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jstarshine16's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- 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: Death, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Kidnapping, and Murder
Moderate: Blood, Cursing, Death of parent, Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, Torture, Violence, and Death
Minor: Sexual content, Vomit, Alcohol, Self harm, and Genocide
beforeviolets's review against another edition
adventurous
hopeful
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
What a cute story! This is such a perfect warm and fuzzy romantic fantasy read. Even amongst all the struggle of adventure, this book felt so easy and light.
The writing itself was a little unsophisticated in my opinion and I found a large discrepancy between the developed stakes and the dialogue/actions of each character, causing those characters' dialogues/actions to feel unjustified or unearned.
It also took a large time for the world-building to really come into play, and for a large part of the book I found the pre-established power dynamics to be all over the place and my personal understanding and therefore connection to the world to be weak.
However, as I went on reading and my understanding of the world and its rules came more into view, I found myself really loving what eventually did unfold. It offered so much hope and excitement and allowed me to escape for a little while into a world of pirates and princes and mermaids.
I loved that in this world sexuality seemed not to matter, allowing the characters and the readers to focus on the politics of magic and kingdoms and the romance between the characters. I love that our main character is bi/pan, especially because I feel like there is always room for more bi/pan rep, especially for men.
I would recommend this as a romantic, adventurous, summer read!
P.S. The person who illustrated this cover deserves SO much hype and so much money.
The writing itself was a little unsophisticated in my opinion and I found a large discrepancy between the developed stakes and the dialogue/actions of each character, causing those characters' dialogues/actions to feel unjustified or unearned.
It also took a large time for the world-building to really come into play, and for a large part of the book I found the pre-established power dynamics to be all over the place and my personal understanding and therefore connection to the world to be weak.
However, as I went on reading and my understanding of the world and its rules came more into view, I found myself really loving what eventually did unfold. It offered so much hope and excitement and allowed me to escape for a little while into a world of pirates and princes and mermaids.
I loved that in this world sexuality seemed not to matter, allowing the characters and the readers to focus on the politics of magic and kingdoms and the romance between the characters. I love that our main character is bi/pan, especially because I feel like there is always room for more bi/pan rep, especially for men.
I would recommend this as a romantic, adventurous, summer read!
P.S. The person who illustrated this cover deserves SO much hype and so much money.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Torture, Blood, Violence, Slavery, and Kidnapping
Moderate: Vomit, Self harm, Death, and Death of parent
Minor: Abandonment
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