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3.47 AVERAGE
3.47 AVERAGE
after highly anticipating this book, getting an illumicrate edition and being very excited, this was…interesting.
it’s a fast paced book- a little too fasts at times, yet also incredibly slow to the point where you could skim read and nothing had changed. now i don’t inherently mind this. i’m a fan of little tiny details that an author wants to explain, however this kind of style doesn’t make sense when you consider what the stakes are of this book; and they were very unclear at certain points
then a lot of things happen that i don’t understand. or why they had to be done in the first place.
the sapphic romance in this novel with Galina and Vasilisa character felt ever so incredibly rushed, and somewhat forced. with the stakes being what they are, it makes absolutely no sense at all that this relationship can happen, yet it is treated and normal almost immediately with no scepticism from either party. I don’t understand how Vasalina can suddenly fall in love with her sworn enemy and vice versa in less than a week? breaking several boundaries (like just inviting her and two highly wanted fugitives into someone else’s home thinking she won’t mind)
the other romance in this between Sera and Vitaly was much much more interesting, as was Vitaly as a character. I thoroughly enjoyed having a true, real anti-hero that was genuinely held back by someone you can tell he was deeply in love with, going to so far as to continue his plan, and physically keep her out of harms way. Vitaly got the stakes and knew was he was doing was wrong but it didn’t stop him. Sera realising this and know the relationship is terrible again, was great but i didn’t believe the buildup to it. She has so many morals yet succumbs to him over and over again, and then gets over herself rather quickly.
Katyas POV was very interesting, hearing about how much she simply wanted to get out of the empress’ rage, yet couldn’t because that’s just how it is, yet her snap judgment i felt came out of nowhere. someone that sticks to a plan so fruitfully essentially threw it away and gave up.
I discovered that most of what i enjoyed about this book contained just Vitaly, and a little bit of Katya. A lot of Galina/Vasilisa i skipped because…nothing happened. it was a lot of backwards and forwards. from everyone, actually. never mind the fact that they all should be killed on sight, the group were doing utterly nonsensical things and at time it felt like they had plot armour (i was expecting a death of any kind, yet they all get what they want and get away unharmed). i could think of one moment of tension where things could go either way, but that being in the last few chapters of the book told me that they’d all get out just fine.
overall, it was just…interesting, but not one i’d read again. i will get second one when it releases as im interested in some aspects of the story (namely, seeing these dragons they’re bonded to, and creating a new government), but otherwise it’s just…okay. if you want a really interesting anti-hero and lovers to enemies to lovers relationship, then i’d recommend
it’s a fast paced book- a little too fasts at times, yet also incredibly slow to the point where you could skim read and nothing had changed. now i don’t inherently mind this. i’m a fan of little tiny details that an author wants to explain, however this kind of style doesn’t make sense when you consider what the stakes are of this book; and they were very unclear at certain points
then a lot of things happen that i don’t understand. or why they had to be done in the first place.
the sapphic romance in this novel with Galina and Vasilisa character felt ever so incredibly rushed, and somewhat forced. with the stakes being what they are, it makes absolutely no sense at all that this relationship can happen, yet it is treated and normal almost immediately with no scepticism from either party. I don’t understand how Vasalina can suddenly fall in love with her sworn enemy and vice versa in less than a week? breaking several boundaries (like just inviting her and two highly wanted fugitives into someone else’s home thinking she won’t mind)
the other romance in this between Sera and Vitaly was much much more interesting, as was Vitaly as a character. I thoroughly enjoyed having a true, real anti-hero that was genuinely held back by someone you can tell he was deeply in love with, going to so far as to continue his plan, and physically keep her out of harms way. Vitaly got the stakes and knew was he was doing was wrong but it didn’t stop him. Sera realising this and know the relationship is terrible again, was great but i didn’t believe the buildup to it. She has so many morals yet succumbs to him over and over again, and then gets over herself rather quickly.
Katyas POV was very interesting, hearing about how much she simply wanted to get out of the empress’ rage, yet couldn’t because that’s just how it is, yet her snap judgment i felt came out of nowhere. someone that sticks to a plan so fruitfully essentially threw it away and gave up.
I discovered that most of what i enjoyed about this book contained just Vitaly, and a little bit of Katya. A lot of Galina/Vasilisa i skipped because…nothing happened. it was a lot of backwards and forwards. from everyone, actually. never mind the fact that they all should be killed on sight, the group were doing utterly nonsensical things and at time it felt like they had plot armour (i was expecting a death of any kind, yet they all get what they want and get away unharmed). i could think of one moment of tension where things could go either way, but that being in the last few chapters of the book told me that they’d all get out just fine.
overall, it was just…interesting, but not one i’d read again. i will get second one when it releases as im interested in some aspects of the story (namely, seeing these dragons they’re bonded to, and creating a new government), but otherwise it’s just…okay. if you want a really interesting anti-hero and lovers to enemies to lovers relationship, then i’d recommend
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
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
I wanted to like it so bad. Maybe part of my problem was that I went into it only excited for the sapphic characters. But I just was disappointed. It felt like a very shallow dystopian novel. The characters felt like it was instalove, the sex scenes just kind of happened with so little buildup, the villain was ridiculously superficial. It was like she wanted to give her a motive but couldn’t actually let people sympathize with her so they just made her ableist and… kind of a eugenist? Just causally not letting her disabled/chronically ill daughter marry to keep her from passing the disease on. Will I read the second book? Honestly I don’t know. I got this in my illumicrate sub so I would have to get the expensive edition to match and I am content with the ending as it was.
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
the complexity, the setting, the disability rep???? all of it, excellent
I’m not sure why I kept reading this one. If I had not had the pick me up of We Solve Murders between this one and The Honey Witch, I might have DNF’d. I knew going into this read that not many have enjoyed it. I agree with the majority. These lower expectations starting out also contributed to my completion of the book. This narrative alternates between the perspectives of two sisters (who you later learn to be foster sisters) who had gods (also called dragons) somehow inscribed into their bones. Although the reader knows that this is a painful process, the formerly natural occurrence (also painful for some reason) is not well described. The two main characters undergo the procedure at the hands of their mother, the leader of a failed revolt against the empire. Since May appears to set this narrative in a Russian inspired world, this failed revolt may be modeled after the one that killed Tsar Alexander III and brought the doomed Nicholas II to the throne. Many of the shifts in the narrative, character motivations, magic system, and world building were murky at best. I never became invested in the story and will not continue in the series. Although this means that I will unhaul yet another special edition, I do not like the design as much as The Honey Witch.
It took me about a quarter of the book to really get into it. At the start, too much was confusing to me, and it felt like the author assumed I knew more about the world, which they hadn't explained yet. This made it difficult to get through the first part, but I am glad I stuck to it. At the end, I enjoyed the book and am curious for the next part in the series.
I have to admit that the writing style sometimes put me off a bit. It feels like the author's trying to hard to write 'beautiful' sentences, with a consequence that it feels prose-y and reads a bit stilted.
I have to admit that the writing style sometimes put me off a bit. It feels like the author's trying to hard to write 'beautiful' sentences, with a consequence that it feels prose-y and reads a bit stilted.