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bootlegdarklord's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
tense
fast-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
4.0
alolanrachu's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
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
4.0
marsthegod's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
4.0
countesscaine's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
sad
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
5.0
Starts off a bit slow and confusing with many characters being introduced (helps to seek out the dramatics personae online), but then really pulls you in with intrigue and a solid mystery! Really cool world-building in the background that makes me want to come back to this universe even with a satisfying end to this book on its own.
dragonflymorning's review against another edition
4.0
It was a little slow at the beginning for me. I enjoyed it once the intrigue started. The battle scenes were solidly written. Will I read the follow up? Meh.
mikaylahartk's review against another edition
5.0
I love any book that keeps me guessing, and wow, this book was great. Gideon the Ninth is half-tricked, half-coerced by her nemesis, Harrowhark Nonagesimus into traveling to the First House to compete to become a powerful, eternal Lyctor, the pinnacle of necromantic powers. What follows is intrigue, skeletons, and more twists then I can count. Can't wait to start the sequel.
My only critique is that I was Hella Confused a good bit of the time. Some of it is the nature of the book—There are a lot of mysterious characters doing mysterious things towards mysterious ends, and subtlety is not the strength of snarky, glib Gideon. That said, there are a lot of scenes where there are several people in a room interacting where I was unnecessarily lost, or had to reread a few times. For example, the ordinal for each of the noble Houses (e.g., the Ninth) can refer to the cavalier (Gideon), the necromancer (Harrowhark), both of them, OR the House as a political entity—and there are nine houses and nineteen representatives from them. It's a small thing (easily assisted by the Dramatis Personae at the beginning of the book), but I verbally said, "Wait, what?" enough times that it's relevant to my overall experience of the story. That said, I recommend this to anyone with an appetite for a horror-influenced fantasy with plenty of mystery to keep you guessing.
My only critique is that I was Hella Confused a good bit of the time. Some of it is the nature of the book—There are a lot of mysterious characters doing mysterious things towards mysterious ends, and subtlety is not the strength of snarky, glib Gideon. That said, there are a lot of scenes where there are several people in a room interacting where I was unnecessarily lost, or had to reread a few times. For example, the ordinal for each of the noble Houses (e.g., the Ninth) can refer to the cavalier (Gideon), the necromancer (Harrowhark), both of them, OR the House as a political entity—and there are nine houses and nineteen representatives from them. It's a small thing (easily assisted by the Dramatis Personae at the beginning of the book), but I verbally said, "Wait, what?" enough times that it's relevant to my overall experience of the story. That said, I recommend this to anyone with an appetite for a horror-influenced fantasy with plenty of mystery to keep you guessing.
thatsludicrous's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
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
5.0
dottienic123's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
acardattack's review against another edition
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0
DNF at 30%
Don't get the love for this book. It's weirdly paced and written. It starts kind of interesting but then sputters and I just lost all interest. Don't care about Gideon and her former/current rival. The world building at that point was very poor, it seems like the author had a good idea for it, but not executed well, and it is surprisingly hard to really follow along with, like I knew what was going on, but found myself losing interest and drifting mentally when reading.
Book feels like it is trying too hard
Don't get the love for this book. It's weirdly paced and written. It starts kind of interesting but then sputters and I just lost all interest. Don't care about Gideon and her former/current rival. The world building at that point was very poor, it seems like the author had a good idea for it, but not executed well, and it is surprisingly hard to really follow along with, like I knew what was going on, but found myself losing interest and drifting mentally when reading.
Book feels like it is trying too hard