4.02 AVERAGE

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

kingdom of the HORNY
nah this book was fun even though nothing happened until like fifty pages before the end

hated. every. single. second.
so predictable

Another five stars for Kerri Maniscalco
adventurous dark emotional 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
dark mysterious tense fast-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

So happy I stuck with this series! Leagues above the first book and full of turns I never expected!

going to regret staying up late to finish this in the morning, but!!! solid second book here. can't wait to read book 3 and figure out some stuff. there are a couple reveals in here that didn't hit as hard for me since i read throne of the fallen first but!!! good fun real nonetheless. i loved the tension between wrath and emilia throughout the whole book, chefs kiss
adventurous dark emotional mysterious medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
stav_almagor's profile picture

stav_almagor's review against another edition

DID NOT FINISH: 42%

I truly gave it a fair shot, but I ended up putting the second book down halfway through. Life is too short and there are too many good books out there to waste time suffering through one that just doesn’t deliver.

The main character, Emilia, is insufferable. Immature, shallow, and constantly jumping to wrong conclusions instead of communicating like a rational adult. Her motivation feels completely unconvincing. There’s no real sense of loss, grief, or any complex emotion. Everything is surface-level: the motivations, the inner monologues, the goals.

The side characters are also very flat and lack any real depth. Wrath is the only well-written character and the only bright spot in the series, but even he isn’t enough to carry the story. It's unclear what he sees in someone as frustrating and childish as Emilia—an 18-year-old girl with little substance, paired with a dark prince who's centuries old, wise, and experienced. Aside from the obvious trope of youth and beauty, the connection between them just doesn’t make sense.

And as for the “spicy” parts? Not particularly spicy. Not sweeping, not emotional, not even all that exciting. Just… bland.