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kaylaswhitmore's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
This was a fun read with lots of rich world-building. The system of gods and humans felt both wondrous and intuitive, often making me curious about just what other gods there are out there and how much their power stretches (which I suppose I should simply read the next book sooner rather than later, then). I also enjoyed the characters in the story, from the lovable side characters to our main cast of heroes. Their voices all felt starkly unique to each other and I appreciated how their bonds grew over time.
That being said, I did have some critiques of the narrative and style. First, I felt that Skediceth’s point of view—while it shed light on a god’s perspective—did take away from the pain of his betrayal to Inara. Instead of feeling surprised by his takeover of her mind and body, I saw it coming a mile away and therefore didn’t feel as stunned or hurt by it as I think I could have, had his POV chapters not foreshadowed it so heavily. In that regard, I do wish she had perhaps limited her use of POVs to just Inara, Elo, and Kissen to maintain more suspense. Secondly, the big reveal of Arren’s betrayal also felt a bit lacking due to how intensely evil he was upon Elo sacrificing himself. I would have liked to see him struggle a little more when faced with the reality of his selfish power grab in front of someone who I do believe he must have loved at some point. That came across a bit superficial or disingenuous if only because it leaned more towards a place of “aha! the mask is off, muahahah!” as opposed to a hard hitting betrayal.
I do feel that Kaner really brought the story together for a very engaging end, however, and it certainly kept me wanting to see what happens next! Despite the few things I was a bit dissatisfied with, I felt that there were many more things to be excited about. Kissen, for one, is a breath of fresh air. I’ve read quite a few “angry women” protagonists now at this point, but I really loved Kissen’s flavor of it. She’s both down to earth and wildly spontaneous, and that combination made her an extremely fun character to follow. I also adored Inara, and think that she was a cool spin on the “naive girl discovering the world” trope. Her power and individuality made it easy to root for her and exciting to imagine what she will become.
I’m looking forward to reading Sunbringer, even if I’m nervous about the fates of our favorite found family!
That being said, I did have some critiques of the narrative and style.
I do feel that Kaner really brought the story together for a very engaging end, however, and it certainly kept me wanting to see what happens next! Despite the few things I was a bit dissatisfied with, I felt that there were many more things to be excited about. Kissen, for one, is a breath of fresh air. I’ve read quite a few “angry women” protagonists now at this point, but I really loved Kissen’s flavor of it. She’s both down to earth and wildly spontaneous, and that combination made her an extremely fun character to follow. I also adored Inara, and think that she was a cool spin on the “naive girl discovering the world” trope. Her power and individuality made it easy to root for her and exciting to imagine what she will become.
I’m looking forward to reading Sunbringer, even if I’m nervous about the fates of our favorite found family!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Cursing, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, and Violence
Moderate: Alcohol, Death of parent, Grief, Sexual content, and War
ellornaslibrary's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
reflective
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
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent, Death, Child death, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Violence, and War
Moderate: Death of parent, Grief, Animal death, Blood, Chronic illness, Gaslighting, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Child abuse, and Slavery
Minor: Alcohol
This book. . . how do I put into words how much I adore this book. I am baffled that I had not heard about this book sooner given the absolutely amazing disability/chronic pain rep to be found within it. Not just the side characters, no, but the main characters too. I was floored. And it wasn't just one type of disability experience, but people that had different disabled experiences. Found within the pages there's great mental health rep and LGQBTIA+ rep too. On top of this are a variety of well-written characters, including the side characters who feel beautifully fleshed out, and the brilliant unveiling of a fascinating world. I could not stop reading this book and want more. So much so I'm re-reading it this month(April) on audiobook just so I can read the sequel sooner as my ebook hold still has like 7 weeks to go cause people are realizing what I did: this book is amazing. Anyways, while I wanted to write a more involved review, I forgot I hadn't gotten around to it so instead this babbling mess of me gushing at 3am is the best I can do. I'll write something better at a later date.emmagreenwood's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
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
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Grief, Alcohol, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Murder, Abandonment, Death, Animal death, Death of parent, Genocide, and War
amelianotthepilot's review against another edition
3.5
a fun dnd style high fantasy story with interesting world-building. I loved that we got so much diversity and disability representation, the book was queer and had a physically disabled main character and characters using sign language.
The story follows four characters brought together on one quest, Kissen grew up in a coastal town that worshipped the sea god but when the sea was not providing any longer the townspeople sacrificed her and her family to the fire god leaving her badly scarred and missing a leg. Years later she is now a grown woman and has made a life as a god killer, a sort of mercenary hire that kills off local problematic gods since the King has since banned all gods after ~the war~. Meanwhile Inara, has a god problem. She is a young highborn teen who has somehow become attached to a small hare-like god, Skedi, the god of white lies. They seek Kissen's help in becoming detached from each other without killing either Inara or the god. On their journey to the old lands, they end up on a travelling group with Elogast, a former King's knight now turned baker. After a series of unfortunate events in the royal family, his best friend and charge became the King and they went to battle together against the gods, but after the war, Elo quits his post and retires only for the King to come knocking on his door one night to ask for assistance for an old friend, and of course, loyal Elo will do anything for him.
i don't really know why there were POV switches since the characters were mostly all together the whole time, I also felt that the different POVs all had similar sounding voices so it was hard to tell apart. I think maybe it would have been better from an omnipotent 3rd person POV.
I also felt that the plot was maybe not the most interesting story, I was more curious about Kissen's backstory and also the war story. I was more interested in how these character's got here. The plot we got was very obvious
although the story had various queer characters and two of the main characters were bi, ?it somehow felt like queerbaiting? we love bi rep but i feel like lesbian rep is so far and few between and was excited when it seemed the MC was lesbian- I've never been disappointed until now for a character to turn out bi lol. Also the king and Elo seemed really homoerotic just saying...😂
The story follows four characters brought together on one quest, Kissen grew up in a coastal town that worshipped the sea god but when the sea was not providing any longer the townspeople sacrificed her and her family to the fire god leaving her badly scarred and missing a leg. Years later she is now a grown woman and has made a life as a god killer, a sort of mercenary hire that kills off local problematic gods since the King has since banned all gods after ~the war~. Meanwhile Inara, has a god problem. She is a young highborn teen who has somehow become attached to a small hare-like god, Skedi, the god of white lies. They seek Kissen's help in becoming detached from each other without killing either Inara or the god. On their journey to the old lands, they end up on a travelling group with Elogast, a former King's knight now turned baker. After a series of unfortunate events in the royal family, his best friend and charge became the King and they went to battle together against the gods, but after the war, Elo quits his post and retires only for the King to come knocking on his door one night to ask for assistance for an old friend, and of course, loyal Elo will do anything for him.
i don't really know why there were POV switches since the characters were mostly all together the whole time, I also felt that the different POVs all had similar sounding voices so it was hard to tell apart. I think maybe it would have been better from an omnipotent 3rd person POV.
I also felt that the plot was maybe not the most interesting story, I was more curious about Kissen's backstory and also the war story. I was more interested in how these character's got here. The plot we got was very obvious
although the story had various queer characters and two of the main characters were bi, ?it somehow felt like queerbaiting? we love bi rep but i feel like lesbian rep is so far and few between and was excited when it seemed the MC was lesbian- I've never been disappointed until now for a character to turn out bi lol. Also the king and Elo seemed really homoerotic just saying...😂
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cursing, Death, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Grief, Sexual content, Abandonment, Animal death, Blood, Child abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Death of parent, Suicide attempt, Injury/Injury detail, and Suicidal thoughts
kattila's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
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
5.0
Great disablility representation and people just casually being gay without it making a fuss. Loved the story too and was invested in the characters and their goals.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Violence, Genocide, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Death of parent, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, and Blood
Moderate: Alcohol and Animal death
Minor: Child abuse and Trafficking
weareinheritors's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
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? It's complicated
4.5
I didn't realize that when the blurb on the back said it was for fans of Gideon that it meant that Gideon's long-lost cousin was gonna be one of the main characters.
Great book, wonderful characters, loved the dynamic between the trio. The sorta-romance didn't feel forced, Elo wasn't a toxic broody bad boy (just a little dumb in a not-necessarily-bad way), Kissen wasn't some frail whiny petite thing you see way too often in fantasy, and Inara is gonna be a fascinating force of nature in later additions.
I do feel like it could've been a little longer, to flesh out some of the finer details of the worldbuilding. And the ending felt rushed, with the big reveal and final battle sequence all coming and going way, way too fast.
Definitely looking forward to the sequel!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, Blood, Death, Physical abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Violence, and Child death
Minor: Sexual content and Alcohol
skyfluff's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Gore, War, Alcohol, Body horror, Blood, Cursing, Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, and Violence
katvou's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Death, and Outing
Moderate: Child death, Gaslighting, Animal death, Physical abuse, Alcohol, Grief, Medical content, Violence, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Blood
Minor: Sexual content and Toxic friendship
luckylulureads's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Moderate: Cursing, Emotional abuse, Blood, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Violence, War, Animal death, Death of parent, Genocide, and Toxic friendship
Minor: Grief, Alcohol, Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, and Infertility
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