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What is delightfully unique about this story is how the reader is not watching the beginning of a romance, but the complicated and beautiful aftermath. Have faith and if you're hooked in the beginning, be sure to read to the very last page.
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Sexism, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Vomit, Grief, Pregnancy
Minor: Infidelity, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual violence, Stalking, War
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: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, Grief, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail
The book started off slow and the world building was a bit awkward until you get into the rhythm of the book and the setup gets going but that takes over a good 1/4 of the book to get there, give it a chance. I read a character and brief plot summary from Crew Fiction.com that didn’t have too many spoilers but also helped me with placing everything in context in the audiobook not having a print copy character list to reference. It made me want to continue reading and I was assured readers are mixed in their like/dislike of this book.
It was worthwhile to persevere and I’ll be reading the sequel. The world building is interesting once you get further, way further in.
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Animal death, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder
Minor: Rape, Sexism, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Pregnancy, Abandonment
Graphic: Gore, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Murder
Moderate: Animal death, Vomit, Fire/Fire injury, Classism
Minor: Blood
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail
Graphic: Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit
Graphic: Death, Gore, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Vomit
Lots happens in this book for very little main plot. More character-driven without there being any redeemable growth or character change really. Things were said to the main character that could have brought that growth but there was always just this “You need to know this important thing but I won’t actually tell you” I’m assuming it’s reserved for the second book as it’s never followed through. Story plot she wants to do this thing>>>is unsuccessful ends up in prison>>>
World building is only confusing I think because it’s magical. It’s a very interesting concept of how the world works but since it wouldn’t work that way on a liveable planet it’s confusing to our brains.
Overall it was enjoyable, so 3 stars and an additional half star because while the poetic-ness of it was a bit much at times, it worked well in the exciting scenes
Graphic: Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Trafficking, Grief, Murder
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Vomit, Death of parent
Minor: Alcohol
Erstens: Das Worldbuilding?! omfg, so ein interessantes Konzept! Die Lore, die Wesen, die CHARAKTERE?!! I ate every single bit of this book up!
KAAN VAEGORR... HELLOO?! Dieser Mann gibt mir so krasse Lorcan (ToG) Vibes, it's unbearable😭😭
Any lost opportunity to worship you is a tragedy.
...I SAT.
Hopefully werden die nächsten Bücher ein bisschen actionreicher - im ganzweltlichen Konflikt, denn tbh hatte ich das Gefühl, das Buch hat nur an der Oberfläche gekratzt, was mich excited für den nächsten Teil macht☝️
Mini Kritik: Manche Konflikte (Raeve 'accepting' that she's Elluin) wurden mir einen Ticken zu schnell gelöst🥲, das mit Kyzari war a little bit obvious, nichtsdestotrotz war ich geschockt, und anfangs war mir die Obsession von Kaan auch ein bisschen too much😔✊️ (hat sich aber später gelegt hihii)
Ansonsten aber wirklich tipitopi💗💗
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Cursing, Death, Gore, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit
Moderate: Grief, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Miscarriage, Trafficking, Pregnancy