Scan barcode
greystory's review
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
I appreciated the thorough trigger warning list at the beginning of the book and strongly recommend taking them seriously because there is a lot to process and the book does not gloss over the ugly, painful parts of the healing process after sexual violence and rape. I would also warn that there is pregnancy in this book.
Overall, I enjoyed the book quite a lot. Zadeon and Callie were an interesting dynamic and their relationship was very, very different from Arokh and Angie in book 1. I cried reading this a lot because the story is pretty heavy, emotional, and haunting as Callie and Zadeon (but mostly Callie) work through some serious shit. When all is said and done, there is still a happy ending and there are moments and scenes of sweetness and hope throughout the story that are made all the more nice and appreciative by the nature of being littered between pain and suffering. This is well and truly a character-driven story rather than a plot-driven story.
This is absolutely not a 2nd book you can read without reading book 1 as there are a lot of things that aren't bothered to be explained again. Occasionally Callie will learn something new-to-her that was covered before when Angie learned it in book 1 but, for the most part, you're thrown into the world of Rakhii and Gryfala and hobs right away. There is a bit of a recap at the beginning from Callie and Zadeon's point of view of events in book 1 but the focus is on their experiences at the time and not on catching up or informing the reader (which I actually appreciated).
Overall, I enjoyed the book quite a lot. Zadeon and Callie were an interesting dynamic and their relationship was very, very different from Arokh and Angie in book 1. I cried reading this a lot because the story is pretty heavy, emotional, and haunting as Callie and Zadeon (but mostly Callie) work through some serious shit. When all is said and done, there is still a happy ending and there are moments and scenes of sweetness and hope throughout the story that are made all the more nice and appreciative by the nature of being littered between pain and suffering. This is well and truly a character-driven story rather than a plot-driven story.
This is absolutely not a 2nd book you can read without reading book 1 as there are a lot of things that aren't bothered to be explained again. Occasionally Callie will learn something new-to-her that was covered before when Angie learned it in book 1 but, for the most part, you're thrown into the world of Rakhii and Gryfala and hobs right away. There is a bit of a recap at the beginning from Callie and Zadeon's point of view of events in book 1 but the focus is on their experiences at the time and not on catching up or informing the reader (which I actually appreciated).
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape, Grief, Sexual violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Pregnancy
Minor: Addiction, Car accident, Fire/Fire injury, and Death of parent
More...