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4.08 AVERAGE
4.08 AVERAGE
dark
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:
Complicated
adventurous
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
adventurous
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
might up the rating to 5 - this was truly the lesbian fantasy novel of my dreams, just felt like it ended at a pretty odd place
adventurous
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
i. this book. wow.
edit: crier's war is a romance between a girl who's actually an angry cat and a perfectly designed robot-human with an intelligence of 2
edit: crier's war is a romance between a girl who's actually an angry cat and a perfectly designed robot-human with an intelligence of 2
All in all, this left me feeling meh.
Because of this there’s undoubtedly an audience out there for Crier’s War. And for those readers who rarely – if ever – see themselves within the fantasy/sci-fi genre, it will be invaluable.
For me though, there was little that stood out beyond the important representation.
As a hard magic-system kinda gal, I want clear rules, lore and structure in my fantasy. Heck, I’ll take excessive world-building over underdeveloped any day of the week. Crier’s War fell somewhere in-between these two extremes; committing neither to being detailed nor vague.
There clearly was a lot of work put down by the author in creating this world. After all, we’re given a timeline before even heading into the story itself.
Though I question why this information couldn’t have been naturally incorporated into the story and dialogue. Isn’t it an odd choice to essentially spoil what could’ve potentially been central plot points later on?
However, despite the author’s clear vision and quite a few info-dumps, I never think she managed to fully convey her world-building. At least not in a way that had me invested.
There were some interesting ideas here; blurring the lines between sci-fi and fantasy. But they never realised their full potential.
The same can be said for the characters and plot. While I can see the good ideas behind every character and storyline, they never managed to evoke any sort of emotion. Leading to both intended emotionally-loaded scenes and plot twists feeling unearned and flat .
I honestly don’t think I’ll finish this duology, even though this first book was open-ended. There’s just not enough emotional investment on my part.
But for anyone wanting some queerness in their fantasy, you might want to give this a go.
“If longing is madness, then none of us are sane.”Off the top of my head, I can name very few fantasy books with a central sapphic romance. Let alone one where sexuality is not the source of conflict in the plot.
Because of this there’s undoubtedly an audience out there for Crier’s War. And for those readers who rarely – if ever – see themselves within the fantasy/sci-fi genre, it will be invaluable.
For me though, there was little that stood out beyond the important representation.
As a hard magic-system kinda gal, I want clear rules, lore and structure in my fantasy. Heck, I’ll take excessive world-building over underdeveloped any day of the week. Crier’s War fell somewhere in-between these two extremes; committing neither to being detailed nor vague.
There clearly was a lot of work put down by the author in creating this world. After all, we’re given a timeline before even heading into the story itself.
Though I question why this information couldn’t have been naturally incorporated into the story and dialogue. Isn’t it an odd choice to essentially spoil what could’ve potentially been central plot points later on?
However, despite the author’s clear vision and quite a few info-dumps, I never think she managed to fully convey her world-building. At least not in a way that had me invested.
There were some interesting ideas here; blurring the lines between sci-fi and fantasy. But they never realised their full potential.
The same can be said for the characters and plot. While I can see the good ideas behind every character and storyline, they never managed to evoke any sort of emotion. Leading to both intended emotionally-loaded scenes and plot twists feeling unearned and flat .
I honestly don’t think I’ll finish this duology, even though this first book was open-ended. There’s just not enough emotional investment on my part.
But for anyone wanting some queerness in their fantasy, you might want to give this a go.
adventurous
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
inhaled this 🙂↕️ no complaints abt the slow burn bc i love yearning <3 it's kinda funny reading other reviews bc i can just tell some people could NEVER survive the conflict between the couples in the 100, arcane, and she-ra. not gonna lie, the characterisation of the FMCs could be improved and that's probably the weakest point. at times, it really seems like their feelings towards their kind as well as each other respectively are due to what they are, not who they are, which results in them coming off as a bit shallow to me. at the core, i understood the motivations and behaviours but it just didn't feel personal. i enjoyed the romance but i didn't get attached to the characters bc of the lack of depth. really this is more like a 3.5 stars BUT it's YA and it's fun so i'll round up 👩❤️💋👩
adventurous
tense
medium-paced
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
I LOVED THIS OMFG 😭 I was very excited to read this and it definitely did not disappoint!!! Crier and Ayla my beloveds TT