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3.87 AVERAGE
3.87 AVERAGE
What initially appealed to me about this book was that it flipped a trope on it's head: She is the 300 year old badass immortal warrior, and he is a 29 year-old mortal man just being introduced to this world. What I got was an incredibly unique universe spanning across time and generations, a battle between good and evil, and a unique fantasy that I thoroughly enjoyed! S.J. Barnett also does an exceptional job writing combat and battle scenes in a way that I can see them play out and the stakes feel real. I listed to this novel on audiobook, and the narrators were wonderful! Thoroughly recommend.
The audiobook of this is 1000/10 amazing. Loved the story and twist on Christian myth.
This book is filled with world building, character development, intricate story line, and a slow burn romance between the FMC and MMC until the last 10% of the book. Due to this being the first in a new series there are a lot of character introductions and backstory to help you understand the different dynamics between everyone. Definitely a must read if you are looking for a new fantasy series to get lost in.
1.5 stars at best
I do not understand all the 5 star ratings or recommendations for this book. Now before y'all come for me, let me preface this review by saying that I live for a good slow burn. This ain't it. This is a pile of waterlogged green wood that's trying to ignite via rubbing two pieces of paper together.
Let me save you 660 pages of torture. Ally is super powerful and rescues August from demons. He winds up being her soulmate and the King of their kind. The fight against the big bad is around page 550 and can be summed up by saying Ally doesn't kill the baddest guy because he's "someone" to her. Everyone in this book reincarnated and is stronger every time.
There's too much slow and not enough burn. The first 6 chapters should have been a prologue from Ally's POV. By the time any action happens in the book, it's been 300 pages. The kiss doesn't even happen until 69% in the book (nice). Smexy times are literally 94% in.
The action is boring. The spicy scenes are boring. I felt no conflict or urgency in any of it, even the scene at the end. First time in my book history I didn't read bonus scenes. The author spends so much time explaining everything and misusing words that you're just shaking the book wanting to yell "get it over with!!" Which I did, btw.
For someone with so much "church trauma" as purported in the trigger warnings? This book reads as a religious person's attempts at convincing you that they just want to hang out before springing a pamphlet and intervention about how much "j-sus saves" on you. I've read nephilim vs demons books, and they were about the struggle and the conflict. This was about g-d and l-cifer and how g-d is always gonna win. There is no grey, everything is black and white. Yawn.
Also, the writing. The author doesn't understand nocking an arrow, and thinks it's spelled knocking. Peacked vs piqued. Ascent vs assent. That the 1800s were 200 years ago, not 300. Names that don't look the same and are confusing - Jason, Jacob, Aren, Alec, Fae is Alphaea?! What this story really needed was an editor who was more willing to be a bit brutally honest and tell the author to chop chop and summarize.
I do not understand all the 5 star ratings or recommendations for this book. Now before y'all come for me, let me preface this review by saying that I live for a good slow burn. This ain't it. This is a pile of waterlogged green wood that's trying to ignite via rubbing two pieces of paper together.
Let me save you 660 pages of torture. Ally is super powerful and rescues August from demons. He winds up being her soulmate and the King of their kind. The fight against the big bad is around page 550 and can be summed up by saying Ally doesn't kill the baddest guy because he's "someone" to her. Everyone in this book reincarnated and is stronger every time.
There's too much slow and not enough burn. The first 6 chapters should have been a prologue from Ally's POV. By the time any action happens in the book, it's been 300 pages. The kiss doesn't even happen until 69% in the book (nice). Smexy times are literally 94% in.
The action is boring. The spicy scenes are boring. I felt no conflict or urgency in any of it, even the scene at the end. First time in my book history I didn't read bonus scenes. The author spends so much time explaining everything and misusing words that you're just shaking the book wanting to yell "get it over with!!" Which I did, btw.
For someone with so much "church trauma" as purported in the trigger warnings? This book reads as a religious person's attempts at convincing you that they just want to hang out before springing a pamphlet and intervention about how much "j-sus saves" on you. I've read nephilim vs demons books, and they were about the struggle and the conflict. This was about g-d and l-cifer and how g-d is always gonna win. There is no grey, everything is black and white. Yawn.
Also, the writing. The author doesn't understand nocking an arrow, and thinks it's spelled knocking. Peacked vs piqued. Ascent vs assent. That the 1800s were 200 years ago, not 300. Names that don't look the same and are confusing - Jason, Jacob, Aren, Alec, Fae is Alphaea?! What this story really needed was an editor who was more willing to be a bit brutally honest and tell the author to chop chop and summarize.
Not gonna lie, the first 50-75 pages were brutal to get through with dense world building and a whole lot of WTF is going on. After you get through that first section that feels so complicated in the beginning, the book rapidly gets better and better. I love so much that the MCs of this book were adults so we didn’t have the age gap romance between a child and the usual 300 year old like other fantasy novels. If the first book of the series was this good and clearly still so much to learn about their world, I can not wait for book 2 and beyond.
Is this seriously a debut novel?!? It was amazing!
- Fated Mates
- Found Family
- Slowwww Burn
- Chosen One
- Reincarnation
- Demons/Half Angels
This book was THICK!! I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and the adventure it took me on. The writing was amazing, the world building was on point and easy to imagine, the 'magic' system was really interesting and unique. I felt so deeply for side characters, I kept wondering how they were doing and handling certain situations and I love how the author didn't just ignore them.
I love how all of the characters are connected and enjoyed learning about their histories. I did struggle early on with mixing some of their names up but eventually my brain made it make sense!
This book had SO MUCH action, there wasn't a single boring moment. Of course there were chapters of peace and fun moments but it was never boring. The banter between characters and the friendship was top tier!
I also really enjoyed the extremely slow burn this romance had. It was literally killing me! But the wait was so worth it because what Ally and August have is just so sweet and genuine.
I honestly have zero complaints about this book and I'll be surprised if it isn't in my top 10 reads this year.
- Fated Mates
- Found Family
- Slowwww Burn
- Chosen One
- Reincarnation
- Demons/Half Angels
This book was THICK!! I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and the adventure it took me on. The writing was amazing, the world building was on point and easy to imagine, the 'magic' system was really interesting and unique. I felt so deeply for side characters, I kept wondering how they were doing and handling certain situations and I love how the author didn't just ignore them.
I love how all of the characters are connected and enjoyed learning about their histories. I did struggle early on with mixing some of their names up but eventually my brain made it make sense!
This book had SO MUCH action, there wasn't a single boring moment. Of course there were chapters of peace and fun moments but it was never boring. The banter between characters and the friendship was top tier!
I also really enjoyed the extremely slow burn this romance had. It was literally killing me! But the wait was so worth it because what Ally and August have is just so sweet and genuine.
I honestly have zero complaints about this book and I'll be surprised if it isn't in my top 10 reads this year.
This is a CHUNK of a book, especially for the first book of a series, but it is so very well written! This book is a super slow burn fantasy with some Christian imagery such as angels/demons/Lucifer/Nephilim where the FMC is the skilled warrior and the MMC is the rookie. Lots of action and battle scenes with character story lines sprinkled about. Some books we inhale and others we savor. This was a book I savored.
adventurous
inspiring
fast-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:
No
NO Spoilers! I listened to this on audile and OMG both the male and female narrators did an AMAZING job!! I loved how S.J. Barnett made the 300 year old warrior the female and the young new immoral the male. There were a lot of characters with similar names but once I was able to figure out whose who the story moved quickly! The plot is the main focus but the love story still held a strong hold as you read. I would highly recommend this book either in audio or book form!
This one took me a little bit longer than usual to get through, but it was also a long book! I loved the slow burn and personally thought it was good that they didn't confess their feelings until later. There was a ton of world building, as well as extensive descriptions during battle/fighting scenes. To be honest, it was a little difficult for me to get through the battle scenes at some points but maybe I'm just less used to it. I did enjoy the different friendships throughout the book, but the 'found family' or 'soul family' were a little TOO close and it felt a little much for me. I'll definitely read the second one once it comes out.