adventurous challenging emotional mysterious medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

This was interesting and I did enjoy the story but felt that at some points there were gaps that kept me from fully engaging.  I also did start reading Powerless while reading this and found some overlaps which perhaps is one of the reasons it was more difficult to keep this story true in my reading mind

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

Ok…this is tough. I did enjoy myself, and I’m intrigued by the world. I really like the pairing of the FMC and MMC—they’re alike in ways and really different in other ways that make their interactions a lot of fun to read—buuuuuuuuuuut I think this could’ve used a heavier edit. Halfway thru the book, I was still having moments of “wait, who? what? where? when?” And more than the typical fantasy learning curve. 

I also experienced a lot of disjointed scenes—something would be happening, and I’d be following, but then randomly we’d jump somewhere mid-scene that made no sense.

Also, there seemed like a lot of buildup to the trials, and then the trials seemed like NBD if you ask me.

I have the next book on hold, so I’m not mad at this. Tbh I think if the chemistry between the two MCs wasn’t what it was……this book may have been the end of the road for me. BUT I am holding out hope that some of the technical complaints I have will get remedied in the second book…we’ll see…
adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated
adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious sad 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

The prose in this is incredibly beautiful
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

love sylvia as the main lead - so flawed and real, loved her character development. arin!!!
loved that it was actual slow burn, nothing happened til like 450 pages out of 500!
love his characterisation 
adventurous tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: No
adventurous funny reflective 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
adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes