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4.07 AVERAGE
4.07 AVERAGE
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
challenging
dark
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:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
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
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
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
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
slow-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
Review: City of Souls & Sinners
⭐️ 4/5 stars | 🌶️ 3 chili peppers
⭐️ 4/5 stars | 🌶️ 3 chili peppers
This story picks up right where the last one left off—except this time, Loren and Darien are happy and in love. We get plenty of romance between them, along with some deliciously spicy moments that are oh-so-hot. However, things quickly unravel as more secrets about Loren’s origin come to light while she gets to know her father and her magic. Other forces are working against them, preventing our lovebirds from being together and honest with each other. We're also introduced to new characters who open up a whole new dimension of magic, power, and corruption in this society. Mystery remains at the heart of the story, and we uncover even more layers than we had imagined before.
The world-building also expands, making the House of Devils series feel even more vast than we initially thought. This is a dense novel packed with an overwhelming amount of information. At times, I struggled to follow along and felt like the pacing dragged. Our main characters spend more time apart than together (which is typical for romantasy), but what was supposed to be a week of separation in the novel felt like months. I know this was intentional, as that’s exactly how it felt for the characters, but it still tested my patience.
Now, let’s talk about my least favorite fantasy trope—miscommunication. This novel has it in abundance, and while I understand the reasons behind it, I found it frustrating. The constant secrets and misunderstandings dragged out the plot and made me put the book down multiple times. My heart ached as each miscommunication impacted our MMC’s perception of himself. I know our FMC couldn’t say certain things, but she could have reassured him that he wasn’t the problem. Instead, she didn’t—and I just wanted to shake her because of how much I adore sweet Darien.
That said, I did enjoy Loren’s character development and growth. She remains true to herself but becomes fiercer with every challenge she faces. Her love for Darien drives her to solve this mystery, and I admire her for that. Darien, on the other hand, is going through a lot of internal struggles, which are both painful and admirable to witness. By the end of the story, it’s clear that our heroes still have more growing to do—and that means suffering through even more pain. Despite this, I have hope for how the series will conclude.
Now, let’s talk about what I loved about this book:
✨ The internal growth and perseverance of our main characters, despite dire circumstances.
✨ The deep love between our romantic leads and how it serves as a guiding light for their separate journeys.
✨ The expansion of the magic system and world-building.
✨ New POVs—especially Max’s perspective, which was a breath of fresh air.
✨ The exploration of relationships beyond just Loren and Darien.
✨ The unexpected twists at the end—I did not see them coming!
✨ The internal growth and perseverance of our main characters, despite dire circumstances.
✨ The deep love between our romantic leads and how it serves as a guiding light for their separate journeys.
✨ The expansion of the magic system and world-building.
✨ New POVs—especially Max’s perspective, which was a breath of fresh air.
✨ The exploration of relationships beyond just Loren and Darien.
✨ The unexpected twists at the end—I did not see them coming!
Overall, I really enjoyed this book, but there were aspects I could have done without. What knocked it down a star for me was its length. Even toward the end, I kept wondering, Was this part necessary?We’ll see in the next book—which I will definitely be reading. Darien has officially secured the #2 spot on my book boyfriend list, and I just hope he makes it out of this series alive.
Would I recommend this book spill into your TBR?
Sure—just make sure you set aside plenty of time to tackle this behemoth of a read!
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
tense
slow-paced
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
adventurous
emotional
medium-paced
Dragged myself through the second half of the book. Needlessly long. So many of the plot points were resolved so quickly, and add the needless miscommunication I just thought it was boring and cheap. Finished on a bit of a cliff hanger but don’t really care to read the next book.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated