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3.9 AVERAGE
3.9 AVERAGE
Very fun read!!! Liked the main character quite a bit and also the 99th commander? So good. I really felt their connection and seeing their relationship developing was very exciting - such a good slow burn. I had a great time. I thought that the world building was very very nice too and just so fun. Also: found family <3 Looking forward to the second book in the series.
This book is my new favourite. I don’t even know where to begin when discussing everything I love about it.
This is a first person, signal view slow burn romance. The writing is beautiful and Katrina is a talented author. No plot holes, the world was engaging. The sci-fi lore was intriguing and beautiful described. I really liked being able to read about religious trauma from a science fiction perspective since it can allow the reader space to process.
I loved every single character. They were well balanced with some amazing growth. The fmc was able to hold her own. Ferren was a nice balance between strength, independence, and vulnerability. This is hard for a lot of authors to pull off and Katrina has the talent to do it.
August!? He is adorable and don’t even get me started on 99th Commander. Burnt cinnamon role perfection! I love a mmc who can be protective without steamrolling over the fmc. I also loved that he keeps his helmet on even after we know what he looks like. The relationship between August and 99th Commander was really nice as well. I enjoyed seeing two mmcs being allowed to interact without toxic gender roles getting in the way.
The slow burn was very enjoyable and made the spicy scenes worth the wait. Oh boy. It was GOOD spice.
I am so excited to see when and if there will be more books in this series since it ended on a slight cliff hanger. I will read any Katrina publishes. I loved this book so much!
This is a first person, signal view slow burn romance. The writing is beautiful and Katrina is a talented author. No plot holes, the world was engaging. The sci-fi lore was intriguing and beautiful described. I really liked being able to read about religious trauma from a science fiction perspective since it can allow the reader space to process.
I loved every single character. They were well balanced with some amazing growth. The fmc was able to hold her own. Ferren was a nice balance between strength, independence, and vulnerability. This is hard for a lot of authors to pull off and Katrina has the talent to do it.
August!? He is adorable and don’t even get me started on 99th Commander. Burnt cinnamon role perfection! I love a mmc who can be protective without steamrolling over the fmc. I also loved that he keeps his helmet on even after we know what he looks like. The relationship between August and 99th Commander was really nice as well. I enjoyed seeing two mmcs being allowed to interact without toxic gender roles getting in the way.
The slow burn was very enjoyable and made the spicy scenes worth the wait. Oh boy. It was GOOD spice.
I am so excited to see when and if there will be more books in this series since it ended on a slight cliff hanger. I will read any Katrina publishes. I loved this book so much!
This book was really frustrating for me. I really liked the concept and plot. It's one of only a few more sci-fi style romances, and I was excited to stray towards something different. The world building in the beginning was interesting and hooked me. The characters were intriguing, and I was interested to learn more about them.
But the execution of this story was not there. The plot and character development moved at a snails pace. For a 300+ page book, I expected a lot more. The FMC inner monologue did not match her character. She was suppose to be this devoted priestess who craved ascension, but she constantly had thoughts that didn't align with that. This story is single pov so we never got the MMC pov except when our FMC would go into his mind, and his character just wasn't gritty enough for me. When introduced he seems like this standoffish, silent, strong, commander type. But then his actions and inner thoughts are all marshmallow. I needed more, especially when they're suppose to be from opposite worlds.
The side characters were interesting but again lacked depth. I liked the friendships but they felt instant and didn't really grow. It was very insta family.
The two things that drove me the most crazy was one, the constant build up like something was gonna happen, and then nothing did. I feel like I was constantly mentioned and hinted about Rouke being sketch and him and his men plotting, and then nothing happened. Same with the older priestess chick, Selene. I kept thinking she was going to deceive or betray, so many things pointed to it, then nothing. And same with the girl who traveled back with them. Again I thought she was gonna be some kind of spy? Or they would get confronted for bringing her back, and absolutely nothing. So many things that could have happened plot wise and then just, nothing.
Also, the drama and little fights between characters felt extremely juvenile. I felt like the characters grossly over exaggerated what they said to each other or the tones and then were mad at each other over nothing. It felt very high school. Then they kept saying how weird Selene was and how she talked in riddles and I just did not get that. Did she dodge answering questions? Yes. But like, she didn't behave nearly as confusing or dramatic as they made it sound like. It was just so weird at times and I was like "am I reading the same book?" I didn't understand it.
That being said, I still kinda enjoyed the series. And I am kinda curious what happens next. We'll see if I'm intrigued enough to continue when the next book comes out.
But the execution of this story was not there. The plot and character development moved at a snails pace. For a 300+ page book, I expected a lot more. The FMC inner monologue did not match her character. She was suppose to be this devoted priestess who craved ascension, but she constantly had thoughts that didn't align with that. This story is single pov so we never got the MMC pov except when our FMC would go into his mind, and his character just wasn't gritty enough for me. When introduced he seems like this standoffish, silent, strong, commander type. But then his actions and inner thoughts are all marshmallow. I needed more, especially when they're suppose to be from opposite worlds.
The side characters were interesting but again lacked depth. I liked the friendships but they felt instant and didn't really grow. It was very insta family.
The two things that drove me the most crazy was one, the constant build up like something was gonna happen, and then nothing did. I feel like I was constantly mentioned and hinted about Rouke being sketch and him and his men plotting, and then nothing happened. Same with the older priestess chick, Selene. I kept thinking she was going to deceive or betray, so many things pointed to it, then nothing. And same with the girl who traveled back with them. Again I thought she was gonna be some kind of spy? Or they would get confronted for bringing her back, and absolutely nothing. So many things that could have happened plot wise and then just, nothing.
Also, the drama and little fights between characters felt extremely juvenile. I felt like the characters grossly over exaggerated what they said to each other or the tones and then were mad at each other over nothing. It felt very high school. Then they kept saying how weird Selene was and how she talked in riddles and I just did not get that. Did she dodge answering questions? Yes. But like, she didn't behave nearly as confusing or dramatic as they made it sound like. It was just so weird at times and I was like "am I reading the same book?" I didn't understand it.
That being said, I still kinda enjoyed the series. And I am kinda curious what happens next. We'll see if I'm intrigued enough to continue when the next book comes out.
adventurous
challenging
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
✨Coming back a year later to up my rating because I haven’t gone a full week since reading this with out thinking about it so it deserves a higher rating ✨
I just had the absolute time of my LIFE.
SHIT. This is my favorite kinda book genre
- Spicy sci-fi Fantasy
-Mandalorian x priestess vibes
- magic, space ships, gods
- SLOW BURNNNNNNNN
- overcoming religious trauma
- found family
- Helmet stays ON durning sex
- MMC who can’t express his feelings in words but goes out of his way to SHOW HIS DEVOTION
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
I had a lot of difficulty reading this book. It was a strange experience. For the first 10-15% of the book I struggled to both understand Ferren's character and her place in this world.
Then there is the world building, which wasn't exactly superficial but riddled with gaps, as if the author forgot to put most of it on the page even though it maybe exists in her head. I am unsure what the order of the priestesses is, what is their place on Cosima, how much power they have. But even more than that I didn't understand anything about Cosima, Firth or Viathan, and how they relate to each other. The book begins with the pending conjunction of the three worlds, but I couldn't figure out what is the importance of this event. Each of the worlds has one "magical" stone and they are related to the conjunction but I am not certain how and what is their purpose or power. The worlds are wary of each other but it is not fleshed out why. All this made it very difficult to understand the stakes in this book.
These problems persist throughout the book, but things do get better once Ferren leaves Cosima because the story starts to focus on new relationships that she builds, and that's really where the strength of the book lies. These relationships are written in a refreshing way. The characters act mature and sincere and there is an organic progression to both friendships and the romance, throughout the middle section of the book. There are also precarious relationships that are not exactly hostile or paint people as villains, but are a good representation of the tensions that exist. We are just never explained how did these tensions begin and what is the underlying history of these worlds.
Unfortunately in the last 20-30% of the book, even this aspect falls off a bit because the relationship building becomes very rushed. This need to rush all the relationships (romantic and friendships), further along than they would organically be bacuse the story is ending, also comes at the cost of stunting character development.
Instead of using a steady pace to flesh out 99's character and the growing strength of their connection, they just sort of fall into love. 99 is still a character I don't really understand, and Ferren's abilities are used a crutch to move things along despite that.She has a kind of mind reading ability that she uses to connect with 99 and pluck things from his thoughts. He initially invites her in, but subsequent instances are murkier on consent, which I did not enjoy. In any case, it felt like instead of putting in the work to build their connection at some point any doubt or fear or concern becomes simply mitigated by the implicit understanding provider by their mind meld.
Finally, the implications of Ferren using her abilities do not seem very thought out. I don't appreciate when authors start using these abilities as a stand in for building trust without true consideration how intrusive and violating these abilities could be in the real world, simply accepting that "true love/no secrets" is enough justification for the other person to be completely comfortable with the intrusion.
Then there is the world building, which wasn't exactly superficial but riddled with gaps, as if the author forgot to put most of it on the page even though it maybe exists in her head. I am unsure what the order of the priestesses is, what is their place on Cosima, how much power they have. But even more than that I didn't understand anything about Cosima, Firth or Viathan, and how they relate to each other. The book begins with the pending conjunction of the three worlds, but I couldn't figure out what is the importance of this event. Each of the worlds has one "magical" stone and they are related to the conjunction but I am not certain how and what is their purpose or power. The worlds are wary of each other but it is not fleshed out why. All this made it very difficult to understand the stakes in this book.
These problems persist throughout the book, but things do get better once Ferren leaves Cosima because the story starts to focus on new relationships that she builds, and that's really where the strength of the book lies. These relationships are written in a refreshing way. The characters act mature and sincere and there is an organic progression to both friendships and the romance, throughout the middle section of the book. There are also precarious relationships that are not exactly hostile or paint people as villains, but are a good representation of the tensions that exist. We are just never explained how did these tensions begin and what is the underlying history of these worlds.
Unfortunately in the last 20-30% of the book, even this aspect falls off a bit because the relationship building becomes very rushed. This need to rush all the relationships (romantic and friendships), further along than they would organically be bacuse the story is ending, also comes at the cost of stunting character development.
Instead of using a steady pace to flesh out 99's character and the growing strength of their connection, they just sort of fall into love. 99 is still a character I don't really understand, and Ferren's abilities are used a crutch to move things along despite that.
Finally, the implications of Ferren using her abilities do not seem very thought out. I don't appreciate when authors start using these abilities as a stand in for building trust without true consideration how intrusive and violating these abilities could be in the real world, simply accepting that "true love/no secrets" is enough justification for the other person to be completely comfortable with the intrusion.
THE VIRIDIAN PRIESTESS was such a fresh take on sci-fi romance and I devoured every tension filled moment. The story started out a little slow in the beginning but quickly picked up by 15% once Ferren leaves Cosima on her mission to retrieve the First Mother's sacred stones. While this has great moments of action, its more character driven and its truly a story about Ferren. I loved seeing her progression and growth as she explored the world outside the temple and the way she came to love herself exactly as she was. Ferren was sweet and kind but also determined and willing to voice her thoughts even when her religious training told her to stay meek and quiet. Spending time around August and the 99th Commander tested her in ways she never expected and it was rocky at first due to the poor relationship between the priestess's of Cosima and the Viathans.
While Ferren doesn't have much experience outside the temple, she's not innocent and while she's hesitant in her feelings about 99 she's not afraid to explore what they can have between them. This was definitely a sloooow burn but I loved the tension between Ferren and 99 and I've never read a book where the author made staring so hot! 99 might have spent the majority of the book hidden behind his armor and helmet, stoically guarding the group, but that man had a fiery stare and I was sweating alongside Ferren every time she caught him looking. These two had great chemistry and I adored the way 99 became so devoted to Ferren. He didn't always know how to express himself with words but he never let Ferren doubt his feelings and he showed her through his actions and the mind link that Ferren could created that he cared for her. This man would burn down the world to protect what's his and it was beyond swoony.
I also appreciated that Ferren built friendships with August and Calliape and that they became the family she never really had in the temple. They supported her, made her laugh, appreciated her, and loved her exactly the way she was, instead of making her feel like she was lacking because she hadn't ascended as a priestess yet.
The main reason this didn't hit 5 stars for me is because there were a lot of unanswered questions. We hardly learn anything about 99's past or anything about the Viathan people. Viathan's hate and fear for the priestesses of Cosima is never really explained and while I appreciated the whole masked MMC thing, it felt like there was something more behind why 99 always wore his helmet but that's never addressed. Ferren's abilities are still a bit of a mystery and I have lots of questions about the conjunction, the First Son soldiers, and the three worlds at large.
All those questions, combined with the epic ending have me jumping into book 2 right away and I'm hoping we'll get some answers to my questions.
Content Warning: overcoming religious trauma
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Favorite Quotes:
“It was difficult leaving. You made it very difficult while I was away. You . . . haunted me, Priestess.”
- - - - -
“If something like that happens to you again . . . I will tear the three fucking worlds apart.”
- - - - -
"You are perfect to me as you are now," he whispers.
While Ferren doesn't have much experience outside the temple, she's not innocent and while she's hesitant in her feelings about 99 she's not afraid to explore what they can have between them. This was definitely a sloooow burn but I loved the tension between Ferren and 99 and I've never read a book where the author made staring so hot! 99 might have spent the majority of the book hidden behind his armor and helmet, stoically guarding the group, but that man had a fiery stare and I was sweating alongside Ferren every time she caught him looking. These two had great chemistry and I adored the way 99 became so devoted to Ferren. He didn't always know how to express himself with words but he never let Ferren doubt his feelings and he showed her through his actions and the mind link that Ferren could created that he cared for her. This man would burn down the world to protect what's his and it was beyond swoony.
I also appreciated that Ferren built friendships with August and Calliape and that they became the family she never really had in the temple. They supported her, made her laugh, appreciated her, and loved her exactly the way she was, instead of making her feel like she was lacking because she hadn't ascended as a priestess yet.
The main reason this didn't hit 5 stars for me is because there were a lot of unanswered questions. We hardly learn anything about 99's past or anything about the Viathan people. Viathan's hate and fear for the priestesses of Cosima is never really explained and while I appreciated the whole masked MMC thing, it felt like there was something more behind why 99 always wore his helmet but that's never addressed. Ferren's abilities are still a bit of a mystery and I have lots of questions about the conjunction, the First Son soldiers, and the three worlds at large.
All those questions, combined with the epic ending have me jumping into book 2 right away and I'm hoping we'll get some answers to my questions.
Content Warning: overcoming religious trauma
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Favorite Quotes:
“It was difficult leaving. You made it very difficult while I was away. You . . . haunted me, Priestess.”
- - - - -
“If something like that happens to you again . . . I will tear the three fucking worlds apart.”
- - - - -
"You are perfect to me as you are now," he whispers.
adventurous
emotional
reflective
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:
Complicated