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3.81 AVERAGE
3.81 AVERAGE
4.25 -⭐⭐⭐⭐✨
"I love you...and whatever comes next, don't forget that."
The Call of the Void is the third instalment in the fantasy romance series, Shadows and Crowns, which follow the journey of Casia, Elander, and friends as they confronts not only her brother in a fight to save the empire but also the looming threat of the gods seeking to control Cas. As she and Elander fights their way back to each other the one hope that have may lie in an Elven court hidden away...but getting access to its secrets may prove just their undoing.
Casia really gets to flourish in this book as a strong and determined character. She truly gets handed a lot but somehow finds a way to bear the burden and continue forward. Her loyalty and love of the land empower how to take risks despite the odds against her. Meanwhile Elander takes somewhat of a backseat at times but I loved how he had such faith in Casia. Their love and adoration of each other is powerful and I lived for those little snippets where we see the depths of their connection.
This book does contain spice - I would say 2.5 spicy peppers out of 5 spicy peppers. There is spice sprinkled throughout the book and I felt it represented Casia and Elander effectively. It is not gratuitous in the name of having spice but how highlight the bond between these two amazing characters. We get a true romance here the spice adds to it as well get amazing banter, feelings of real love, and passionate spice that balances the tense moments of survival - I loved it!
She leaned over the back of the chair and kissed him - first his temple, then his cheek, and then she took hold his chin and titled his face up so she could press her lips more completely against his.
"What was that for?" he asked as she pulled away.
"Nothing. I just missed you."
His lips quirked. "You saw me at lunch. And hour or two ago, at most."
In terms of world and plot, this book definitely amps things up with meddling gods, political intrigue, and so much tension. At times it was hard to keep track of who was on what side but there were so many great moments of action, emotion, and angst. I really liked how, despite everything working against then, Casia, Elander, and co were determined to find a way and refuse to surrender. The is a lot of nuance to side characters and main characters alike that help cement the realness of the threats endured and they complimented the sweet moments of life in between. The ending sets things up in a way I cannot wait to dive into book 4!
If you love fantasies with complex magic systems, gods vying for control, and characters who fight against the odds this series is such a fun dive. The romance, fantasy, and spice are well balanced and I am rooting for these characters!
Available of KU!
"I love you...and whatever comes next, don't forget that."
The Call of the Void is the third instalment in the fantasy romance series, Shadows and Crowns, which follow the journey of Casia, Elander, and friends as they confronts not only her brother in a fight to save the empire but also the looming threat of the gods seeking to control Cas. As she and Elander fights their way back to each other the one hope that have may lie in an Elven court hidden away...but getting access to its secrets may prove just their undoing.
Casia really gets to flourish in this book as a strong and determined character. She truly gets handed a lot but somehow finds a way to bear the burden and continue forward. Her loyalty and love of the land empower how to take risks despite the odds against her. Meanwhile Elander takes somewhat of a backseat at times but I loved how he had such faith in Casia. Their love and adoration of each other is powerful and I lived for those little snippets where we see the depths of their connection.
This book does contain spice - I would say 2.5 spicy peppers out of 5 spicy peppers. There is spice sprinkled throughout the book and I felt it represented Casia and Elander effectively. It is not gratuitous in the name of having spice but how highlight the bond between these two amazing characters. We get a true romance here the spice adds to it as well get amazing banter, feelings of real love, and passionate spice that balances the tense moments of survival - I loved it!
She leaned over the back of the chair and kissed him - first his temple, then his cheek, and then she took hold his chin and titled his face up so she could press her lips more completely against his.
"What was that for?" he asked as she pulled away.
"Nothing. I just missed you."
His lips quirked. "You saw me at lunch. And hour or two ago, at most."
In terms of world and plot, this book definitely amps things up with meddling gods, political intrigue, and so much tension. At times it was hard to keep track of who was on what side but there were so many great moments of action, emotion, and angst. I really liked how, despite everything working against then, Casia, Elander, and co were determined to find a way and refuse to surrender. The is a lot of nuance to side characters and main characters alike that help cement the realness of the threats endured and they complimented the sweet moments of life in between. The ending sets things up in a way I cannot wait to dive into book 4!
If you love fantasies with complex magic systems, gods vying for control, and characters who fight against the odds this series is such a fun dive. The romance, fantasy, and spice are well balanced and I am rooting for these characters!
Available of KU!
The Call of the Void was awesome. It was action packed and full of adventure. There was betrayal, twists and turns, sexy times and so much more. I enjoyed it and can't wait to see what happens next.
adventurous
dark
emotional
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:
Yes
unexpected and delightful
The major standout of this book was the character growth for me. Good action and battles, new friends and enemies, some spice and love story but overwhelmingly you get much more insight into the characters, their motivations, history and decisions. Really enjoyed this read and very interested to see the twists and turns in the rest of this series.
The major standout of this book was the character growth for me. Good action and battles, new friends and enemies, some spice and love story but overwhelmingly you get much more insight into the characters, their motivations, history and decisions. Really enjoyed this read and very interested to see the twists and turns in the rest of this series.
Not the best book in the series thus far, but not bad either.
We jumped straight into action where we left off in Book 2. As those loose ends were tied up, and the story moved on, I was starting to lose interest around 80% of the way through. I could not see how Gaither could stretch out the story for two more books.
The finale made up for it though. All of Cas's plans went wrong and there was no hidden trump card that Aelin Galathynius would have pulled out. What happened next was almost as emotionally charged as Maas's infamous "last 100 pages." Perhaps I've gone numb from Maas that I did not feel as emotionally damaged. Cas still had work to do, and it was clear her story was far from over. On to the next book, we go...
Once again, I could relate more to Cas than other fantasy heroes. She had no secret trump card up her sleeve. She worried about failing. As someone who also suffers from anxiety, it is nice to see that heroes can have anxiety too, and they struggled to work through it as they went on their heroic tasks. It made Cas more real and believable. She was no perfect heroine with solutions to all her problems. Her found family and the love of her life were what kept her grounded as she fought through impossible odds.
Not a lot of smut here. I counted three scenes (?) and they almost felt like an afterthought. But that is okay as we like to see Cas and Elander express their love for each other in other ways too lol.
Spice scale (as defined by Mysterious Galaxy):
We jumped straight into action where we left off in Book 2. As those loose ends were tied up, and the story moved on, I was starting to lose interest around 80% of the way through. I could not see how Gaither could stretch out the story for two more books.
The finale made up for it though. All of Cas's plans went wrong and there was no hidden trump card that Aelin Galathynius would have pulled out. What happened next was almost as emotionally charged as Maas's infamous "last 100 pages." Perhaps I've gone numb from Maas that I did not feel as emotionally damaged. Cas still had work to do, and it was clear her story was far from over. On to the next book, we go...
Once again, I could relate more to Cas than other fantasy heroes. She had no secret trump card up her sleeve. She worried about failing. As someone who also suffers from anxiety, it is nice to see that heroes can have anxiety too, and they struggled to work through it as they went on their heroic tasks. It made Cas more real and believable. She was no perfect heroine with solutions to all her problems. Her found family and the love of her life were what kept her grounded as she fought through impossible odds.
Not a lot of smut here. I counted three scenes (?) and they almost felt like an afterthought. But that is okay as we like to see Cas and Elander express their love for each other in other ways too lol.
Spice scale (as defined by Mysterious Galaxy):
no one warned me that this book was a rollercoaster of chaos
“There is nothing so very wrong with breaking, so long as you put yourself back together in a better way. […] And either way, broken souls can still be bright lights.”
Holy fucking shit, I love this series. I love it so very much it’s a shame it is so highly underrated. Because it’s absolutely AMAZING!!
I can’t wait for book four!
Holy fucking shit, I love this series. I love it so very much it’s a shame it is so highly underrated. Because it’s absolutely AMAZING!!
I can’t wait for book four!
I just feel like I can't feel any impact from the characters in this. It's like too many characters and too much bouncing around. Think I'm going to quit this series, I almost DNF this book. What a bummer.
adventurous
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
*sigh*
Y'all I dunno how I feel about this book. I've had criticisms about the first 2 books, but still thought they were pretty good. But this one's suffering from middle book syndrome <i>hard</i>. Because for a large part of the book fucking nothing is going on.
The characters are just sitting around talking to each other in one place or another. Sure, there's the occasional battle to spice things up--but they're never fighting anything of consequence, it's over very quickly (like within a chapter), and there's never any high stakes to make the battle memorable.
The whole plot itself doesn't really <i>go</i> anywhere until the last oh, 35 pages. This book's over 500 pages. There was a LOT of stuff in here that just felt... unnecessary?
I might have given it the benefit of the doubt in the first two books, but now it just seems like this might be Gaither's MO. 400+ pages of boring bullshit followed by about 100 pages (if you're lucky) of action and maybe a tiny bit of character development.
I came out of this one a little frustrated that I'd wasted a colossal amount of time on a book when what I should have done is just read the last quarter and be done with it. It's frustrating because the actual <i>plot</i> part of this story is really interesting.
Something else that's occurred to me coming out of this book is that we're 3 books in now and despite coming up against no less than 3 enemies in no less than 4 separate battles, and our heroes haven't managed to eradicate a single one of them. Not a single enemy has met justice. In fact, on every occasion, the reason the enemy escapes death is... really dumb. Varen should have lost his life like 4 different times by now. The actual god of chaos up and <i>ran away</i> from Elander in the first couple chapters, never to be seen again, I guess because it was convenient to the plot??? The elven queen lady could have at least faced a LITTLE justice for what she did to Cas, but no. Not a single hair on her head was touched. And the ending??? The battle that wasn't a battle because we weren't even present for 80% of it???
You'd think with all these battles the crew is facing SOMEONE would actually be killed other than nameless, faceless NPCs. Where's the high-stakes? Where's the sorrow for losing someone close to you? Where's the sacrifice or the sense of justice for defeating an enemy?
There's been nothing satisfying about any of the battles they've faced. Because they only ones they've won have been against monsters that don't matter. And the times that one of Cas' friends have been killed or injured of swallowed up by the earth (or whatever the hell happened to Laurent), they show up like a chapter later, fully intact, sometimes even upgraded.
So chapter 36 was completely fucking pointless and dramatic for no damned reason at all.
So we have a story where like 75% of the time nothing's going on, with battles that go nowhere, aren't interesting, or life-threatening. A story where every character close to the FMC has some serious plot armor. Why did this series need to be 5 whole books long? Because if we trimmed the fat and kept JUST the plot stuff, this could easily have been a trilogy.
It's hard to root for someone when you're 3 books into a 5 book story and they've accomplished almost nothing, you know?
Y'all I dunno how I feel about this book. I've had criticisms about the first 2 books, but still thought they were pretty good. But this one's suffering from middle book syndrome <i>hard</i>. Because for a large part of the book fucking nothing is going on.
The characters are just sitting around talking to each other in one place or another. Sure, there's the occasional battle to spice things up--but they're never fighting anything of consequence, it's over very quickly (like within a chapter), and there's never any high stakes to make the battle memorable.
The whole plot itself doesn't really <i>go</i> anywhere until the last oh, 35 pages. This book's over 500 pages. There was a LOT of stuff in here that just felt... unnecessary?
I might have given it the benefit of the doubt in the first two books, but now it just seems like this might be Gaither's MO. 400+ pages of boring bullshit followed by about 100 pages (if you're lucky) of action and maybe a tiny bit of character development.
I came out of this one a little frustrated that I'd wasted a colossal amount of time on a book when what I should have done is just read the last quarter and be done with it. It's frustrating because the actual <i>plot</i> part of this story is really interesting.
Something else that's occurred to me coming out of this book is that we're 3 books in now and despite coming up against no less than 3 enemies in no less than 4 separate battles, and our heroes haven't managed to eradicate a single one of them. Not a single enemy has met justice. In fact, on every occasion, the reason the enemy escapes death is... really dumb. Varen should have lost his life like 4 different times by now. The actual god of chaos up and <i>ran away</i> from Elander in the first couple chapters, never to be seen again, I guess because it was convenient to the plot??? The elven queen lady could have at least faced a LITTLE justice for what she did to Cas, but no. Not a single hair on her head was touched. And the ending??? The battle that wasn't a battle because we weren't even present for 80% of it???
You'd think with all these battles the crew is facing SOMEONE would actually be killed other than nameless, faceless NPCs. Where's the high-stakes? Where's the sorrow for losing someone close to you? Where's the sacrifice or the sense of justice for defeating an enemy?
There's been nothing satisfying about any of the battles they've faced. Because they only ones they've won have been against monsters that don't matter. And the times that one of Cas' friends have been killed or injured of swallowed up by the earth (or whatever the hell happened to Laurent), they show up like a chapter later, fully intact, sometimes even upgraded.
So chapter 36 was completely fucking pointless and dramatic for no damned reason at all.
So we have a story where like 75% of the time nothing's going on, with battles that go nowhere, aren't interesting, or life-threatening. A story where every character close to the FMC has some serious plot armor. Why did this series need to be 5 whole books long? Because if we trimmed the fat and kept JUST the plot stuff, this could easily have been a trilogy.
It's hard to root for someone when you're 3 books into a 5 book story and they've accomplished almost nothing, you know?