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proudtobeabookaholic's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.0
It took a while to get into the book because there's a LOT of names. Names of characters, places and titles. Fortunatly there's lists of characters and unfamiliar words at the end of the book to help against the confusion, but it also kind of throwed me off track to have to check them. However, there's four "storytellers". Ead Duryan, a mage from the Priory of the Orange Tree, sent to protect Queen Sabran in Inys. Lord Arteloth Beck, close friend of Sabran. Tané, who's trained her whole life to become a dragon rider. Niclays Roos, an anatomist and alchemist, banished from Inys by the queen. My favorites quickly became Ead and Tané, while Niclays mostly felt unnecessary. "Loth" growed on me throughout the book, but I give my love to the female protagonists this time! Even Sabran, who I found unnerving to start with, became a favorite!
Religion and faith play a big part in this book and, as in our own world, have a large impact on things. I'm not very fond of this, but it's an important part of the story. The book is long - too long - and some scenes could have been cut entirely. Some things get solved a bit too easy, while others drag on. I also expected to see more of the dragons, but overall I quite enjoyed myself while reading.
I've spent almost 2 months in this world, doing a buddy read with a friend. It's been so much fun to talk about it every other week, and I feel like I got more out of the book this way. I do feel a bit empty now, to not spending anymore time with the characters, but at the same time I'm glad it's over!
Graphic: Death, Violence, Blood, Grief, Religious bigotry, Murder, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Deportation
Moderate: Miscarriage and Pregnancy
Minor: Sexual content
nic3's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Death, Gore, Miscarriage, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Animal death, Child death, Confinement, Death, Homophobia, Miscarriage, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Vomit, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail
tashawallace95's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Miscarriage, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, and Fire/Fire injury
iammmartina_'s review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Death, Violence, Blood, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and War
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Confinement, Infertility, Miscarriage, Abortion, Murder, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Alcoholism, Gun violence, Infidelity, Gaslighting, and Alcohol
chimichannika's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
2.75
Graphic: Child death, Death, Gore, Torture, Violence, Blood, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Gun violence, Incest, Miscarriage, Xenophobia, Vomit, Cultural appropriation, and Pandemic/Epidemic
Minor: Infidelity and Excrement
addssubract's review against another edition
- 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
4.25
Graphic: Death, Miscarriage, Blood, Grief, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, and War
Moderate: Cursing
seastheday's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
I think it was a cool concept. I definitely enjoyed that it was normalized in the society for queens to rule, the line of succession was only based on eldest & not gender, race wasn’t an issue it was merely regional (it wouldn’t be so regional if the plague didn’t exist), & there were sapphic storylines.
All in all, I liked this book. It was interesting. Near the 650pg mark, I did wish it was over. I didn’t find myself WANTING to pick it up. I wanted to READ and that’s a huge difference for me. I didn’t give up because I felt like it had to be worth it in the end. I don’t think it was. The entire book mounted to this huge end battle and it wasn’t amazing or unbelievable. It was predictable and nothing shocking occurred.
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Miscarriage, Trafficking, Grief, Pregnancy, and Classism
Moderate: Kidnapping, Lesbophobia, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Incest and Death of parent
nutsacktragedy's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.75
It's strange to have Niclays as one of the main characters because of how pointless he is. He's so disconnected from everything else that it's difficult to justify why he is even given screentime. He would work well as a side character.
Tané is also disappointing. Actually, everything in the East is, except for the dragons (and they didn't get much screentime!). She is pretty unlikeable too because of the shit she did towards Niclays. Her POV got lazy somewhere halfway into the book especially when
The other two is fine. Ead is especially the most interesting because of her background. What's frustrating is the wait between POVs until I get to the Ead chapters.
My biggest problem is the final confrontation. I can't believe that
The dragons are cool, though. I also like how religious differences as one of the major conflicts is handled. Inys being a queendom gets plus points from me because I don't see that often. And the fact that the typical -isms in medieval fantasy settings just don't exist? It's awesome. Points for having queer people as well, as always.
Graphic: Miscarriage, Violence, and Murder
Moderate: Xenophobia, Religious bigotry, and Pregnancy
Minor: Incest
sarah_bookshelf's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Graphic: Blood, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Torture, Xenophobia, and Pregnancy
Minor: Pandemic/Epidemic
electrachet's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.75
Graphic: Death, Violence, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic
Moderate: Infertility, Miscarriage, Sexual content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Pregnancy, War, and Classism
Minor: Death of parent