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elizabethamarx's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death and Injury/Injury detail
charliebriggs96's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
“Hope can be a powerful force. Maybe there's no actual magic in it, but when you know what you hope for most and hold it like a light within you, you can make things happen, almost like magic.”
⭐️⭐️⭐️.75/5
This book was so close to a 4⭐️ that I could taste it, but as usual I had some issues with it. But first, the positives. What a way to start a series! For one thing, it’s a great opener of a book. The first in a trilogy, it’s sometimes hard to grasp the readers attention like this book did. The characters, for the most part are cleverly crafted, full bodied and memorable. Some did lack in the background, or didn’t age well in terms of readability in the last 10 years since it’s initial release. Which did knock a little half point off of the total score, blame the mc’s friend, not me. However, I immensely enjoyed Karou, she was funny, kind, intelligent although sometimes naive. She and Brimstone and the other Chimaera held this book in place, which made the plot twist all more bittersweet. The reason why this book wasn’t a 4⭐️ was: pacing, the pacing started off strong, then went EVERYWHERE nearing the middle and end. Some of the characters, like I mentioned, haven’t aged well. And I am NOT a fan of ‘insta-love’. Even with the plot twist, it’s still instalove. And I hate it
⭐️⭐️⭐️.75/5
This book was so close to a 4⭐️ that I could taste it, but as usual I had some issues with it. But first, the positives. What a way to start a series! For one thing, it’s a great opener of a book. The first in a trilogy, it’s sometimes hard to grasp the readers attention like this book did. The characters, for the most part are cleverly crafted, full bodied and memorable. Some did lack in the background, or didn’t age well in terms of readability in the last 10 years since it’s initial release. Which did knock a little half point off of the total score, blame the mc’s friend, not me. However, I immensely enjoyed Karou, she was funny, kind, intelligent although sometimes naive. She and Brimstone and the other Chimaera held this book in place, which made the plot twist all more bittersweet. The reason why this book wasn’t a 4⭐️ was: pacing, the pacing started off strong, then went EVERYWHERE nearing the middle and end. Some of the characters, like I mentioned, haven’t aged well. And I am NOT a fan of ‘insta-love’. Even with the plot twist, it’s still instalove. And I hate it
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Death of parent, Genocide, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Religious bigotry, Slavery, Torture, and War
bookspaperink's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, and War
Moderate: Gore, Violence, and War
Minor: Slavery, Stalking, Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Blood, and Fire/Fire injury
mredie's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
sad
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? No
3.75
I wasn’t sure if I was going to like this book. The first chapters are hard to get through, it becomes an easier read after Karou meets Akiva. Not a favorite book of mine, but still good and written well that I will be continuing the series.
Content Warnings
Minor: Animal death, Blood, and Death
zero spice. a couple kisses were described but no spicethecourtofreading's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
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
3.5
"have you ever asked yourself, do monsters make war, or does war make monsters?"
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, and Gun violence
Moderate: Body horror, Gore, and Pedophilia
Minor: Animal death, Torture, and Rape
gingerale06's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Murder, Slavery, Torture, and Violence
nickoliver's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
This is a hard book for me to review, because on the one hand, I found it very beautifully written and enjoyed the story itself and the plot twists it had to offer; but on the other hand, I just severely disliked Akiva and the romance from beginning to end. Which didn't really make me enjoy the book anymore. It was a struggle at times, tbh.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and Murder
Moderate: Grief, Slavery, and Torture
Minor: Rape
benasbooks's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
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? Yes
2.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Blood, Body horror, Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Racism, Toxic relationship, and Violence
november_is_reading1114's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
3.25
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death
nebraskanwriter's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
The story follows a seventeen year old girl named Karou who lives in Prague and is an art student. She lives in an apartment, tries to avoid her obnoxious ex-boyfriend and eats goulash at Poison Kitchen with her best friend, Zuzana. Karou also spends time filling up sketchbooks with rich drawings of monsters, creatures that are half human and half animal and some that are just a mixture of animals. But what her art classmates and Zuzana don’t know is that all of those creatures in her sketchbooks are real.
Karou was raised by a chimaera named Brimstone, who is a mixture of many creatures, along with a few other chimaera that live in the Elsewhere, as Brimstone calls it. She does not know who her parents are and has only ever known these creatures as her family. Karou is able to enter Elsewhere through specific portals around the world where Brimstone works and the other chimaera do as well. She runs errands for Brimstone, collecting teeth through out the world from different animals… and different humans, too. Brimstone does not tell Karou why he needs teeth and mainly she runs these errands because he asks her to, not because she wants to. She has no idea how sinister these errands actually are and what their purpose is.
I quite liked the first part of the story, the rich details of the characters and the exciting (but also dangerous) adventures that Karou goes on. She leads a double life, one foot in the real world and the other in the magical. I enjoyed her normal life too, Karou laughing with Zuzana and avoiding her ex-boyfriend like the plague, living the life of a normal teenager.
In the middle of the book, we discover that the chimaera have an enemy–the seraphim, human-like beings that are extremely beautiful with gigantic powerful wings and even more powerful warriors. There are three seraph that come to the world to close the portals to Elsewhere so that Brimstone cannot get his teeth.
Things begin to escalate when Karou opens the door in Brimstone’s office that leads to the chimaera world, which she was always forbidden to open, and a chimaera sees the hamsas on her hands. Brimstone throws her out in a rage, yelling at her that she has no idea what she has just done. But Karou has no idea who she is, what her hamsa on her hands mean and why this will have devastating consequences.
The later half of the book changes perspectives completely and we are introduced to Madigral, a beautiful chimaera. On the battle field nineteen years ago, she saves Akiva’s life and he comes back two years later to save hers. This part of the book was my absolute favorite. This part redeemed itself from the previous instalove parts because it was just so beautiful. As the stakes are raised and their love story intensifies, Taylor begins to tie all the loose strings together.
The ending blew my mind, I saw none of that coming. The way everything was so intricately connected together; the wishbone, Madigral, Akiva, Karou and Brimstone. I am so glad that I stuck with this book and finished it. The scenery, the descriptions, the world itself was beautiful and horrifying, as most worlds are. The way that Taylor wove such a story of love and redemption, I now know why so many love this series.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gun violence, and Violence