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adventurous
dark
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:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Death, Gore, Torture, Murder, War
adventurous
challenging
dark
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
This book wasn’t for me. In fact I might be this books biggest hater. This was such a disappointment. I think the concept is great! The execution is a mess. I do not think this was well written. I think the author stuffed “descriptive” fluffy prose to trick the reader into thinking that what is happening is complex and interesting. I found the writing to be jarring and lazy to be honest. This just wasn’t for me, and that’s okay. I gave up on it early but I’ve never wanted to DNF a book more.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore
dark
emotional
funny
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
It was confusing, it was gory, it at times made me laugh, but it was also very sad... it made me feel fury, and pain and love... I did fall in love.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Death, Gore, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury
challenging
emotional
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
If you have only read new ‘Romantasy’ novels I can understand why this would appeal however I was greatly disappointed.I struggled immensely with this book. There were soo many positive reviews that I was excited to start reading it. However I found that the story was filled with soo much descriptive and figurative language that it started to take away from the plot. I also didn’t enjoy that I the index/glossary was so heavily needed - I couldn’t keep track of all the magical beings.
Also heavily disappointed that this book was marketed as a dragon fantasy noveland they were essentially special magical horses that didn’t do much for the story beyond ‘become moons .
The plot and world building was a weird mix of nothing happening (weak plot) and yet also relying heavily on telling the reader everything, nothing was implicit and I felt it really needed more ‘show, dont tell’ advice from an editor.
Also some unnecessary POVs.
Also heavily disappointed that this book was marketed as a dragon fantasy novel
The plot and world building was a weird mix of nothing happening (weak plot) and yet also relying heavily on telling the reader everything, nothing was implicit and I felt it really needed more ‘show, dont tell’ advice from an editor.
Also some unnecessary POVs.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Sexual content, Torture, Murder
Moderate: Sexual violence, Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Misogyny, Rape, Pregnancy
challenging
dark
reflective
slow-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
It’s hard to put into words what I thought of this book. I understand why it’s booktok popular and why people either love it or hate it.
It requires a bit more commitment than your average romantasy — you have to be willing to read the glossary and stick through all the confusing back and forth between Raeve’s POV and the diary pages. But if you persist, you’re in for a helluva ride.
The world building is some of my favorite I’ve read this year. It’s all so lush and gorgeous! The dragons are amazing, and the characters feel real and genuine. It all culminates in grand reveals that will leave you internally screaming and desperate for the next one.
HOWEVER. There were a couple of things that keep this from being a perfect 5 to me.
1: The dialogue. While the prose is lyrical and imaginative, the dialogue didn’t match. Some of it felt juvenile and cringey to me.
2: The Fate herder.You’re telling me there’s literally a magical creature in this world whose sole job is make people stay wherever the plot requires them to be, then immediately skedaddle out of existence? …Ok? That’s too convenient of a solution to me.
All in all though, this is a solid romantasy that’s great for anyone into dragons, heavy world building, and dark fantasy — and I mean DARK. There were times when the descriptions of gore or suffering bordered on too much for me. But if you have a strong stomach, you should be good!
It requires a bit more commitment than your average romantasy — you have to be willing to read the glossary and stick through all the confusing back and forth between Raeve’s POV and the diary pages. But if you persist, you’re in for a helluva ride.
The world building is some of my favorite I’ve read this year. It’s all so lush and gorgeous! The dragons are amazing, and the characters feel real and genuine. It all culminates in grand reveals that will leave you internally screaming and desperate for the next one.
HOWEVER. There were a couple of things that keep this from being a perfect 5 to me.
1: The dialogue. While the prose is lyrical and imaginative, the dialogue didn’t match. Some of it felt juvenile and cringey to me.
2: The Fate herder.
All in all though, this is a solid romantasy that’s great for anyone into dragons, heavy world building, and dark fantasy — and I mean DARK. There were times when the descriptions of gore or suffering bordered on too much for me. But if you have a strong stomach, you should be good!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Sexual content, Torture, Violence
Moderate: Gore
Minor: Animal death, Sexual assault
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
N/A
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Cry Count: 0
Spice: 🌶️🌶️ there’s a couple of detailed scenes, but nothing as intense as other books in the genre.
If you like vibes, this book definitely had those. However, I needed more out of everything for it to really land the way it was intended. Raeve was supposed to be a morally grey female main character with a soft heart trying to be callous and wit for days, but—honestly—she just came across as flat and trying too hard. The banter in here wasn’t banter, it was just telling every man (sorry, male) they had small genitals in so. Many. Unnecessary. Words.
Like did this need to be 690 pages? No, but it really was. The plot was predictable, which would have been fine with likable characters or even tropes done really well, but the only part of this I kind of even liked was the world building. The magic system was pretty cool, though inconsistent at one point in the book for the sake of making the male main character even better than everyone else. It just didn’t make up for the fact that there were so many words used to explain roughly ten plot points. The book could have been cut in half without losing anything.
My biggest complaint, however, is the prose. “The organ in [his/her/my] chest,” “masticated by the fear,” and the sheer number of times something “split” —be it the world, the sky, her chest— nothing seemed to be whole very long or well-phrased. After a while, the book was just repetitive, which made connecting with and caring about any of the characters or events more difficult. If it could have figured out if it was supposed to be romantasy, grimdark, or just straight fantasy, it might have had an easier path, but the book is confused and it takes away from bringing every element to its full potential.
Spice: 🌶️🌶️ there’s a couple of detailed scenes, but nothing as intense as other books in the genre.
If you like vibes, this book definitely had those. However, I needed more out of everything for it to really land the way it was intended. Raeve was supposed to be a morally grey female main character with a soft heart trying to be callous and wit for days, but—honestly—she just came across as flat and trying too hard. The banter in here wasn’t banter, it was just telling every man (sorry, male) they had small genitals in so. Many. Unnecessary. Words.
Like did this need to be 690 pages? No, but it really was. The plot was predictable, which would have been fine with likable characters or even tropes done really well, but the only part of this I kind of even liked was the world building. The magic system was pretty cool, though inconsistent at one point in the book for the sake of making the male main character even better than everyone else. It just didn’t make up for the fact that there were so many words used to explain roughly ten plot points. The book could have been cut in half without losing anything.
My biggest complaint, however, is the prose. “The organ in [his/her/my] chest,” “masticated by the fear,” and the sheer number of times something “split” —be it the world, the sky, her chest— nothing seemed to be whole very long or well-phrased. After a while, the book was just repetitive, which made connecting with and caring about any of the characters or events more difficult. If it could have figured out if it was supposed to be romantasy, grimdark, or just straight fantasy, it might have had an easier path, but the book is confused and it takes away from bringing every element to its full potential.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Murder, Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Misogyny, Excrement, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Alcohol
adventurous
challenging
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
She's a hefty book, that's for sure. Took me almost a month to read but I did enjoy it.
The magic system was so different and unique from other systems I've read and I liked the overall premise of the book. Once I had the time to actually sit and read, progress was definitely made.
I liked Raeve for the most part. She did lose me just a bit with the constant bloodthirsty-ness though.
I wish I could rate the book higher, but I do think it went on a bit too long for my personal tastes and there were moments where the writing style completely lost me.
Things like "the organ in my chest" threw me off and I'm personally not a fan of the use of the terms "male" and "female" when referring to other characters without a concrete reason, especially when man/woman could be used just fine. But maybe that's just me, I don't usually read a lot of books with fae.
Overall, I did really enjoy this book and I would recommend it.
The magic system was so different and unique from other systems I've read and I liked the overall premise of the book. Once I had the time to actually sit and read, progress was definitely made.
I liked Raeve for the most part. She did lose me just a bit with the constant bloodthirsty-ness though.
I wish I could rate the book higher, but I do think it went on a bit too long for my personal tastes and there were moments where the writing style completely lost me.
Things like "the organ in my chest" threw me off and I'm personally not a fan of the use of the terms "male" and "female" when referring to other characters without a concrete reason, especially when man/woman could be used just fine. But maybe that's just me, I don't usually read a lot of books with fae.
Overall, I did really enjoy this book and I would recommend it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Death, Gore, Blood, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Sexual content
Minor: Miscarriage
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Remarkably beautiful. The very end wasn't the surprise I think it was meant to be, but there were many twists and turns along the way. I'm in awe at how this book gripped my heart and never let go. Many parts were hard to read, and yet I couldn't stop. I read this in 3 sittings, and it was worth every minute. I am so sad the next book is at least a year away. I can't wait for it!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This world is amazing in every way. I love the different environments and cities, I love all the dragons and creatures, I’m OBSESSED with parchment larks, the characters are all loveable, and the magic is so unique! I just felt like the story lacked a plot. I don’t think Reave’s backstory is interesting enough for that to be such a main focus especially with it being predictable. Now don’t get me wrong, I love Raeve and The Other so much but I wanted more for them besides the backstory and killing Rekk. Now I REALLY love Kaan wholeheartedly. The yearning in his chapters is unmatched and I was swooning for him. His undying love for Reave and willing to burn the world for her but knowing she’s capable and willing to do it herself and supporting that *chefs kiss*, I just wanted more chapters from him. I think the plot twists were good, just not my favorite. I’ll definitely continue the series as it’s published, I think there’s a lot of potential for some really great stories!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail