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3.82 AVERAGE
3.82 AVERAGE
adventurous
emotional
funny
mysterious
slow-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
Far from perfect but it was really good! The beginning was confusing, it could have used more world building even just an extra paragraph, but I was hooked soon enough.
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
I absolutely loved this book more than I thought I would. It has such a unique and amazing magic system, I love the slums and the poison trade background our FMC has and I really like that one of our MMCs has such a unique flaw with him missing an eye! I really, really love Bastian ( second MMC) and I found the plot to be really thrilling. So much happened that kept me on the edge of my seat, I loved the catacombs and court setting, the suspicious characters and the ending was just so good!
dark
tense
slow-paced
4.25/5.
There were so many parts I immediately appreciated about this book - the magic system and story behind the world’s old gods being my favorite. so so compelling but I’m a sucker for fictional mythology. befitting of the main character’s name, this story has QUITE a lot of interesting lore tidbits dropped, and I felt it was done in a way that was really well balanced with what was happening in the book. Despite the large amount of world building, the plot advanced at a really good pace.
The characters seemed very archetypical at first, but I was pleasantly surprised by how they changed throughout the book. I thought that Gabe’s backstory in particular was so compelling for a side character, and was a great way of world building via giving speculation on Kirtheyan characters such as the emperor’s son. His loyalty to Anton gives a sense of humanity within the Presque Mort which I think makes them a more interesting antagonistic faction.
Lore is amazing and I love her as a protagonist. So self sufficient and it shows in how she thinks, and she has a fascinating power. I love how her purpose in the story gets slowly unveiled, and how we realize how good of a reason there is for her to be called the court due to August’s conspiring.
I do have nitpicks. I wish that the love triangle didn’t happen. Gabe took up too much time in the plot in my opinion; it made Lore look like a bad spy because there was a lot of time she was spending hanging out with Gabe for some reason rather than seeking out Bastian for the mission that she thinks she’s on. It bothered me how Bastian was always the agent that pushed the plot forward by being the one to approach her for every interaction.
Bastian himself was very interesting, but underutilized before the last third of the book. I thought him caring for Lore developed very suddenly, through some supernatural force that honestly is less interesting than if he were to spend more pages interacting with her. Also he and other characters talk too casually for the setting - for instance Bastian says “salty” to describe how Gabriel feels about something and that kind of ruined my immersion for that page lol.
I liked Gabe more as a character when he had that fake cousin/cautious friend relationship with Lore at the beginning of the book, and I audibly groaned every time him and Bastian started fighting over being in charge of Lore’s safety while she was still in the room - she is too interesting and self sufficient of a protagonist to have this sort of machismo battle looming over her again and again. I wish that Gabe’s character arc was waaay less Lore centric and way more Kirythean centric about going on a self discovery journey regarding his past, although I did like how he had enough character development to change his mind on Anton eventually. Although it never amounted to much IMO because Bastian was the one who ultimately took care of that conflict.
Despite everything the ideas of this book brought me so much joy and I really enjoyed the read. I am so excited to start the sequel! Loving this universe so far.
There were so many parts I immediately appreciated about this book - the magic system and story behind the world’s old gods being my favorite. so so compelling but I’m a sucker for fictional mythology. befitting of the main character’s name, this story has QUITE a lot of interesting lore tidbits dropped, and I felt it was done in a way that was really well balanced with what was happening in the book. Despite the large amount of world building, the plot advanced at a really good pace.
The characters seemed very archetypical at first, but I was pleasantly surprised by how they changed throughout the book. I thought that Gabe’s backstory in particular was so compelling for a side character, and was a great way of world building via giving speculation on Kirtheyan characters such as the emperor’s son. His loyalty to Anton gives a sense of humanity within the Presque Mort which I think makes them a more interesting antagonistic faction.
Lore is amazing and I love her as a protagonist. So self sufficient and it shows in how she thinks, and she has a fascinating power. I love how her purpose in the story gets slowly unveiled, and how we realize how good of a reason there is for her to be called the court due to August’s conspiring.
I do have nitpicks. I wish that the love triangle didn’t happen. Gabe took up too much time in the plot in my opinion; it made Lore look like a bad spy because there was a lot of time she was spending hanging out with Gabe for some reason rather than seeking out Bastian for the mission that she thinks she’s on. It bothered me how Bastian was always the agent that pushed the plot forward by being the one to approach her for every interaction.
Bastian himself was very interesting, but underutilized before the last third of the book. I thought him caring for Lore developed very suddenly, through some supernatural force that honestly is less interesting than if he were to spend more pages interacting with her. Also he and other characters talk too casually for the setting - for instance Bastian says “salty” to describe how Gabriel feels about something and that kind of ruined my immersion for that page lol.
I liked Gabe more as a character when he had that fake cousin/cautious friend relationship with Lore at the beginning of the book, and I audibly groaned every time him and Bastian started fighting over being in charge of Lore’s safety while she was still in the room - she is too interesting and self sufficient of a protagonist to have this sort of machismo battle looming over her again and again. I wish that Gabe’s character arc was waaay less Lore centric and way more Kirythean centric about going on a self discovery journey regarding his past, although I did like how he had enough character development to change his mind on Anton eventually. Although it never amounted to much IMO because Bastian was the one who ultimately took care of that conflict.
Despite everything the ideas of this book brought me so much joy and I really enjoyed the read. I am so excited to start the sequel! Loving this universe so far.
Jestem zaskoczona, bo nie sądziłam, że aż tak dobrze będę się bawić podczas czytania tej książki! Zamówiłam ją nieco impulsywnie, a później poczytałam recenzję i zaczęłam żałować, ale aktualnie nie mogę się doczekać kolejnych części!!
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
dark
tense
adventurous
mysterious
slow-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