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4.01 AVERAGE
4.01 AVERAGE
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
sad
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Violence, War
slow-paced
It's really hard to pull off a book by starting with a history lesson on the world & IMO this history lesson was dull and left me uninterested in the actual story... assuming there actually is one at some point...
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
inspiring
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
I thoroughly enjoyed the book.
The plot has some unbelievable points, but that's expected given the religious/magical themes. However, there are 2 parts of the plot that I find a little hard to accept:
1. Phedre learning her skills as a anguisette. Complications regarding bodily functions aren't addressed. And everything seems to just work for her without any embarrassment or silliness that seems unnatural.
2. With a slight change to the ending of the book, this could have been a standalone novel rather than a trilogy. I wonder if the author changed the plot last minute to keep the story going.
Overall, this was a fun story, I'm glad I read it, but I would not reread it. The first half of the book was too slow for me and although the second half was fast, I see no value in rereading it as the plot and characters are quite cut and dry.
The plot has some unbelievable points, but that's expected given the religious/magical themes. However, there are 2 parts of the plot that I find a little hard to accept:
1. Phedre learning her skills as a anguisette. Complications regarding bodily functions aren't addressed. And everything seems to just work for her without any embarrassment or silliness that seems unnatural.
2. With a slight change to the ending of the book, this could have been a standalone novel rather than a trilogy. I wonder if the author changed the plot last minute to keep the story going.
Overall, this was a fun story, I'm glad I read it, but I would not reread it. The first half of the book was too slow for me and although the second half was fast, I see no value in rereading it as the plot and characters are quite cut and dry.
DNF at I don’t even know where. Just over halfway? I pulled out my bookmark without checking the page number. And then stacked it and its friends on the giveaway pile and felt such a sense of relief, which is how I know this is the right decision. I hadn’t picked it up in weeks and had only been making slow, reluctant progress beforehand.
I thought the political intrigues would appeal to me and had heard good things about this book for years. But there was so much I did not enjoy, and I will not spend any more of my time thinking about this book to delve into them. However, the one thing that annoyed me above all else is the overuse of “you can be sure” or “of a surety” or some variation thereof on damn near _every page_ that made this book ridiculous and impossible to take seriously.
I thought the political intrigues would appeal to me and had heard good things about this book for years. But there was so much I did not enjoy, and I will not spend any more of my time thinking about this book to delve into them. However, the one thing that annoyed me above all else is the overuse of “you can be sure” or “of a surety” or some variation thereof on damn near _every page_ that made this book ridiculous and impossible to take seriously.
adventurous
emotional
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:
Complicated
meh. I think the book was described to me as filled with magic and intrigue and I couldn't follow the intrigue and the magic was lackluster. The pseudo biblical mythology and vaguely european geography annoyed me and the weird sexual religion made me want to skip whole sections of the book. Oh well, I can't like every book that I read.