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griffinsaurus's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
inspiring
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
another exciting fantasy read! i think after reading the dance of thieves, this book really delivered.
kingdom of exiles has all of the aspects of a fantasy book that i love - adventure, conflicts, loveable character development and a sweet romance :) all these culminated to form a great mixture of thrilling love and adventure. i would say this is a high fantasy book, so there were many foreign terms that were hard to keep up with in the beginning. however, it was compensated by the enticing descriptions and great use of setting in the book. even though the book was very imaginative, i did not have much problems forming images of the places, characters or beasts in my mind. to me, strong description is essential in a good fantasy book and this book delivered just that.
i really like the characters in this book. each character held a different energy and demeanour and the multiple POVs that we were granted throughout the book really helped to bring the characters to life. of course, the book zero-ed in on Noc and Leena's POVs as the book does mainly revolve around this pair. i think their romance was nicely-developed although in the beginning, it did feel a little bit like insta-love (if i recall correctly). to me, that was the only somewhat unrealistic part. however, i think the slow burn and tension was written well!
overall, this book is a great read if you are in a reading slump (as with all fantasy books) as it has great characters, great plot and a fast pace to accompany it.
kingdom of exiles has all of the aspects of a fantasy book that i love - adventure, conflicts, loveable character development and a sweet romance :) all these culminated to form a great mixture of thrilling love and adventure. i would say this is a high fantasy book, so there were many foreign terms that were hard to keep up with in the beginning. however, it was compensated by the enticing descriptions and great use of setting in the book. even though the book was very imaginative, i did not have much problems forming images of the places, characters or beasts in my mind. to me, strong description is essential in a good fantasy book and this book delivered just that.
i really like the characters in this book. each character held a different energy and demeanour and the multiple POVs that we were granted throughout the book really helped to bring the characters to life. of course, the book zero-ed in on Noc and Leena's POVs as the book does mainly revolve around this pair. i think their romance was nicely-developed although in the beginning, it did feel a little bit like insta-love (if i recall correctly). to me, that was the only somewhat unrealistic part. however, i think the slow burn and tension was written well!
overall, this book is a great read if you are in a reading slump (as with all fantasy books) as it has great characters, great plot and a fast pace to accompany it.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Torture
militantlyromantic's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
The world building in this is truly lovely. I enjoyed the heck out of this book and only have some extremely minor nitpicks to mention.
Our female lead is Leena. Leena comes from a place where the people are known as Charmers, and they use what's essentially an innate ability to draw others to them to tame magical creatures. When the book starts, Leena has been exiled from her home for crimes she hasn't committed, framed by an ex who did commit said crimes. Understandably, she has some trust issues. She's also doing a bunch of illegal stuff to get by. But her competence is established very early, as is her tendency to genuinely care about others, even when she maybe shouldn't. Leena is an intensely likeable character from the get-go.
When a contract for a hit is put on her, Leena forces her way into the guild that has taken the contract and negotiates with the head of the guild, Noc, to get the hit rescinded. Noc, who's got ninety-nine problems of his own, makes a deal that if she can get the guild four creatures of a certain level of skill, he'll "handle" the contract. What Leena doesn't know is that by the rules of the guild, the contract can't be rescinded, barring having the person who ordered it rescind it or killing that person, and Noc simply intends to kill her once he's gotten the creatures.
In fairness, Leena has forced her way in by way of almost killing his second, so he thinks he's dealing with some kind of criminal mastermind, basically, but I will say, I was pretty side-eye-ey about this.
Anyway, Noc and the three other assassins Leena is going to provide with creatures have to go on a road trip to go get the creatures. You'll be shocked to find out that Noc and Leena fall in love along the way. Then there's a BUNCH of exterior problems that have to be overcome for that love to be even mildly viable. For those that this might bother: this is the first in a planned six book series, and there are elements of the plot that are not resolved at the end. That said, it ends at a HFN place and it doesn't feel like you'll die if you can't begin the next book immediately.
All right, my nitpicks, and they really are minor. I like very much that Noc is clearly queer--he's had past relationships with both men and women, there's no question that he finds both men and women romantically interesting. However, in a world where there does not seem to be an issue with queerness, at least so far as I can discern, the fact that it is his past heterosexual relationship that sets off a war, and that he ends with Leena because, as one of his male near-lovers explains, "she's the missing piece," it fronts his m/f relationships in a way that his m/m relationships are not. I don't actually think this was intentional on the part of the author. Especially as the relationship between Kost (the near-lover) and Noc has settled into deep platonic love, it doesn't feel as though it's meant to be dismissive. Even so, it would have been really easy for the relationship that began the war to be the one between Noc and his male lover because...their society doesn't have our hang ups. And sure, you have a bit of a kill your gays issue there, but not really, because a) several of Noc's past lovers are dead because Noc has been living with a curse with that as the end result, and b) Kost is still alive and we are introduced to another queer character at the end of the book that it's heavily suggested will play a larger part in the coming books/is interested in pursuing Kost.
Also, with the exception of a few minor characters here and there, for a completely different world, everyone seems weirdly pretty white.
If you are someone for whom characters keeping secrets from each other bothers you, I would tell you to proceed with caution. Both characters have serious secrets, and they are not revealed until well into the book. Some of Noc's STILL have not been revealed to Leena, which is a little squicky, if I'm being honest. They both have good reasons for keeping quiet as long as they do, everyone's motivations in this book make sense, but if that's a thing for you, well, reader beware.
And finally, there's a point in the book where Noc assumes something he is told which is exceedingly vague and he's really dumb AF to make the assumption he makes means one thing and it actually means something completely else which screws Leena six ways from Sunday. Again, it makes sense why he makes this assumption, but also, there's a decent amount of 'because plot' that happens there, which also might be a thing for some peeps.
That said, Leena's a great leading character, and Noc is pretty darn good. Kost, Calem, and Oz are all deeply engaging, and the found family happening in this is *chef's kiss*. As a plus, the creatures are interesting, and sometimes adorable. Most of all, I never felt like the plot got in the way of the characters or the relationships, which I feel like 99.9999% of plots do.
Our female lead is Leena. Leena comes from a place where the people are known as Charmers, and they use what's essentially an innate ability to draw others to them to tame magical creatures. When the book starts, Leena has been exiled from her home for crimes she hasn't committed, framed by an ex who did commit said crimes. Understandably, she has some trust issues. She's also doing a bunch of illegal stuff to get by. But her competence is established very early, as is her tendency to genuinely care about others, even when she maybe shouldn't. Leena is an intensely likeable character from the get-go.
When a contract for a hit is put on her, Leena forces her way into the guild that has taken the contract and negotiates with the head of the guild, Noc, to get the hit rescinded. Noc, who's got ninety-nine problems of his own, makes a deal that if she can get the guild four creatures of a certain level of skill, he'll "handle" the contract. What Leena doesn't know is that by the rules of the guild, the contract can't be rescinded, barring having the person who ordered it rescind it or killing that person, and Noc simply intends to kill her once he's gotten the creatures.
In fairness, Leena has forced her way in by way of almost killing his second, so he thinks he's dealing with some kind of criminal mastermind, basically, but I will say, I was pretty side-eye-ey about this.
Anyway, Noc and the three other assassins Leena is going to provide with creatures have to go on a road trip to go get the creatures. You'll be shocked to find out that Noc and Leena fall in love along the way. Then there's a BUNCH of exterior problems that have to be overcome for that love to be even mildly viable. For those that this might bother: this is the first in a planned six book series, and there are elements of the plot that are not resolved at the end. That said, it ends at a HFN place and it doesn't feel like you'll die if you can't begin the next book immediately.
All right, my nitpicks, and they really are minor. I like very much that Noc is clearly queer--he's had past relationships with both men and women, there's no question that he finds both men and women romantically interesting. However, in a world where there does not seem to be an issue with queerness, at least so far as I can discern, the fact that it is his past heterosexual relationship that sets off a war, and that he ends with Leena because, as one of his male near-lovers explains, "she's the missing piece," it fronts his m/f relationships in a way that his m/m relationships are not. I don't actually think this was intentional on the part of the author. Especially as the relationship between Kost (the near-lover) and Noc has settled into deep platonic love, it doesn't feel as though it's meant to be dismissive. Even so, it would have been really easy for the relationship that began the war to be the one between Noc and his male lover because...their society doesn't have our hang ups. And sure, you have a bit of a kill your gays issue there, but not really, because a) several of Noc's past lovers are dead because Noc has been living with a curse with that as the end result, and b) Kost is still alive and we are introduced to another queer character at the end of the book that it's heavily suggested will play a larger part in the coming books/is interested in pursuing Kost.
Also, with the exception of a few minor characters here and there, for a completely different world, everyone seems weirdly pretty white.
If you are someone for whom characters keeping secrets from each other bothers you, I would tell you to proceed with caution. Both characters have serious secrets, and they are not revealed until well into the book. Some of Noc's STILL have not been revealed to Leena, which is a little squicky, if I'm being honest. They both have good reasons for keeping quiet as long as they do, everyone's motivations in this book make sense, but if that's a thing for you, well, reader beware.
And finally, there's a point in the book where Noc assumes something he is told which is exceedingly vague and he's really dumb AF to make the assumption he makes means one thing and it actually means something completely else which screws Leena six ways from Sunday. Again, it makes sense why he makes this assumption, but also, there's a decent amount of 'because plot' that happens there, which also might be a thing for some peeps.
That said, Leena's a great leading character, and Noc is pretty darn good. Kost, Calem, and Oz are all deeply engaging, and the found family happening in this is *chef's kiss*. As a plus, the creatures are interesting, and sometimes adorable. Most of all, I never felt like the plot got in the way of the characters or the relationships, which I feel like 99.9999% of plots do.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Torture and Violence
kkarinh's review against another edition
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content and Torture
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