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rmlknisely's review against another edition
hopeful
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: War
Moderate: Death and Death of parent
_persephone_'s review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Is this book perfect? No. Did I still give it 5 stars? Fuck yes. This is definitely a new favorite. The worldbuilding was beautiful, and the way it was introduced was amazing. There wasn't any info-dumping, everything you learn is weaved so neatly and naturally into the plot and dialogue. The writing is amazing too, it was poetic at times, but also blunt when it needed to be. The characters were amazing as well, and the main character, Karou, is a new favorite of mine. She was strong, but could be soft, and though she's a mythical, knife wielding karate chopping, chimera , she was painfully relatable. And motherfucking Akiva, although the the ending had me pissed at him (although i do lowkey already forgive him (almost)) I love him so much. I mean he practically worshiped Karou. Speaking of which, the romance was literally perfect, the love they have for each other is precious. although for people who are big about enemies staying enemies for a while will probably be disappointed at first, they fell for each other pretty quickly, but they do end up as 'enemies' again at the end anyway, so... . As for the one thing that might make it less then perfect in people's eyes is the predictability, although I feel like most of it is definitely on purpose, she drops some pretty major hints, and I'm pretty sure you're meant to know some stuff before the characters do. And then there's the lack of diversity, which is sad, but it's also a 2010's book so honestly I didn't expect anything more. Overall though, this will definitely be a book I reread over and over again.
Rep: None really. Though I wouldn't call it representation, most of the human characters are Czech, and apparently one of the side characters are canonically ace, but that is never said or explored, and she is a very minor side character (although it's possible it will be talked about in the other books)
Tropes: Enemies to Lovers, Insta Love, Forbidden Love, Star-Crossed Lovers
Rep: None really. Though I wouldn't call it representation, most of the human characters are Czech, and apparently one of the side characters are canonically ace, but that is never said or explored, and she is a very minor side character (although it's possible it will be talked about in the other books)
Tropes: Enemies to Lovers, Insta Love, Forbidden Love, Star-Crossed Lovers
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and War
Minor: Death of parent and Injury/Injury detail
whatsophsreading's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Confinement, Death of parent, Death, and Abandonment
_tamara_'s review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, Colonisation, War, Trafficking, Toxic relationship, and Genocide
Minor: Death of parent, Death, Blood, Torture, Toxic relationship, Rape, Violence, Toxic friendship, Sexual violence, and Murder
charliebriggs96's review
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
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