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4.22 AVERAGE
4.22 AVERAGE
adventurous
emotional
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Molassesly slow
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This was one of the BOTM picks for November, which is really confusing since the book was published in July 2023. I'm glad I can go ahead and immediately read the sequel, but it is still a little strange.
As always, I'll talk about the negatives first. I went in knowing this was a romantasy, so I was braced for it when the "romance" got going. I did like that it was clearly mostly about lust and attraction, though it did fall into the usual cliche of the man acting like he shouldn't feel this way. I'll be honest: it took me 200 pages before I realized this was a bit of a Red Riding Hood re-telling. I feel like this author either read The Lunar Chronicles or this is the weirdest coincidence that Jonas had some things in common with Ze'ev. I did sort of like the relationship for what it was, but was never really into them as a couple. Also, I personally didn't find the descriptive sex all that spicy. It was okay, but the way this author described Silla's orgasms gave me E. L. James flashbacks, and nobody wants that.
I want to be clear that I think Silla was an interesting character. We support women's rights and wrongs. She doesn't have to be perfect, she doesn't have to be good, but as long as she's interesting then that's enough for me. I'm not sure how much of an arc she experienced since she seemed to see-saw a lot between fumbling around and generally being helpless to mocking dangerous men right to their faces. I do think her plot armor was ridiculous, though. She got out of so many situations, and not even the other characters seemed to understand why they were letting this happen. If she had to struggle more, was in a bit more danger, then maybe her journey would've been more compelling. But her going through most of this story through the sheer power of plot armor is really disappointing.
I also have a few nitpick issues. One is how Silla's addiction and withdrawal was handled. The addiction part was actually really good. I liked that a lot. What I found lacking was the withdrawal. Though to be fair, I did lose track of things and I can't be sure how long she was trying to not take her leaves. I still wish we saw more symptoms than a quick fever and then she was fine. Another thing was the sheer OP of abilities. There was a character who could mess with free will, and there seemed to be no check for her. Another character is being built up as OP with no checks. I'm honestly a little tired of this. When characters are given so many abilities with no limits, the writer will eventually dig themselves into a plot hole that they'll have to do some crazy gymnastics to get out. Limiting your characters from the beginning will solve this issue. Lastly, all the different names being thrown around. This was a bit easier to follow the farther in the story I got, but it was so confusing early on and I got lost on who they were talking about when they said names. It also made no sense for Jonas to think about Silla as "Silla the Selfless" late in the story, and I had no idea where Rey got "Sunshine" from as a nickname.
I didn't find a lot of the story reveals all that surprising. Maybe I've just read enough books to tell when certain elements are going to show up. I wasn't even that shocked at the conclusion of Jonas. Honestly, I felt like the author was being very clear on him from the beginning. I will say, though, that even though I was never surprised by any of the reveals, I was still engaged. I still wanted to know what the author was going to do with these characters. There were definitely moments where I was disappointed or frustrated, but never so much that I wanted to stop turning the page.
This book is really well-written. I was engaged the entire time and wanting to turn pages to see what would happen next. The POV characters were all given enough page time for me to get to know them and see their characters flesh out. Even some of the more minor characters got a decent amount of attention. I'm a champion of minor characters so I'm always going to want more than I got, but the fact that so many were memorable is a plus. I also thought the world-building was done pretty well. There is a lot of focus on the sexual tension, but it didn't feel like the world was taking a backseat. There were some awesome scenes in this book that made me want to know more about the monsters and the different powers. And as an added bonus, I never felt like I was being spoon-fed exposition. I didn't always understand every element of the world-building, but it was always introduced naturally without a wall of text, which is honestly so refreshing.
For a debut, this was really impressive. Can't wait to see what happens in the sequel!
As always, I'll talk about the negatives first. I went in knowing this was a romantasy, so I was braced for it when the "romance" got going. I did like that it was clearly mostly about lust and attraction, though it did fall into the usual cliche of the man acting like he shouldn't feel this way. I'll be honest: it took me 200 pages before I realized this was a bit of a Red Riding Hood re-telling. I feel like this author either read The Lunar Chronicles or this is the weirdest coincidence that Jonas had some things in common with Ze'ev. I did sort of like the relationship for what it was, but was never really into them as a couple. Also, I personally didn't find the descriptive sex all that spicy. It was okay, but the way this author described Silla's orgasms gave me E. L. James flashbacks, and nobody wants that.
I want to be clear that I think Silla was an interesting character. We support women's rights and wrongs. She doesn't have to be perfect, she doesn't have to be good, but as long as she's interesting then that's enough for me. I'm not sure how much of an arc she experienced since she seemed to see-saw a lot between fumbling around and generally being helpless to mocking dangerous men right to their faces. I do think her plot armor was ridiculous, though. She got out of so many situations, and not even the other characters seemed to understand why they were letting this happen. If she had to struggle more, was in a bit more danger, then maybe her journey would've been more compelling. But her going through most of this story through the sheer power of plot armor is really disappointing.
I also have a few nitpick issues. One is how Silla's addiction and withdrawal was handled. The addiction part was actually really good. I liked that a lot. What I found lacking was the withdrawal. Though to be fair, I did lose track of things and I can't be sure how long she was trying to not take her leaves. I still wish we saw more symptoms than a quick fever and then she was fine. Another thing was the sheer OP of abilities. There was a character who could mess with free will, and there seemed to be no check for her. Another character is being built up as OP with no checks. I'm honestly a little tired of this. When characters are given so many abilities with no limits, the writer will eventually dig themselves into a plot hole that they'll have to do some crazy gymnastics to get out. Limiting your characters from the beginning will solve this issue. Lastly, all the different names being thrown around. This was a bit easier to follow the farther in the story I got, but it was so confusing early on and I got lost on who they were talking about when they said names. It also made no sense for Jonas to think about Silla as "Silla the Selfless" late in the story, and I had no idea where Rey got "Sunshine" from as a nickname.
I didn't find a lot of the story reveals all that surprising. Maybe I've just read enough books to tell when certain elements are going to show up. I wasn't even that shocked at the conclusion of Jonas. Honestly, I felt like the author was being very clear on him from the beginning. I will say, though, that even though I was never surprised by any of the reveals, I was still engaged. I still wanted to know what the author was going to do with these characters. There were definitely moments where I was disappointed or frustrated, but never so much that I wanted to stop turning the page.
This book is really well-written. I was engaged the entire time and wanting to turn pages to see what would happen next. The POV characters were all given enough page time for me to get to know them and see their characters flesh out. Even some of the more minor characters got a decent amount of attention. I'm a champion of minor characters so I'm always going to want more than I got, but the fact that so many were memorable is a plus. I also thought the world-building was done pretty well. There is a lot of focus on the sexual tension, but it didn't feel like the world was taking a backseat. There were some awesome scenes in this book that made me want to know more about the monsters and the different powers. And as an added bonus, I never felt like I was being spoon-fed exposition. I didn't always understand every element of the world-building, but it was always introduced naturally without a wall of text, which is honestly so refreshing.
For a debut, this was really impressive. Can't wait to see what happens in the sequel!
adventurous
dark
slow-paced
adventurous
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
Spoiler warning: I am very happy that Silla and Jonas are NOT endgame. Because I absolutely despised Jonas from the start. Had they been endgame... I probably would have given up on this series as a whole after this book.
I don't know why I both was eager to read and also apprehensive of this book. I think it was because after A Fate Inked in Blood I discovered I don't really enjoy Viking-inspired stories as much as I thought I would. But this one works way better for me than A Fate Inked in Blood did. The Bloodaxe Crew are amazing characters, all very memorable. Silla is a very, very naive protagonist but as the story progresses, she starts changing little by little. The progress is slow and it makes it believable (albeit frustrating at times). Some of the plot twists took my by surprise, one in particular left me absolutely floored (in a very good way). I can definitely recommend this one and will read book 2 as soon as I can fit it in my busy TBR schedule (But I'm trying to prioritize books I already own).
adventurous
challenging
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:
Yes
adventurous
dark
funny
hopeful
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This is an adventurous fantasy romance with a love triangle. There were a few moments where the pacing really slowed down and I found myself wanting to zone out. But other parts I was super invested, so over all pretty good pacing. I really loved how addiction was tackled in this book and how the characters struggle or ignore issues involving addiction.
There's a great found family/finding yourself trope in here. This book also includes some disability rep and I appreciated how normalized it was (both with the sign language and the prosthetic).
Overall this was pretty good and I had fun. I thought the world was cool and I'm hoping to see more of it in the next book! I'll definitely be continuing to the next one to get some answers to things that were set up.
There's a great found family/finding yourself trope in here. This book also includes some disability rep and I appreciated how normalized it was (both with the sign language and the prosthetic).
Overall this was pretty good and I had fun. I thought the world was cool and I'm hoping to see more of it in the next book! I'll definitely be continuing to the next one to get some answers to things that were set up.
adventurous
emotional
funny
tense
medium-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:
Complicated
I’ve never felt so vindicated in my instahate of someone as in this book.
Finally a romantasy I can say I loved with my whole being. Rey and Hekla are too hot for words, I’m so invested in everyone, and I crave the bloodshed I anticipate coming in book 2.
Finally a romantasy I can say I loved with my whole being. Rey and Hekla are too hot for words, I’m so invested in everyone, and I crave the bloodshed I anticipate coming in book 2.