Take a photo of a barcode or cover
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
I have such mixed feelings about this book that I don't even know how to rate it. For the first half to two-thirds of the book, it was going to be a two-star read, if that. The plot moved at a snail's pace, there was little to no world-building, and the characters were basically cardboard. I didn't get any chemistry between Saeris and Fisher, unless you count their apparent constant horniness. I know Fisher's dirty talk was supposed to be sexy, but it came off as so gross and cringe because there was absolutely no development of the characters or their relationship, except that for some reason they were supposed to hate each other, blah blah blah.
Things improved once they left the Winter Palace and made it to Cahlish. The plot picked up significantly, but then it was as if the author decided to throw in ALL THE THINGS. War! A mysterious backstory about Fisher leaving his people and being a reluctant hero! Fire sprites who love Fisher and also Saeris! Vampires! (Yes, vampires.) Fated mates! The God of Chaos! Betrayal! A secret heir (who is not a main character)! And of course, the actual somewhat development of Saeris and Fisher's relationship, which feels utterly at odds with the first half of the book and is still a lot about sex. But even the smut scenes felt repetitive and a little bland.
The side characters are a big part of what saved this book for me, but I do have a bone to pick with how some of the characters treat the females.Threatening to have Everlayne basically gang-raped as a means of taunting Fisher? Lorreth saying he would put Danya on his lap and spank her (but not in the good way, so it's okay??) if she tried to hit him again? Saeris's random paranoid jealousy of the healer? Those really did leave an icky taste in my mouth, as if any female character besides Saeris was only there to be treated like an object, while Saeris got to be the Special One. I also did not get why Danya was written to be so fucking unpleasant. It felt very much like petty mean girls shit to me.
Speaking of which, way too many tropes in this book and they're not all done well. Saeris the Special Chosen Girl Who's Unlike Any Other is one. Enemies-to-lovers is just not really how it worked in this book. Touch Her and Be Unalived might have worked better if the character and relationship development had happened earlier. Fated Mates was probably the one that worked best, but even that felt a little forced because of all the other tropes.
So with all my complaints, why do I have a hard time ranking this? Because somehow, despite it all, I was pretty engaged in the last third of the book. Once things got going, it was a faster and easier read. It's enough that I'll probably pick up the second book and hope for a Carrion Swift spin-off. But this really could have been shorter and more tightly written.
Things improved once they left the Winter Palace and made it to Cahlish. The plot picked up significantly, but then it was as if the author decided to throw in ALL THE THINGS. War! A mysterious backstory about Fisher leaving his people and being a reluctant hero! Fire sprites who love Fisher and also Saeris! Vampires! (Yes, vampires.) Fated mates! The God of Chaos! Betrayal! A secret heir (who is not a main character)! And of course, the actual somewhat development of Saeris and Fisher's relationship, which feels utterly at odds with the first half of the book and is still a lot about sex. But even the smut scenes felt repetitive and a little bland.
The side characters are a big part of what saved this book for me, but I do have a bone to pick with how some of the characters treat the females.
Speaking of which, way too many tropes in this book and they're not all done well. Saeris the Special Chosen Girl Who's Unlike Any Other is one. Enemies-to-lovers is just not really how it worked in this book. Touch Her and Be Unalived might have worked better if the character and relationship development had happened earlier. Fated Mates was probably the one that worked best, but even that felt a little forced because of all the other tropes.
So with all my complaints, why do I have a hard time ranking this? Because somehow, despite it all, I was pretty engaged in the last third of the book. Once things got going, it was a faster and easier read. It's enough that I'll probably pick up the second book and hope for a Carrion Swift spin-off. But this really could have been shorter and more tightly written.
Content Warnings
Minor: Infertility, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
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:
Complicated
This was really good!!!! Other than the fact that one of the MMCs had my cousin’s name, I really enjoyed the world-building for this one
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence
Moderate: War
adventurous
emotional
inspiring
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:
No
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence
Moderate: Death, Blood
Minor: Sexual violence
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
tense
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
Review to come! 🫶🏼
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Cursing, Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism
Moderate: Confinement, Infertility, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Grief, Alcohol
Minor: Drug use, Genocide, Sexual violence, Slavery, Kidnapping, Suicide attempt
adventurous
dark
emotional
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Sometimes a romantasy is just the exact right thing, and this was the exact right thing. This book takes a bit to get going - we don't meet a few key characters until about 1/3 of the way in - but then it really gets going. I appreciated that the main character was 23 and actually had a life and talents and opinions, and the romance felt more real and deep than in other romantasy books. The plot moves fast and delivers information at a solid pace, which I always like, and the love interest was suitably complicated and interesting without being irredeemable. This definitely feels like an ACOTAR rip-off at some points, and the combination of fae + vampires + magic users + dragons?? is a bit much. But overall the worldbuilding felt accessible enough, and this is just a super fun book that I devoured. I'm really excited for the next book!
I really didn't see the end coming, and I'm not sure I'm totally on board for it - the fae/vampire thing isn't that intriguing to me. But Hart seems to have good narrative control and plotting skills, so I'm excited to see where it goes.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Genocide, Gore, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, War, Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Confinement, Rape, Sexual violence, Torture
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Sexual content
Moderate: Misogyny, Sexual violence
adventurous
dark
emotional
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:
Complicated
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Addiction, Chronic illness, Infertility, Slavery, Terminal illness, Sexual harassment, Classism
Minor: Addiction, Confinement, Sexual violence, Vomit, Murder
adventurous
emotional
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Violence
Moderate: Blood, Death of parent, War
Minor: Infertility, Sexual violence
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
sad
tense
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
For the first time in what has felt like ages, there's a new romantasy that has actual DESCRIPTION OMG. And all the characters invoked feeling from me - there wasn't an overflow of them as can be the case, and each at time to shine which I thoroughly enjoyed. The fight scenes were well choreographed, and I enjoyed the vivid depiction of them. I was at times a lil aghast at the violence and that there was a labyrinth (because what fantasy book these days doesn't have that in some form?) but that didn't detract from the overall storyline.
Saeris is the main character, and it's her first person experience that we follow along with. She is strong-willed, kind and courageous; her humour and stubbornness really shine through in this book.
Fisher (fucking weird name but whatever) is our male main character who is angsty, possessive, and traumatised.
Hayden is Saeris' little brother who is the typical younger brother idiot.
Elroy is the man who supported Saeris.
Madra is the Undying Queen, and a royal fucking ASSHOLE.
Birkin/Belikon is a fucking ASSWIPE.
Malcom is Lucifer incarnate. And the king of vampires.
Thaddeus is Malcom's "creation"
Carrion WHO IS THE FUCKING MVP OF THE ENTIRE BOOK NGL THE COMEDY, THE DRAMA, THE ICONICNESS.
Lorreth is a bb. Shares soul with Fisher cause Fisher saved him. Has a god sword.
Ren is also bb.
Danya can get fucked. She's a member of the wolf guard and an also.
Love the little fairies and sprites that make it properly feel like a fae line, and sweet characters like Wendy.
ONYX IS THE CUTEST FOX EVER.
Also, she's defo taken inspiration from Nalini Singh's guild hunter series. Cannot tell me that those evil vampire things aren't a throw back to Lijuan's creations (probably why I like the book so much)
Saeris is the main character, and it's her first person experience that we follow along with. She is strong-willed, kind and courageous; her humour and stubbornness really shine through in this book.
Fisher (fucking weird name but whatever) is our male main character who is angsty, possessive, and traumatised.
Hayden is Saeris' little brother who is the typical younger brother idiot.
Elroy is the man who supported Saeris.
Madra is the Undying Queen, and a royal fucking ASSHOLE.
Birkin/Belikon is a fucking ASSWIPE.
Malcom is Lucifer incarnate. And the king of vampires.
Thaddeus is Malcom's "creation"
Carrion WHO IS THE FUCKING MVP OF THE ENTIRE BOOK NGL THE COMEDY, THE DRAMA, THE ICONICNESS.
Lorreth is a bb. Shares soul with Fisher cause Fisher saved him. Has a god sword.
Ren is also bb.
Danya can get fucked. She's a member of the wolf guard and an also.
Love the little fairies and sprites that make it properly feel like a fae line, and sweet characters like Wendy.
ONYX IS THE CUTEST FOX EVER.
Also, she's defo taken inspiration from Nalini Singh's guild hunter series. Cannot tell me that those evil vampire things aren't a throw back to Lijuan's creations (probably why I like the book so much)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Violence, War, Classism
Moderate: Sexual content
Minor: Addiction, Child death, Sexual assault, Sexual violence
dark
emotional
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:
Complicated
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Bullying, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Stalking, Death of parent, Gaslighting, War, Injury/Injury detail
BDSM horribly handled