliked the narration of this book and would recommend skipping the audiobook. The narrator seemed too focused on creating different voices for each character, and ended up making most of them sounds incredibly annoying…I also noticed some weird editing where it was obvious that different takes had been spliced together. Finally, the narrator’s constant pronunciation of silent G’s grated my nerves the entire book. (“ding-Guh-y”, “sing-Guh-ing”, etc).
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood and Torture
Moderate: Violence, Body horror, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Sexism, Slavery, Colonisation, Toxic relationship, War, Death of parent, Death, Trafficking, Medical content, and Alcohol
katreadswaytoomuch's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.75
I really disappointed that this didn’t turn out as I expected it to. The concept was there, but the execution was not.
There were a lot of characters used mostly has plot devices and had no real value in my opinion. The MC is self-righteous, exercises almost no strategic planning, and believes in her divine right to rule. Overall, I found her horribly unlikeable.
The main antagonist also has the same savior complex as the mc, but his motivations are unconvincing. This could have been a lot better if had genuine philanthropic tendencies rather than appearing bad for the sake of being bad.
I might have liked this a little more if I didn’t read it on audio. The narrator wasn’t a great choice either. Some of the characters sounded whiny, and I didn’t enjoy listening to them speak.
There were a lot of characters used mostly has plot devices and had no real value in my opinion. The MC is self-righteous, exercises almost no strategic planning, and believes in her divine right to rule. Overall, I found her horribly unlikeable.
The main antagonist also has the same savior complex as the mc, but his motivations are unconvincing. This could have been a lot better if had genuine philanthropic tendencies rather than appearing bad for the sake of being bad.
I might have liked this a little more if I didn’t read it on audio. The narrator wasn’t a great choice either. Some of the characters sounded whiny, and I didn’t enjoy listening to them speak.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Torture, Murder, Death, and Death of parent
Moderate: Violence and Sexual assault
Minor: Alcohol and Sexual content
stormywolf's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
inspiring
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Audiobook Read by Shayna Small
Unabridged Length: 12.4 Hours
Listened at 2x Speed
Read my full review at The Wolf's Den
Overall, this was a hard book to sit through, especially in the first half where Ferrick is most involved. I can't really blame the reader, Shayna Small, for the choice, as it had to have gone through direction/approval in order to be used, but I can't say it didn't affect my overall enjoyment either. Regardless, I'd still recommend this as a solid audiobook production, and I look forward to experiencing the sequel.
Unabridged Length: 12.4 Hours
Listened at 2x Speed
Read my full review at The Wolf's Den
Overall, this was a hard book to sit through, especially in the first half where Ferrick is most involved. I can't really blame the reader, Shayna Small, for the choice, as it had to have gone through direction/approval in order to be used, but I can't say it didn't affect my overall enjoyment either. Regardless, I'd still recommend this as a solid audiobook production, and I look forward to experiencing the sequel.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Blood, and Body horror
Moderate: Alcohol, Self harm, Death, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Fire/Fire injury, Animal cruelty, Misogyny, Emotional abuse, Torture, and Violence
Minor: Sexual assault and Slavery
Much of the main character's magic is fueled by her/another's blood, teeth, and body parts, with fire being a main implement of torture.nicolewhopickedthisbook's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
3.0
TW: Blood and gore, self harm, suicide, sexual assault, toxic relationship
I did enjoy this book but it was kind of slowed paced in regards that it took literally the whole book to get to where they were going and the defeat of the “bad guy” was wrapped up in like 3 chapters. Things were a bit too convenient.
I really did love Bastian. He’s your typical bad boy with a heart of gold. He’s honestly the only character I truly cared about lol
I did enjoy this book but it was kind of slowed paced in regards that it took literally the whole book to get to where they were going and the defeat of the “bad guy” was wrapped up in like 3 chapters. Things were a bit too convenient.
I really did love Bastian. He’s your typical bad boy with a heart of gold. He’s honestly the only character I truly cared about lol
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Gore, and Self harm
Minor: Sexual assault and Toxic relationship
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