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Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Sexual content, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail
Graphic: Bullying, Death, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, War, Injury/Injury detail
Graphic: Chronic illness, Violence, War
Moderate: Cursing, Death, Blood, Classism
Minor: Ableism, Death, Gore, Death of parent, Abandonment
Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Death, Emotional abuse, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, War, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Animal death, Cursing, Physical abuse, Vomit
Minor: Torture, Abandonment
Graphic: Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Violence, War, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Ableism, Gore, Blood, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Outing, Toxic friendship, Abandonment
Graphic: Ableism, Bullying, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail
And yet, I found this book positively entertaining and brilliant, wonderfully so. The idea felt fresh despite being a trope I’m sure has been used many times before. I adore the characters within this.
Violet was a strong female character, but not to the level of being a Mary Sue. She’s the perfect level of strength, but having vulnerabilities (and not being fucking emotionless) and imperfections. She has to earn her skill, she doesn’t come into the academy knowing it all.
Xaden was introduced to us as the cold but cool love interest, and from the get-go I was all for that. From his first meeting with Violet in the woods, we see a man fatally loyal to others like him, that actually cares about things (again, not fucking emotionless) and has imperfections and faults of his own. I was expecting the classic ‘bad boy’ trope with Xaden and was pleasantly impressed that the author didn’t go down that route.
As for their relationship, I loved it. I was already biased given I love the romance trope, but this book made me believe in their chemistry. Not through defining the trope, and telling me, but showing me. It seemed like a natural progression from enemies to lovers, and the things they’d argue over wasn’t foolish or fickle unlike other books tend to make arguments between the main couple feel. They had their own grievances and character arcs outside of each other and I loved that.
Now for Dain. I fucking hate dain. I’m not talking about any other side characters (and I mean that as an insult towards dain), but I just had to mention my absolute loathing of this character. And I do not mean this in fault of the author, no, she wrote this exactly as she meant to to evoke these feelings. His character was almost too real. The overprotective smothering ‘friend’ who totally doesn’t want anything more than friendship. The way at every turn, he’d try to prove Violet incapable of making decisions. I almost wanted Violet to
I loved the way the background characters were written as well. They each had their own little arc and moments throughout the story, making them feel more realistic and like actual people would behave. They weren’t just chess pieces to move around in a game, they were the chess masters each with their own agenda and goals in mind. There was no clear 2 sides that people chose, it was a free-for-all.
As for the writing. This book is not complexly written. It does not take the mental mind of Albert Einstein to decode what the authors conveying. despite that, the scenes can be imagined clearly, and the events make excellent sense. I really do like the writing, as can be seen from the time period in which I finished the book (less than 2 days lol). The dialogue was golden and humour was used appropriately. These actually sounded like 20 year old kids in a perilous situation, but still having fun.
Overall, I’d recommend this to anyone thinking about picking it up. And whilst you begin reading this masterpiece, I’ll start hoping that I can buy the next book for myself by Christmas.
Graphic: Cursing, Death, Sexual content, Violence, Xenophobia, Grief, Murder
Moderate: Blood, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Abandonment
Graphic: Ableism, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Colonisation, Dysphoria, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism
Moderate: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Genocide, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Police brutality, Medical content, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Classism
I could not read the word badass without cringing. The world building was positively wild. It's in a more historical fantasy setting where they write with quills, use weapons, crossbows were a big deal, people who wield magic have access to smaller abilities like locking/unlocking doors, making mage light, etc. There lots of wooden shit, but that also translated to having wooden exercise equipment to essential get swole in a modern fashion, rather than bodyweight exercises. There's a brief mention right at the beginning about shoe sizes which means they have standardized them? And the whole riders quadrant can get married before everyone else when the graduate.... At age 23? That's early for this society? And the focus of sexual relations was just pervasive. The talk of raging hormones... The convenience of fertility suppressants getting a brief mention before boning down. Oh and gods are worshipped, but not by dragons.
There was some disability rep that I think was decent considering that it was a fantastical setting with healers, and the character didn't want to "look weak" and would refuse treatment to speed the healing process. There was some LGBT+ rep as well, but mostly on a surface level for side characters.
Honestly, it was fine but the romance had me putting the book down regularly and made finishing this book difficult.
Minor: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual content, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism