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hedgew1tch's review
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.25
No, just no.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual harassment, Kidnapping, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Violence
Minor: Torture
louisallama's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.25
The book started out fairly strong, and I enjoyed the banter between Cat and Griffin and all the side characters were fun, but that's about it.
Cat is in a constant cycle of 'I feel so drawn to Griffin but I can't trust or love him because of my mysterious (and horrifically obvious) past, but oops I'm telling him things I swore I'd never tell anyone and now I'm kissing him back and then hitting him immediately after'. Seriously, she goes back and forth every other page, it's infuriating, and she's not portrayed as mature or serious enough to pull it off well.
Griffin ends up being pretty abusive towards Cat imo. He never lets her make her own decisions, never trusts her word, is insanely jealous and possessive of her, and there ends up being a lot of dubious consent in the latter half of the book.
Also *spoilers for the ending*
isn't Cat supposed to have magical self healing powers? How come that never comes up at the end of the book when she's stabbed in the gut by Daphne and is bleeding to death? Unless I'm blind, there's not even a throwaway line to hand-wave it away because she's ~too weak~ from using her powers all night. She can get in the way of dragon fire and the arrow that fried her to a crisp and put her arms in a ball of flames and be absolutely dandy, but she can't self heal enough from a knife to the gut to go get help? Correct me if I'm wrong because that's the biggest dumb as shit plot hole.
The plot wasn't strong enough to make up for these overwhelming character flaws, and while the writing was decent, I'm not surprised that this is a debut novel.
Cat is in a constant cycle of 'I feel so drawn to Griffin but I can't trust or love him because of my mysterious (and horrifically obvious) past, but oops I'm telling him things I swore I'd never tell anyone and now I'm kissing him back and then hitting him immediately after'. Seriously, she goes back and forth every other page, it's infuriating, and she's not portrayed as mature or serious enough to pull it off well.
Griffin ends up being pretty abusive towards Cat imo. He never lets her make her own decisions, never trusts her word, is insanely jealous and possessive of her, and there ends up being a lot of dubious consent in the latter half of the book.
Also *spoilers for the ending*
The plot wasn't strong enough to make up for these overwhelming character flaws, and while the writing was decent, I'm not surprised that this is a debut novel.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Violence
Moderate: Torture, Gore, and Sexual harassment
vagrantheather's review against another edition
Finally DNFing this book at 78%, much past when it was due. It's a fun, light read for the most part, but the conceptualization is terribly poor. I'd place the writing at ACOTAR level (pretty bad IMO, but readable). My biggest gripe is, of course, the abduction and subsequent sexualization of a captive. Yes, the male MC is kind, hot, strong, and generous - but the main character is still a captive! She was taken against her will, physically bound to him with magical rope, and repeatedly denied release despite constant petition. We see from the perspective of the victim, so there's this thin veneer of acceptability; we know how she feels about Griffin, that she is attracted to him and wants him around. But she REPEATEDLY rejects his advances, and he REPEATEDLY breaks those boundaries. Then ALL OF THE SURROUNDING CHARACTERS pressure her to give in and let him have his way with her. In fact, she outright tells one sister that he abducted, threatened, and kept her captive, and the sister says, "you'll get over it." !!! From any other perspective, his advances are grossly unfounded sexual harassment on a trafficking victim / slave. I cannot move past this. It does not get better over time. Griffin constantly makes demands on the FMC that restrict her agency - magical vows that cause her untold physical pain when they are broken. He sees this, it scares him, and he CONTINUES TO ASK HER TO MAKE THESE VOWS. He acts like he's going to kiss her, she tells him not to, and he says "why shouldn't I?" then does it anyway. Hello, the WHY is BECAUSE SHE F*CKING TOLD YOU NOT TO. I honestly have to question the author's ethics, that she would write such a toxic dynamic as a young adult romance. It's way more disturbing than Twilight, where Bella could at least walk away.
More minor gripes - it's written like fanfiction, in the sense that a lot of phrasing makes no sense for the world. It uses Greek deities (despite being a different world/universe), but very poorly researched. The author makes numerous references to the Underworld being hot (it is not hot in Greek mythology). Characters use Brit-ified curses ("it's too bloody hot," "hasn't let me out of his sight for a bloody month," "I'm not a bloody dog," etc). The supposedly wise, empathetic, beloved new Alpha has no personality outside of eye movements - her eyes widen with surprise, that's about it. Hyperbole is not enough, so the author tacks hyperbole onto more hyperbole to try to give things impact - it's not "I'd rather die than do x," it's "I'd rather die a thousand painful deaths than do x." It can't be "I freeze," but "I go impossibly still." It's lazy writing. Dynamics with other characters are shallow and trite. Griffin's previous bed buddy, who takes an instant dislike to Cat and slutshames her, tries to attack her, and publicly cries to Griffin about how Cat's not as good as she is, to which Griffin does the corny, "but I looooove her." Very lame. Very "pick me" girl. There are comments about her getting dirty looks from all of the other women in the city because she associates with the good looking Beta team, and I am disgusted by this characterization of the majority of women as petty, shallow, and jealous of each other.
Characters do not move like people. Anyone outside the main duo acts as a hive mind, all hovering around with no motivation until it's time for them to play a role in a scene (a side comment, all moving to attack at once, overhearing a conversation they're "part of" (but not really)). Griffin walks through a city towing someone with a rope and no one intervenes or looks twice, because apparently everyone in the city thinks this is an ok, normal thing to do? The plotting is lazy, too - Cat is a runaway from a household full of abuse (mental, physical, emotional) who lives life as a transient, yet she's simultaneously intimately familiar with court etiquette and manipulation/strategy. She never has to wonder what people will do, because she's capable of instantly profiling their motives and flaws and setting forth exactly the right plan. She has unlimited powers, her flaws are only things that make people love her, and she's got like three or more gods (real characters who have physical forms in this book) ready to jump in and give her extra powers at any moment.
I like my characters to feel like real, complex people. I like the world to be ambiguous, difficult to judge. I like when carefully laid plans go awry because that's just how the world is, one little misstep and the plan careens off the rails. This book is the opposite of that. Characters are predictable and everyone is beautiful and powerful and righteous. It's OK to murder 60 people in one page, because they were "the bad guys," and no one has to struggle with pesky little emotions over their deaths. In fact we never even need to question if they were evil, because obviously they must have been.
It is fun to read, if you can look past the bad writing, bad characters, predictable plot, and toxic dynamics. I couldn't.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Toxic relationship, Kidnapping, Rape, and Sexual harassment
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, Murder, Slavery, Violence, and War
I literally roll my eyes or make a gross face every single page. The sexual tension was kinda fun (despite being based on coercion and refusing to acknowledge the ethical concerns of that), but now things are moving more spicy and I can't enjoy it because the premise is so upsetting. I hate to DNF a book so close to the end, but I hate it, so it has to go.katievallin's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-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
1.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Stalking, Torture, Blood, Child death, Slavery, Violence, Classism, Murder, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Gore, Kidnapping, Sexism, and Sexual harassment
Moderate: Animal death, Body shaming, Fatphobia, and Emotional abuse
Minor: Panic attacks/disorders
ellariawrites'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
4.25
I really enjoyed this book, the world, and the characters. I did have a few problems with it though.
1. Griffen is very possessive. That quality ranged from endearing at times to incredibly uncomfortable and problematic. The way he expressed his anger was quite intense as well. This is a story of a girl falling for her captor so keep that in mind when reading.
2. I don’t like the way Cat talks about or thinks about her body. It felt very fatphobic at times. It’s wasn’t even important to the plot so I don’t see the reason to constantly bring up her desire to not gain more weight.
3. Daphne. Everything about her character and her plot.
1. Griffen is very possessive. That quality ranged from endearing at times to incredibly uncomfortable and problematic. The way he expressed his anger was quite intense as well. This is a story of a girl falling for her captor so keep that in mind when reading.
2. I don’t like the way Cat talks about or thinks about her body. It felt very fatphobic at times. It’s wasn’t even important to the plot so I don’t see the reason to constantly bring up her desire to not gain more weight.
3. Daphne. Everything about her character and her plot.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, and Sexual content
Moderate: Blood, Body shaming, Fatphobia, Sexual harassment, and Torture
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