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4.45 AVERAGE
4.45 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
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
challenging
emotional
hopeful
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-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
As a newly fan of Ms. Sarah J. Maas…I didn’t know what to think and thinking this story would be at all similar to ACOTAR..not in the slightest! Think of Fantasy met murder mystery thriller that met someone who decided to wake up one morning and said…in fact I believe Sarah woke up one day and said “Today I choose violence with a sprinkle of Trama!”
Absolutely loved this book! Yes, it got super heavy and from what I hear..it’s going to be crazy before it gets better I mean the epilogue alone says it all…
“I do not plan to,” he said, fading into the space between realms, Hel a dark song beckoning him home. “Not when things are about to get so interesting.”
There is waaaay too much I could say, from the twists of everything and every one you love dies in one day, to having this numbness, to figuring out what happened, to defending your dead best friends and to realizing you are a mass weapon…cool! Gave you all the feels! No Smut, some hinting, but with all the chaos…it’s like Sarah said “ain’t nobody got time for that!” Lol
Absolutely loved this book! Yes, it got super heavy and from what I hear..it’s going to be crazy before it gets better I mean the epilogue alone says it all…
“I do not plan to,” he said, fading into the space between realms, Hel a dark song beckoning him home. “Not when things are about to get so interesting.”
There is waaaay too much I could say, from the twists of everything and every one you love dies in one day, to having this numbness, to figuring out what happened, to defending your dead best friends and to realizing you are a mass weapon…cool! Gave you all the feels! No Smut, some hinting, but with all the chaos…it’s like Sarah said “ain’t nobody got time for that!” Lol
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
sad
tense
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
As a newly fan of Ms. Sarah J. Maas…I didn’t know what to think and thinking this story would be at all similar to ACOTAR..not in the slightest! Think of Fantasy met murder mystery thriller that met someone who decided to wake up one morning and said…in fact I believe Sarah woke up one day and said “Today I choose violence with a sprinkle of Trama!”
Absolutely loved this book! Yes, it got super heavy and from what I hear..it’s going to be crazy before it gets better I mean the epilogue alone says it all…
“I do not plan to,” he said, fading into the space between realms, Hel a dark song beckoning him home. “Not when things are about to get so interesting.”
There is waaaay too much I could say, from the twists of everything and every one you love dies in one day, to having this numbness, to figuring out what happened, to defending your dead best friends and to realizing you are a mass weapon…cool! Gave you all the feels! No Smut, some hinting, but with all the chaos…it’s like Sarah said “ain’t nobody got time for that!” Lol
Absolutely loved this book! Yes, it got super heavy and from what I hear..it’s going to be crazy before it gets better I mean the epilogue alone says it all…
“I do not plan to,” he said, fading into the space between realms, Hel a dark song beckoning him home. “Not when things are about to get so interesting.”
There is waaaay too much I could say, from the twists of everything and every one you love dies in one day, to having this numbness, to figuring out what happened, to defending your dead best friends and to realizing you are a mass weapon…cool! Gave you all the feels! No Smut, some hinting, but with all the chaos…it’s like Sarah said “ain’t nobody got time for that!” Lol
emotional
inspiring
fast-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:
No
adventurous
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Wow, jumping from the ACOTAR series into this was wild, but totally worth it!
I grew up loving urban fantasy, and this book certainly delivers on that vibe while staying cleverly unique and outside of some usual tropes in the genre. With that being said, it does fall into the trap of having a rough beginning due to the large amount of world-building data that is dumped into the reader in even just the first ten pages!
I will say that every chapter beyond the first got me more and more invested - this is certainly a book that rewards you for getting past the heavy intro. Once the action starts, it really keeps pace well throughout the last 3/4 of the book.
I really enjoyed the FMC Bryce, especially right after finishing the ACOTAR series. Bryce is both flawed and incredibly relatable and is only grating once in a blue moon (The cheesy term "alphaholes" was certainly overused a couple of times too many). I really fell in love with her, her relationships, and her struggles.
Another highlight of this book for me was the incredibly deep non-romantic relationships! Of course we know Sarah J. Maas writes a lovely romantic relationship, but in this book she really did an excellent job of developing family relationships and friendships in a way that was relatable and struck a deep emotional chord with me (enough that they made me cry a couple of times, which books rarely make me do!!!).
The action was epic, I am invested in the world, and I can't wait to jump into the second book in this series!
Quotes:
“That's the point of it, Bryce. Of life. To live, to love, knowing that it might all vanish tomorrow. It makes everything that much more precious.”
“'What brings loyalty beyond death, undimming despite the years. What remains unwavering in the face of hopelessness.' ...Through love, all is possible.”
“But she was the one person I could be myself around and never feel judged. The one person that I knew would always pick up the phone, or call me back. She was the one person who made me feel brave because no matter what happened, no matter how bad or embarrassing or shitty it was, I knew that I had her in my corner. That if it all went to Hel, I could talk to her and it would be fine.”
⭐⭐⭐⭐.5 /5
I grew up loving urban fantasy, and this book certainly delivers on that vibe while staying cleverly unique and outside of some usual tropes in the genre. With that being said, it does fall into the trap of having a rough beginning due to the large amount of world-building data that is dumped into the reader in even just the first ten pages!
I will say that every chapter beyond the first got me more and more invested - this is certainly a book that rewards you for getting past the heavy intro. Once the action starts, it really keeps pace well throughout the last 3/4 of the book.
I really enjoyed the FMC Bryce, especially right after finishing the ACOTAR series. Bryce is both flawed and incredibly relatable and is only grating once in a blue moon (The cheesy term "alphaholes" was certainly overused a couple of times too many). I really fell in love with her, her relationships, and her struggles.
Another highlight of this book for me was the incredibly deep non-romantic relationships! Of course we know Sarah J. Maas writes a lovely romantic relationship, but in this book she really did an excellent job of developing family relationships and friendships in a way that was relatable and struck a deep emotional chord with me (enough that they made me cry a couple of times, which books rarely make me do!!!).
The action was epic, I am invested in the world, and I can't wait to jump into the second book in this series!
Quotes:
“That's the point of it, Bryce. Of life. To live, to love, knowing that it might all vanish tomorrow. It makes everything that much more precious.”
“'What brings loyalty beyond death, undimming despite the years. What remains unwavering in the face of hopelessness.' ...Through love, all is possible.”
“But she was the one person I could be myself around and never feel judged. The one person that I knew would always pick up the phone, or call me back. She was the one person who made me feel brave because no matter what happened, no matter how bad or embarrassing or shitty it was, I knew that I had her in my corner. That if it all went to Hel, I could talk to her and it would be fine.”
⭐⭐⭐⭐.5 /5
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I got into the Throne of Glass series, but this one disappoints.
tl;dr: If you tolerate long books well, love an obvious "will they won't they" and don't mind heavy duty plot armor, unnecessary detail, and a world that contains 98% of the elements of all Western myths, folklore, religion, and fantasy plus a dose of sci fi and the trappings of early 21st century human life (e.g., cell phones, surveillance state, résumés, servers (the technical kind)) on a planet apparently 15,000 years into the future, then go ahead. But I'd just suggest the author's other series, personally.
The full tea:
For me to enjoy books longer than 350 pages, they really have to justify their length through a compelling story with appropriate detail about the characters, plot points, world, and any message the author is trying to convey. This book misses the mark.
If you can soldier (or skim) through the first ~40% of this tome, the pacing improves. But not the unnecessary, ponderous, and ultimately largely pointless detail. This book, while easy for the reader to fly through (except for the needless adaptations of common words to make them seem more mystical without adding anything to the story), is like 80% red herring and 20% substance (yes, even taking into account that it's a romantasy, not some kind of literary epic).
This book should have been made at least 50% shorter by eliminating the irrelevant characters, relationships, plot points, repetitive reminders of details, twists and retconning (author, multiple times: "oh, did I forget to mention this key plot point along the way explicitly so I could make it into a twist later--and that these twists don't even matter in the greater arc of the story? 😇 Silly me! Again!"). I understand some of these superfluous characters and plot points may return in future books, but I could not possibly care given how little they matter in this book.
Also helpful would have been committing to either an amateur detective story with a little magic/fantasy for fun or this full-blown orgy of fantasy and sci fi elements (I mean, on top of everything else, wormholes. really?).
And, there's no p-in-v sex scene despite obvious willingness (and eventually disgustingly near-constant longing that only adds to the pedantic length of this book) between the two MCs, and there are only a few other almost-sex scenes, only one of which really gets dirty. IN 800 PAGES. These characters are not ace or sexually repressed or too young or anything else that would be a believable obstacle. Just let them bang.
The final insult: the ending is not a cliff hanger. Why would I even bother reading the next book when it seems there's nothing much more to resolve? Throne of Glass cliff hangers grabbed me. This book just slid into the acknowledgements like a lazy mer-person into a calm river.
tl;dr: If you tolerate long books well, love an obvious "will they won't they" and don't mind heavy duty plot armor, unnecessary detail, and a world that contains 98% of the elements of all Western myths, folklore, religion, and fantasy plus a dose of sci fi and the trappings of early 21st century human life (e.g., cell phones, surveillance state, résumés, servers (the technical kind)) on a planet apparently 15,000 years into the future, then go ahead. But I'd just suggest the author's other series, personally.
The full tea:
For me to enjoy books longer than 350 pages, they really have to justify their length through a compelling story with appropriate detail about the characters, plot points, world, and any message the author is trying to convey. This book misses the mark.
If you can soldier (or skim) through the first ~40% of this tome, the pacing improves. But not the unnecessary, ponderous, and ultimately largely pointless detail. This book, while easy for the reader to fly through (except for the needless adaptations of common words to make them seem more mystical without adding anything to the story), is like 80% red herring and 20% substance (yes, even taking into account that it's a romantasy, not some kind of literary epic).
This book should have been made at least 50% shorter by eliminating the irrelevant characters, relationships, plot points, repetitive reminders of details, twists and retconning (author, multiple times: "oh, did I forget to mention this key plot point along the way explicitly so I could make it into a twist later--and that these twists don't even matter in the greater arc of the story? 😇 Silly me! Again!"). I understand some of these superfluous characters and plot points may return in future books, but I could not possibly care given how little they matter in this book.
Also helpful would have been committing to either an amateur detective story with a little magic/fantasy for fun or this full-blown orgy of fantasy and sci fi elements (I mean, on top of everything else, wormholes. really?).
And, there's no p-in-v sex scene despite obvious willingness (and eventually disgustingly near-constant longing that only adds to the pedantic length of this book) between the two MCs, and there are only a few other almost-sex scenes, only one of which really gets dirty. IN 800 PAGES. These characters are not ace or sexually repressed or too young or anything else that would be a believable obstacle. Just let them bang.
The final insult: the ending is not a cliff hanger. Why would I even bother reading the next book when it seems there's nothing much more to resolve? Throne of Glass cliff hangers grabbed me. This book just slid into the acknowledgements like a lazy mer-person into a calm river.
adventurous
dark
hopeful
inspiring
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated