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acreatureofbooksandtea's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
The main plot of the book kept me glued to my ereader. It was tense and there were high stakes for the heroine throughout the entire story. And the heroine herself was plucky, brave and determined without coming off as stupid or purely reckless.
My main gripe is with what passed for romance it the story. The heroine and hero spent very little page time together overall, and most of that time he was being condescending and insulting everything from her looks, to her intelligence, to her magical ability. He was just an unpleasant character, even outside his interactions with the heroine, and only seemed to become even worse whenever he interacted with her.
As far as I’m concerned, the heroine had heaps more chemistry and depth of relationship with her childhood best friend, who was the other character I loved the most aside from the heroine. She was brave and selfless, and stayed at the heroine’s side helping and defending her with unending determination and bravery, and was always supportive of the heroine.
Overall I really enjoyed this book, from the story to the heroine and her best friend and their quest to defend their land and the people they love from some truly terrifying situations. Just don’t read this book expecting a romance (like I did) because you won’t find anything but a single non-graphic, awkward, rushed sex scene that was apparently supposed to represent the love between two character that spend most of the story acting like roommates at best, and antagonists at worst.
My main gripe is with what passed for romance it the story. The heroine and hero spent very little page time together overall, and most of that time he was being condescending and insulting everything from her looks, to her intelligence, to her magical ability. He was just an unpleasant character, even outside his interactions with the heroine, and only seemed to become even worse whenever he interacted with her.
As far as I’m concerned, the heroine had heaps more chemistry and depth of relationship with her childhood best friend, who was the other character I loved the most aside from the heroine. She was brave and selfless, and stayed at the heroine’s side helping and defending her with unending determination and bravery, and was always supportive of the heroine.
Overall I really enjoyed this book, from the story to the heroine and her best friend and their quest to defend their land and the people they love from some truly terrifying situations. Just don’t read this book expecting a romance (like I did) because you won’t find anything but a single non-graphic, awkward, rushed sex scene that was apparently supposed to represent the love between two character that spend most of the story acting like roommates at best, and antagonists at worst.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Violence, and Murder
Moderate: Animal death, Sexism, and Blood
Minor: Body shaming, Confinement, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Kidnapping, and Grief
There is a lot of death and violence in this book, some of it mentioned in detail. And some of the imagery is just generally disturbing and unsettling, like a person being trapped inside a tree to feed it while dying slowly. There is also a scene in the first 1/4 of the book where one of the recurring character in the book tries to rape the heroine, but she attacks them and only some groping actually takes place. But afterwards the hero blames her for the assault, and insinuates it would have been less trouble if she had just let the assault happen and that her ‘virtue’ wasn’t worth the trouble it was causing him to have to cover up what what she had done to her assailant.ohmygourd's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Grief, and Murder
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Confinement, Vomit, and Death of parent
Minor: Miscarriage and Rape
readerette's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
As you can tell by the 5 stars, I deeply enjoyed this book, though it took me a little while to settle into liking it. At first I thought the Dragon was just horrible and cruel and it was just going to be a story about how he makes people miserable, but it grew from there, though he stayed true to character. The growth in Agnieszka is believable and inspiring, and even when she gets stuck, she's not overly bleak, which I think helped balance some of the darker themes and characters in the story. I found the writing a bit stilted in places--the words just didn't come together for me, but it was only a few phrases in total that threw me, not enough to taint the delight.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal death, Death, Emotional abuse, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Death of parent, and Murder
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Confinement, Cursing, Sexual assault, Torture, Toxic relationship, Vomit, and Grief
aerietta's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
I really enjoyed this story, a lot more than I thought I would based on other reviews. I especially enjoyed the pacing and how the world exposition was handled, though I feel like the end was more akin to an epilogue with how quickly it wrapped up.
The treatment of characterization was also handled well, I thought. It wasn't so much that flaws were shown and disappeared through character development. The characters kept their flaws, but those were softened through mutual understanding and adapted better as they learned more about the world around them.
I would like to note that the "show, don't tell" in how the characters felt about each other and how using magic affected them left a lot more room for interpretation than I think the author intended. Some of the interactions fell a little flat or seemed not to have much build-up to explain why they happened.
Overall, very enjoyable. Plan to read again.
The treatment of characterization was also handled well, I thought. It wasn't so much that flaws were shown and disappeared through character development. The characters kept their flaws, but those were softened through mutual understanding and adapted better as they learned more about the world around them.
I would like to note that the "show, don't tell" in how the characters felt about each other and how using magic affected them left a lot more room for interpretation than I think the author intended. Some of the interactions fell a little flat or seemed not to have much build-up to explain why they happened.
Overall, very enjoyable. Plan to read again.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death
Moderate: Sexual content, Violence, and Kidnapping
Minor: Rape, Sexual assault, and Vomit