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dorakathryn's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
It may have taken me two years to finish, but this book is good! Just maybe don’t do the audiobook on this one
anotherbigapple's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Slow to begin with but really immersive, and a great exercise in world building. Feels like a few books almost pressed into one, but overall I’m looking forward to reading the sequel/s.
nnewbykew's review
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
1.75
ernestmaxx's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Interesting entry into the fantasy genre. Definitely a dark world, reminiscent of Bloodborne or Warhammer.
Alex Pheby has created a unique and interesting world. Although has a tendency to wonder into long pages of exposition. And some of the devices used to tell between human and non-human characters are at times irritating.
However if you enjoy dark fantasy it’s definitely worth a read.
Alex Pheby has created a unique and interesting world. Although has a tendency to wonder into long pages of exposition. And some of the devices used to tell between human and non-human characters are at times irritating.
However if you enjoy dark fantasy it’s definitely worth a read.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Pedophilia and Rape
joxertd's review against another edition
challenging
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
jematral's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Beautiful prose, a complicated world being unraveled before you. Gothic, atmospheric and unique.
ezrasupremacy's review against another edition
3.0
2.5 ⭐️ rounded up bc there’s a good chance the problem is me and not the book.
i don’t really like fantasy, and i only picked this up bc of the darkness elements with which it was pitched to me, and while there was definitely lots of that, it was also so incredibly dull.
the writing was easy enough and the chapters really short so that you could flow through the book rather nicely, but the plot was so incredibly convoluted and still doesn’t make any sense to me even after finishing the book.
safe to say i will not be reading book two.
i think the beginning of this book was very slow, and then suddenly ramped up quite quickly, and then suddenly one thing after another happened, and it didn’t feel like there was enough pause or even impact of anything that happened to really make me care. like the person that was sold as one of the main villains throughout the first 50% of the book was defeated like it’s nothing in one chapter, then we realise the other main villain is actually a villain (yeah real shocker) and then after that i just completely lost what the point of anything was.
i’m sure a lot of questions would be answered in book two, but this was simply not good enough and did not make me care enough about any of the plot or the characters to want to read more of it/them.
i don’t really like fantasy, and i only picked this up bc of the darkness elements with which it was pitched to me, and while there was definitely lots of that, it was also so incredibly dull.
the writing was easy enough and the chapters really short so that you could flow through the book rather nicely, but the plot was so incredibly convoluted and still doesn’t make any sense to me even after finishing the book.
safe to say i will not be reading book two.
i think the beginning of this book was very slow, and then suddenly ramped up quite quickly, and then suddenly one thing after another happened, and it didn’t feel like there was enough pause or even impact of anything that happened to really make me care. like the person that was sold as one of the main villains throughout the first 50% of the book was defeated like it’s nothing in one chapter, then we realise the other main villain is actually a villain (yeah real shocker) and then after that i just completely lost what the point of anything was.
i’m sure a lot of questions would be answered in book two, but this was simply not good enough and did not make me care enough about any of the plot or the characters to want to read more of it/them.