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marleywrites's review
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
slow-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
4.5
Nobody asked me to do this but here’s a list of the main characters and the songs from Taylor Swift’s Midnights album that remind me of them:
Nausicaä - Anti-hero
Arlo - Snow on the beach (ft. Lana del Rey)
Aurelian - You’re On Your Own, Kid
Vehan - Maroon
Now onto the review:
After finishing A Dark and Hollow Star, I immediately ordered the next in the series, A Cruel and Fated Light. My favorite things about this book were A) the character development and B) the world building. Both were teased out so precisely and delicately and I found myself completely enjoying just vibing out with the characters as they had their little moments with each other (I’m partial to Nausicaä’s banter with Arlo). It felt like each moment held significant weight that added to the story.
The world building is slow paced, and the four main characters don’t meet until over halfway through the book, but it just makes sense as you read through it. So to the reviews saying they DNF, etc, they really missed a beautifully written story with lots of humor and quirky character moments. I really enjoyed this about the book, so for me it definitely worked. If you’re looking for a high intensity, action packed book, this isn’t the book for you. There are little pockets of those things throughout the story but overall I did find the pacing slow, yet enjoyable.
Some tropes/things this book features:
-slow burn f/f romance beginnings
-m/m friends to ??? enemies but wanna be lovers???
-lots of laughs
-sarcasm
-grumpy/sunshine
-kick ass fight scenes
-great descriptions of internal thoughts
-excellent setting descriptions
I rated this a 4.5 out of 5. The .5 that was missing for me was that I wanted to see more in the m/m relationship teased out in book 1, so I have high expectations for book 2!!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence
Moderate: Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Child death, Death, Drug use, and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Grief, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Murder, and Racism
traeumenvonbuechern's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-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? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Blood, Gore, and Child death
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic relationship, and Gun violence
Minor: Drug use, Body horror, Stalking, Suicide, and Racism
fthepatriarchy's review
adventurous
dark
funny
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
this book 😭😭 its 100% one of my new favourites. i had really high expectations for it and it definitely met them. arlo’s so fucking pure gn when she asked for a bathroom in the laboratory bc of the slushies she drank 😭 my heart. me too arlo. me too. also shes the most relatable mc i’ve seen, like yes not all heroes are gladly noble and endlessly brave. she’s strong as hell tho i wanna hug her.
nausicaä’s character development GAH i love her so bad?? n she looks so pretty on the front cover … HER AND ARLO’S KISS this is so unfair i needed to know what happened after they kissed. i feel robbed of a scene where arlo’s lying on her w nos stroking her hair. i want. so badly.
VEHAN my baby </3 THAT ONE SCENE w the psychic or wtv where he was spewing his true feelings 😭 like oh my god come here let me hug you. his mum’s such an asshole oh my god can i please adopt him. please.🥺
the mutual pining between vehan and aurelian near enough killed me. like pLEASE i need them to be able to be together in the next book. feeling so mfing bad for aurelian.
ALSO the amount of represntation … the nonbinary deity oh my god and nausicaä correcting people when they misgendered them 😭 AND THE HUNTER THAT USES NEOPRONOUNS. this is the first book ive come across w a character that uses neos and let me just say i fucking screamed.
im so so so excited for the next book omg 2022 can’t come fast enough </3
nausicaä’s character development GAH i love her so bad?? n she looks so pretty on the front cover …
VEHAN my baby </3
the mutual pining between vehan and
ALSO the amount of represntation … the nonbinary deity oh my god and nausicaä correcting people when they misgendered them 😭 AND THE HUNTER THAT USES NEOPRONOUNS. this is the first book ive come across w a character that uses neos and let me just say i fucking screamed.
im so so so excited for the next book omg 2022 can’t come fast enough </3
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Violence, and Suicide
Moderate: Cannibalism, Drug use, Kidnapping, and Mental illness
Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, and Domestic abuse
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