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4.13 AVERAGE
4.13 AVERAGE
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Got some conflicted thoughts on this book, but overall I'd say I enjoyed it!
For the first half, maybe to 75% to be honest, I wasn't really hooked. The setting and the plot by all means SHOULD have hooked me, but I just wasn't on the edge of my seat like I really wanted to be. I know it's the first book in a series but it felt like between the beginning and the end nothing really important happened? You really could've cut out the middle and the end-game would've made sense even without the entire middle of the story.
I will say I did start getting into it in the last 3rd of the story though. The twists got me and there were definitely a few moments where I was like "oh we are NOT fucking around okay!!" Will and James' interactions were actually what got me properly interested in it instead of just passing the time, I suppose. I thought they were where the LGBTQ+ tag were going to come in but aside from some implications I don't actually think that tag should be on this book. I don't think you should tag for future queer relationships if they aren't actually happening in the book, if that's what's happening here.
The ending though? WOOF. I didn't see it coming though it seemed obvious in retrospect and that final line was a GUT PUNCH. That line, if nothing else, would've made me want to continue the series, but there are definitely a few other things that made me want to press on, so I'll probably go ahead and read the sequel next.
For the first half, maybe to 75% to be honest, I wasn't really hooked. The setting and the plot by all means SHOULD have hooked me, but I just wasn't on the edge of my seat like I really wanted to be. I know it's the first book in a series but it felt like between the beginning and the end nothing really important happened? You really could've cut out the middle and the end-game would've made sense even without the entire middle of the story.
I will say I did start getting into it in the last 3rd of the story though. The twists got me and there were definitely a few moments where I was like "oh we are NOT fucking around okay!!" Will and James' interactions were actually what got me properly interested in it instead of just passing the time, I suppose. I thought they were where the LGBTQ+ tag were going to come in but aside from some implications I don't actually think that tag should be on this book. I don't think you should tag for future queer relationships if they aren't actually happening in the book, if that's what's happening here.
The ending though? WOOF. I didn't see it coming though it seemed obvious in retrospect and that final line was a GUT PUNCH. That line, if nothing else, would've made me want to continue the series, but there are definitely a few other things that made me want to press on, so I'll probably go ahead and read the sequel next.
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
slow start but an INSANE ending
oh mygod ohm y god this was so good like it was SO GOOD and the set up at first felt a little slow but then i got into it and GOT INTO IT. jesus im so excited to start the sequel GOD............. JAMES!!!!!!!! THE ENDING!!!!! HLOLYSHIT
Okej. Okej. Okej. Okej. OKEJ???? Pierwsze 400 stron miałam takie meeeeeh, zniewolony książę był lepszy, bla bal bla, nudzę się. KONIEC!!?? CO SIĘ STAŁO?!?? JA PIEPSZĘ!! TERAZ POTRZEBUJE DRUGIEGO TOMU!!!!! Taki plot twist był, że ja nie mogę!! Minusem jest to, jak długo wszystko się rozwijało. Tak czy inaczej mamy teraz fundament dla całej trylogii. Już będzie tylko lepiej, jestem tego pewna. Liczę, że gdy skończę wszystkie trzy tomu będę mogła dać 5 gwiazdek. Na pierwszym tomie zostaje niestety bardzo mocne 3 :)
4,4⭐️
I don’t know what to say, I just fucking love it!!!!
I don’t know what to say, I just fucking love it!!!!
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Nobody's Soldier - Hozier
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
16/11/23
Reread in preparation for the 2nd book about to come out. It definitely felt less pacy the second time around, though the latter half does pick up. I STILL WISH this was adult fantasy...........
1/2/23
Really enjoyed this -- for the first half it seems like boilerplate fantasy, oh there's a special boy, oh he has to save the world, oh there's an ancient order here to help him. Maybe a third of the way through I was dreaming up yearning little theories and then the second half twists the narrative on its head and suddenly my theories were looking a lot more plausible. My experience of the entire second half was basically increasing jubilation as I realised Pacat was doing exactly what I'd wanted and what I thought would be most interesting. Thank you!!!! My one sadness is that this is a YA series, I don't understand it.... There's a sex slave collar and a sexy stabbing and I can feel myself scrabbling at the implacable walls of publishing house genres longing for these things to be taken to even sexier conclusions. This is only meant to be a trilogy so it doesn't really have time to do that thing where the later books age up, at least not by that much.... It's not going to happen, I need to temper myself. Anyway the point is I really enjoyed this. The final scene is an absolute BANGER and I genuinely can't wait to see where the series goes from here.
Reread in preparation for the 2nd book about to come out. It definitely felt less pacy the second time around, though the latter half does pick up. I STILL WISH this was adult fantasy...........
1/2/23
Really enjoyed this -- for the first half it seems like boilerplate fantasy, oh there's a special boy, oh he has to save the world, oh there's an ancient order here to help him. Maybe a third of the way through I was dreaming up yearning little theories and then the second half twists the narrative on its head and suddenly my theories were looking a lot more plausible. My experience of the entire second half was basically increasing jubilation as I realised Pacat was doing exactly what I'd wanted and what I thought would be most interesting. Thank you!!!! My one sadness is that this is a YA series, I don't understand it.... There's a sex slave collar and a sexy stabbing and I can feel myself scrabbling at the implacable walls of publishing house genres longing for these things to be taken to even sexier conclusions. This is only meant to be a trilogy so it doesn't really have time to do that thing where the later books age up, at least not by that much.... It's not going to happen, I need to temper myself. Anyway the point is I really enjoyed this. The final scene is an absolute BANGER and I genuinely can't wait to see where the series goes from here.
The first part was slow, but the second part and especially the last few pages were so, so incredibly amazing that I will never recover.