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smkelly1997's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Overall, a great book, however not as good as the first one. Blood family vs found family is an interesting pull thought this book. The entire book I wanted to scream at Kiva. This however made her such a complex and interesting character.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Toxic relationship, Drug abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, Blood, Death, Addiction, and Kidnapping
prashiie's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
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? Yes
5.0
“Our scars define us. They tell a story of courage and survival. They tell of who we are at our deepest being, of the challenges we've faced and overcome. Not all scars are as visible as this. I daresay you have many more on the inside. But never forget that every scar is beautiful. And you should never, ever, be ashamed of them.”
I didn’t expect to finish this book so fast. It was amazing and I will tell you why! Kiva goes to Vallenia with Jaren and Tipp, where she meets the Vallentis family, her sworn enemy. It seems they are not as bad as she’s been told. Despite their own problems, the royal family is inherently a loving family, akin to a normal family. Their acceptance and trust in Kiva are astounding and somewhat unexpected. This complicates her task further and, as expected, Kiva is torn between the two sides. She learns more about both sides and discovers some very interesting things about her own family. Prepare yourself for another set of twists. After reading the first book I was expecting there to be twists and I must say, they lived up to expectations. It seems that even outside of Zalindov’s walls the only person you can trust is yourself.
This book introduces us to more characters and one of my favourite, aside from Jaren (duh), is definitely Nanna Delora. This lady just wants to be left in peace to enjoy her book club with some scones. That woman is a vibe. I’m sure my fellow readers can also relate!
Another favourite character of mine is Caldon. This guy has great intuition and there's so much more to him than we think! Queen Ariana also deserves a special mention. She’s a loving mother who cares so much about her children. She gives them a shoulder to cry on and devotes her time to hearing them out. However, she still struggles with her addiction to Angeldust though. It's very mature of Jaren and Mirryn to remember that it's the drug and not the user. It’s one thing to hear Jaren mentioning it, but another to experience it through Kiva’s eyes. That was super scary and heartbreaking.
Overall it was a well-written book, definitely a page turner. I love the way this story is told and how everything is connected. I couldn't stop reading. It was a tense book with some wholesome & hopeful moments but also some really frustrating moments.In the first book Kiva talks to the Warden about Tipp’s release. He tells her that Tipp could be released to his guardian if they came for him, but at that moment I did not make a connection to Kiva. She too was very young when she came to Zalindov. This angers Jaren as well and he demands to know why Torr left her to rot in Zalindov when they had the opportunity to free her. I don't get why Tilda would rather break her out of the notoriously impenetrable Zalindov when they could also just go get her before she turned 12. That was honestly such a horrible thing to do and I don’t get why Tilda would wish that upon her daughter. And how ironic, or I should rather say diabolical, that Kiva ends up in Zalindov!
I am so excited to read the next, and final, book! Kiva might not have turned on Jaren, but as far as he knows she did lie to him and betray his trust. I wonder if there’s still hope for them…
I didn’t expect to finish this book so fast. It was amazing and I will tell you why! Kiva goes to Vallenia with Jaren and Tipp, where she meets the Vallentis family, her sworn enemy. It seems they are not as bad as she’s been told. Despite their own problems, the royal family is inherently a loving family, akin to a normal family. Their acceptance and trust in Kiva are astounding and somewhat unexpected. This complicates her task further and, as expected, Kiva is torn between the two sides. She learns more about both sides and discovers some very interesting things about her own family. Prepare yourself for another set of twists. After reading the first book I was expecting there to be twists and I must say, they lived up to expectations. It seems that even outside of Zalindov’s walls the only person you can trust is yourself.
This book introduces us to more characters and one of my favourite, aside from Jaren (duh), is definitely Nanna Delora. This lady just wants to be left in peace to enjoy her book club with some scones. That woman is a vibe. I’m sure my fellow readers can also relate!
Another favourite character of mine is Caldon. This guy has great intuition and there's so much more to him than we think! Queen Ariana also deserves a special mention. She’s a loving mother who cares so much about her children. She gives them a shoulder to cry on and devotes her time to hearing them out. However, she still struggles with her addiction to Angeldust though. It's very mature of Jaren and Mirryn to remember that it's the drug and not the user. It’s one thing to hear Jaren mentioning it, but another to experience it through Kiva’s eyes. That was super scary and heartbreaking.
Overall it was a well-written book, definitely a page turner. I love the way this story is told and how everything is connected. I couldn't stop reading. It was a tense book with some wholesome & hopeful moments but also some really frustrating moments.
I am so excited to read the next, and final, book! Kiva might not have turned on Jaren, but as far as he knows she did lie to him and betray his trust. I wonder if there’s still hope for them…
Content Warnings
Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Violence, Kidnapping, Abandonment, Addiction, Blood, Drug use, and Death
Moderate: Vomit, Child abuse, Confinement, and Death of parent
Minor: Murder and War
ashleysills's review against another edition
dark
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Most of this book felt like a filler episode. It was extremely slow paced until the last 10% when everything went down. The ending left me stunned and a little mad, but in a mostly good way lol.
I really like Noni's characters. They're easy to either root for or hate, and I feel like they all have depth and flaws. The twists in this one were better than book one, in my opinion.
I just feel like this book could have been a lot shorter and I wouldn't have questioned it.
Side note: I usually have a hard time with audiobooks, but I listened to a good chunk of this one on audio and was surprised when I didn't hate it 😂 I didn't love the voices but overall it was done well and it was really fun to listen to while I drove (at 1.5x-2x speed)
I really like Noni's characters. They're easy to either root for or hate, and I feel like they all have depth and flaws. The twists in this one were better than book one, in my opinion.
I just feel like this book could have been a lot shorter and I wouldn't have questioned it.
Side note: I usually have a hard time with audiobooks, but I listened to a good chunk of this one on audio and was surprised when I didn't hate it 😂 I didn't love the voices but overall it was done well and it was really fun to listen to while I drove (at 1.5x-2x speed)
Content Warnings
Moderate: Kidnapping
Minor: Injury/Injury detail, Drug abuse, and Blood
Spice: kissing with thoughts of wanting morejojoal's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Violence, and Addiction
Moderate: Sexual assault and Sexual violence
christina_chen's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
sad
medium-paced
3.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Confinement, Pandemic/Epidemic, Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Rape, Torture, Police brutality, Death of parent, Drug use, Gore, Violence, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Sexual violence, and Slavery
styxx's review against another edition
adventurous
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
3.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Grief, Kidnapping, Violence, War, Death, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Addiction, Drug abuse, Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Death of parent, Drug use, and Forced institutionalization
lotte5322's review against another edition
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment, Death of parent, War, Bullying, Confinement, Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Death, Murder, and Torture
delandjessica's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
This was a mixed bag. I felt like I was reading a cheesy Hallmark romance screenplay for half the book. There was soooo much talk about feelings and Kiva's physiological reactions to Jaron and them lusting after each other in a not even remotely romantic way (there is a scene that builds up to them having a sexual interaction, but then they don't end up going that far, though there's a lot of aggressive kissing and other such things that happen). I also still have a problem with Jaren's character, who feels too good to be true. He has no flaws, no weaknesses, and is just perfect in every way, which is impossible and makes him come across as really fake and unrealistic. I personally really loved Cardan way better and would much rather see him as the romantic male lead since he feels like a real person and he and Kiva develope a real relationship that isn't just focused on physical attraction and surface qualities and cheesy pick up lines. But anyway.
At least another third of the book is spent on pointless descriptions and everyday activities and other such things that were terribly boring to read and nearly had me DNF the book multiple times. Also, everyone is always whispering or croaking or talking softly in like every dialogue tag and it got really old. Not to mention all the copious amounts of repetition end overexplaining and reiterating and Kiva standing around as a useless vessel as a writer crutch to convey information to the reader without her actually contributing anything. She really did/accomplishes very little on her own and was constantly being saved by others or having (often obvious) things explained to her. She also basically lost her identity as the gritty but effective healer from the first book, all of which was really frustrating since it made her character weak, indecisive, soooo naive/gullible (I have no idea why she's surprised when the people she expects to betray her do exactly that when she hands them everything they need), and occasionally straight up clueless, the opposite of the strong, independent, and intelligent person she was in book one. I also really missed the parts from book one where she was doing actual healing/medical treatments, and it felt like the author didn't even try to be realistic about injuries. Kiva gets a concussion at one point but then is left alone to sleep through the night unsupervised with a vague warning to wake herself up occasionally (how was she supposed to manage that?) and then is somehow fine enough the next morning to do an intense exercise regime...That would absolutely not be physically possible, and she would know better anyway as a healer. My point is that she just goes from relying on her wit and skills to resolve her problems to always turning to her magic and her self-admitedly nonexistent fighting skills, which was really disappointing. Plus, she has no lingering trauma or other effects from being abandoned in a death prison since she was seven, so during her formative years, which she very much would, and so it felt like the author was dodging those difficult issues by not addressing them.
But the parts that focused on the actual plot with her and her rebel siblings and them trying to take over the kingdom, that was interesting and hooked me back into the story about 2/3 in when I was about to give up on it. But then the ending got really jumbled with at least 12 different twists/big reveals/unearthings of convenient and overly complicated worldbuilding devices happening all at once, all of which were either super obvious from the very beginning of the book or so unpredictable that they came completely out of left field since there had been zero foreshadowing to allow the reader to figure them out themselves. I loved the single big twist revelation at the end of the first book and felt it was well handled, but there was just way too much going on at the end of this book with convoluted laws and politics and relationships to the point that I'm not even completely clear on what happened and why. Also, all of this is explained to Kiva by various people rather than her learning/figuring out any of it herself, which really took a lot of the punch out of it.
All that being said, the story was left in a tense spot that has me interested in reading more, so I'm planning to finish out the series. I'm just really hoping that Kiva does something in the next book other than listen to others talk at/around her and fret about all her various problems without actually doing anything about them.
At least another third of the book is spent on pointless descriptions and everyday activities and other such things that were terribly boring to read and nearly had me DNF the book multiple times. Also, everyone is always whispering or croaking or talking softly in like every dialogue tag and it got really old. Not to mention all the copious amounts of repetition end overexplaining and reiterating and Kiva standing around as a useless vessel as a writer crutch to convey information to the reader without her actually contributing anything. She really did/accomplishes very little on her own and was constantly being saved by others or having (often obvious) things explained to her. She also basically lost her identity as the gritty but effective healer from the first book, all of which was really frustrating since it made her character weak, indecisive, soooo naive/gullible (I have no idea why she's surprised when the people she expects to betray her do exactly that when she hands them everything they need), and occasionally straight up clueless, the opposite of the strong, independent, and intelligent person she was in book one. I also really missed the parts from book one where she was doing actual healing/medical treatments, and it felt like the author didn't even try to be realistic about injuries. Kiva gets a concussion at one point but then is left alone to sleep through the night unsupervised with a vague warning to wake herself up occasionally (how was she supposed to manage that?) and then is somehow fine enough the next morning to do an intense exercise regime...That would absolutely not be physically possible, and she would know better anyway as a healer. My point is that she just goes from relying on her wit and skills to resolve her problems to always turning to her magic and her self-admitedly nonexistent fighting skills, which was really disappointing. Plus, she has no lingering trauma or other effects from being abandoned in a death prison since she was seven, so during her formative years, which she very much would, and so it felt like the author was dodging those difficult issues by not addressing them.
But the parts that focused on the actual plot with her and her rebel siblings and them trying to take over the kingdom, that was interesting and hooked me back into the story about 2/3 in when I was about to give up on it. But then the ending got really jumbled with at least 12 different twists/big reveals/unearthings of convenient and overly complicated worldbuilding devices happening all at once, all of which were either super obvious from the very beginning of the book or so unpredictable that they came completely out of left field since there had been zero foreshadowing to allow the reader to figure them out themselves. I loved the single big twist revelation at the end of the first book and felt it was well handled, but there was just way too much going on at the end of this book with convoluted laws and politics and relationships to the point that I'm not even completely clear on what happened and why. Also, all of this is explained to Kiva by various people rather than her learning/figuring out any of it herself, which really took a lot of the punch out of it.
All that being said, the story was left in a tense spot that has me interested in reading more, so I'm planning to finish out the series. I'm just really hoping that Kiva does something in the next book other than listen to others talk at/around her and fret about all her various problems without actually doing anything about them.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, Confinement, Death, Gore, and Violence
Moderate: Drug use, Sexual content, and Addiction
Minor: Terminal illness, Vomit, and Cursing
There is a scene that builds up to characters having a sexual interaction, but then they don't end up going that far, though there's a lot of aggressive kissing and other such things that happen. Also, mild swearing throughout.zozo_reads's review against another edition
adventurous
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
5.0
Nothing could have prepared me for that cliffhanger omg it was so good. The signs were all there at the end and a lot of Kiva’s decisions annoyed me but I guess her character is a bit stubborn. Now I’m so excited for the next one.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gore, Medical content, Violence, Kidnapping, Murder, Body horror, Blood, Gaslighting, Addiction, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Death of parent and Toxic friendship
Minor: War
maregred's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Toxic relationship, Abandonment, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Kidnapping, Death, Emotional abuse, and Addiction
Minor: Sexual assault, Child abuse, Forced institutionalization, Injury/Injury detail, Terminal illness, Blood, Drug abuse, Rape, and War
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