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I'm kinda sad I only listened to this as entertaining while sick in bed.
After I had it on my wishlist for a long time and almost accidentaly ordered it twice based of an arc Review AND a coworker saying this is close to dethroning ToG for her, I was so excited for this.
And in the beginning I thought this was gonna be a year-highlight.
Don't get me wrong, I loved it!!
But in the end, there was some emotional connection missing for me. This could be entirely based on my state of mind atm, so I am really excited to read the next book(s) and will recommend this to anyone who'll listen.
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infertility, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Trafficking, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Abandonment, War, Classism
I think the book lost a lot of momentum at the tribe scenes about halfway through the book. I also think the reader was left in the dark too long with answers, given we had pieced together the "what" about halfway through but didn't get the "why" until the end of the book - and this is a 500+ page book! I felt like we went in circles a little bit towards the end.
I liked the original dynamic between Raeve and Kaan, but it sort of became bland the further we went on. I also don't really think he stood out a lot in the way of romantasy MMCs - he was tall, dark-haired, chiselled with a huge đ, and was very protective, almost veering possessive at times, over the FMC. At least he was genuinely nice for most of the story, though, and was a consent king (pun intended). Same character, different font. Raeve was a bit more interesting, as was her story, but I would have liked to see more character development throughout this book as she felt like she ended the book in the same place as at the start - stab first, ask questions later.
The writing started out pretty decent but the flowery prose got too over-the-top by the end and the word use got repetitive. How many times can one say "cleft" in a book? 36 times apparently. "Maw" also had it's fair share of page time, though it wasn't quite as obvious. I also don't understand the reasons why the names of some things were changed and not others. Why call it a "dae" when you can just say "day"?
I also would've liked more dragons.
Though I have said a lot of the negatives, I thought the premise of the story was interesting and I feel like if this and been shorter and more focused on the core storyline, it would've been far better. It just felt a little all over the place, with a lot going on but also not a lot. But I obviously seem to be in the minority with this opinion so take what you will from this review.
Graphic: Physical abuse, Violence
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Sexual content
Minor: Rape, Vomit
Graphic: Cursing, Sexual content, Torture, Violence
Moderate: Death of parent
Minor: Child abuse, Rape, Vomit, Pregnancy
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Gore, Sexism, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, Classism
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Mental illness, Sexual content, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Xenophobia, Vomit, Cannibalism, Death of parent
Minor: Child abuse, Child death, Domestic abuse, Miscarriage, Rape, Sexual assault, Kidnapping
Fantasy Romance
Multi POV
Unique magic system
Assassin FMC
Dragons
Secrets
Politics
Flashbacks
I started out with all 3 mediums of consuming this book. I put the audiobook aside fairly quickly due to finding the female narrator to be to be lacking the inflection to keep my interest. I stopped listening and quickly went to my ebook to start over.
But I highly recommend listening to chapter 15, if you have the audiobook available. As well as any following that feature the characters in the chapter.
The prologue was so beautifully used to start the world-building and laying down the groundwork for this to be the start of a very intricate and intense series! Once I got to Chapter 15, I was all in. That was when the book differentiated itself from other assassin FMC books, for me.
The plot was very steady, providing the breath catching moments that kept me at the edge of my seat as well as moments settling in and showing the softer side of the characters. This made it so easy to relate to, and like, the characters.
I loved it. It lived up to all the hype I saw.
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Gore, Misogyny, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, War, Injury/Injury detail
Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Sexual content, Torture, Murder, Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Child abuse, Child death, Sexism, Vomit, Pregnancy, Abandonment
Minor: Confinement, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Sexual content, Torture, Vomit, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Alcohol, War
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Abandonment
Minor: Child abuse, Cursing, Incest, Infidelity, Vomit, Trafficking, Cannibalism, Alcohol, War
Didnât give us anything to like or reason to care about the main character. Nothing enjoyable about the dragons either, check trigger warnings. MMC and his friends/family are the only saving grace.
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Sexual content
Moderate: Animal death, Death, Torture, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Cursing, Vomit, Fire/Fire injury, War