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Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death
Moderate: Sexual assault, Torture, Vomit, War
I really enjoyed Raeve as a main character—she’s strong, layered, and her slow-burn relationship with Kaan is full of emotion and tension. The romance isn’t rushed, which makes it feel more authentic and satisfying. Though I wish I had more backstory between the two love interests. I also liked the use of multiple POVs; it gave the story more depth and helped flesh out the world from different angles.
Now, I’ll be honest: I had a tough time with the writing style. There were definitely moments where the lyrical prose was beautiful, but a lot of the time it felt like it was trying too hard. I found myself pulled out of the moment by the language, having to reread scenes just to figure out what was actually happening. I know some readers love that kind of poetic style, but it didn’t always work for me—it felt like it was getting in the way of the story instead of enhancing it.
The book is also really long, and that made the pacing feel uneven. Some parts dragged, especially when paired with the dense writing. And while the world-building is super creative—like changing how time is told—I had a hard time wrapping my head around the timeline and political dynamics between the kingdoms. Even with the glossary, I still felt a bit lost sometimes.
That said, I highly recommend the audiobook. It has multiple narrators for the different POVs, and that made a huge difference for me. Hearing the characters helped bring clarity to scenes where I struggled with the writing, and it kept me more engaged overall.
It’s not a light read, but it’s full of imagination, emotion, and potential—and I’m definitely planning to pick up book two.
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Death, Sexual content, Violence
Moderate: Animal death, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Torture
Minor: Sexual assault, Death of parent
Graphic: Death, Gore, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Torture, Blood, Grief, Murder, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment
Graphic: Death, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence
This is a lot of world building. A fair amount of borrowing from other fantasy novels, but done in a way that feels new.
It’s a slow start to understand the lore and the plot, but once you get through that, it is a devastating read.
Waiting for fall of 2025 is going to be difficult.
The MFC is the definition of an unreliable narrator, especially to herself. The MMC is purposefully vague, and trying to follow the story for the first 30 chapters was a struggle. All in all, I enjoyed this book.
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Confinement, Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Child death, Sexual assault, Trafficking, Murder, Pregnancy
Minor: Child death, Miscarriage
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Gore, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, War
Graphic: Sexual content, Violence
Minor: Sexual assault
This is the setup for another epic, but considering that this book still needed 700 pages to get there and the main character doesn't show a single sign of character growth, I do not feel like forgiving the unreasonable length of this book. Perhaps if we mentioned the words pumping or skipping a beat in connotations to heart, plump, sweet tart taste of fruit or pebbling skin a few times less we could have done it in 600 pages.
The style would not have bothered me, quite the opposite, I enjoy lush and flowery prose but the endless alliterations and similes made my skin itch, to say it in her words.
Raeve showed so little character growth and cooperation with the plot that the author had to invent an invisible cat beast called the fate herder to make her comply with the plot. That was the point where they lost me for a long while because it was so ridiculous to me. If this fate cat had literally herded anyone else it might have been cool, but this? It just served to give me justification for my dislike for Rave. I really do not like her because she kept pushing everyone away until the end. 700 pages and she hasn't listened once. At this point I wish the other characters would give up on her because this is exhausting to read.
On the other hand I enjoyed Veya and Pyrok and I have high hopes for Grim. (or whatever their names are, sorry, I listened to the audiobook) The story grew on me over time whenever it moved away and focused on another character for a while because as I said, I don't like or care for Raeve. But the second we turned to someone else? Much more interesting, especially when they weren't entirely focused on Raeve which was rare sadly. I still barely know anything about other characters but the things I heard seem promising!
So yeh, this was solidly "ok" for me and I'll give the next book a chance.
Graphic: Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence
Moderate: Cursing, Death, Physical abuse, Vomit, Trafficking, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Pregnancy
Graphic: Torture, Murder, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Death, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent
Minor: Child abuse, Confinement, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Violence, Kidnapping, Sexual harassment
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Excrement, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, Stalking, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, War