Reviews

Bleh, I wrote a long review but being logged out ate it. Characters + romance were good. A good attempt but ultimately not a compelling exploration of class dynamics. Really unsatisfying/unresolved ending.

After we pretend to have a deep look at class dynamics and the imbalance of power, the happy ending is that the existing magical system is upended and anyone can access magic! Oh wait, not anyone. Only landowners 🙃🙃🙃. Talk about replicating power dynamics. And let's not even talk about the fact that we're ignoring the colonization aspect of "land-owning" at all. Cool, cool. Also, the fae character/fae magic was just... there as a background wildcard character, and not included much. Should have been more info/inclusion there.

Villains were even more one-dimensional than I expected. I thought we'd get more information about the big darkness that's coming that justified their power grab, but... it didn't exist, it's just a blatant power grab. I want a nuanced villain!

readerkai's review against another edition

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adventurous funny 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

4.5

kayay's review against another edition

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medium-paced

3.75

midnightgarden's review against another edition

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dark emotional 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? It's complicated

3.0

massivepizzacrust's review

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adventurous emotional hopeful tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

n0vel_ideas's review against another edition

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adventurous hopeful 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? No

4.0

katelyn717's review

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adventurous funny mysterious medium-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? It's complicated

4.25

thelogmaiden's review

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4.25

I feel like the author is good at world building, but struggled at keeping all the complex plot threads and characters together in an interesting and maximally coherent way. I didn’t love the second book and I feel like the characters from the second book were still flat in this one - any time they were brought in it was mostly like oh violet…theater!!! To me it was clear the author had the best mental representation of Edwin and Robin, any time they were on the pages they shined. I enjoyed the romance in the final book, and I thought she really did a great job on the ending of the book.

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