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ainadei's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
This character is down bad for nearly the entirety of the book. It was hard for me to finish just because I couldn't really see the light at the end of the tunnel, but I guess neither could she lol. Will be a while before I start the rest of the trilogy again.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Violence, War, Body horror, Emotional abuse, and Death of parent
dragonwriter's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
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? Yes
5.0
Arrah longs for Heka’s blessing, the touch of magic that she can see but can’t influence. Her parents and grandparents are all powerful witchdoctors, but if Heka doesn’t bless her by her sixteenth birthday, there will be no hope. She will be magicless forever. During the last blood moon ritual, her last hope, her grandmother tries to draw Heka’s attention to her, but after, when they check her magic in another ritual, there is no magic. There is, however, a green-eyed serpent hovering nearby. Disturbed that she’s ‘haunted’ by a serpent--a demon--Arrah returns home, only to discover that children had been disappearing from the marketplace. Desperate to protect the children, Arrah does a forbidden ritual to access the magic so she can discover who is taking the children, but the ritual has a heavy cost. Despite the risk, Arrah does what she can, hurtling forward to prevent the return of the Demon King.
I thoroughly enjoyed this story! I really liked how Arrah fought for her friends and loved ones, and how Rudjek absolutely adores her. I couldn’t quite predict what was happening until it was happening, and I really liked watching how the plot unfolded. The complicated relationships were fascinating, especially within the family ties. The warring between love and hate, the yearning… It was beautiful! The complexities of the orisha were also fascinating, trying to find the line of where they could interfere and where they couldn’t. I am looking forward to book 2!
elaine707's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
A girl born from two powerful bloodlines hailed to be the strongest of her generation yet who has no gifts, dabbles in forbidden magic to try to stop an evil scheme. Little does she know, that’s just the beginning to a darker and more twisted story unraveling before her.
The beginning started strong, the middle was a little slow, but the ending had me all over again. Altogether it is such a strong story. The twists and turns! Every time I wanted to believe in something, the story would change directions. I cannot wait to read the next book.
jazminrose's review against another edition
4.0
This book was really good BUT ohhh boy did it take a while to get going. I almost stopped reading it on more than one occasion, the first third or so is very slow-moving. I am a fan of world-building, but I just couldn’t seem to get interested for the longest time.
All that said, if you can persevere through the start (or even better, perhaps you’ll be enthralled the whole time), the payoff is worth it. The characters are really great and it’s such an intricate world to explore. The plot was a good balance of surprises, with just the right amount of predictability/expectation. I’ll definitely be checking out more from this author too – her middle-grade series looks so intriguing!
On a related note: I do wonder if this book is wrongly classified as YA. Other than the protagonist and her friends being teenaged, it didn’t really read like YA. I say this as someone who reads both YA and adult fantasy, so I was not disappointed, only pondering.
All that said, if you can persevere through the start (or even better, perhaps you’ll be enthralled the whole time), the payoff is worth it. The characters are really great and it’s such an intricate world to explore. The plot was a good balance of surprises, with just the right amount of predictability/expectation. I’ll definitely be checking out more from this author too – her middle-grade series looks so intriguing!
On a related note: I do wonder if this book is wrongly classified as YA. Other than the protagonist and her friends being teenaged, it didn’t really read like YA. I say this as someone who reads both YA and adult fantasy, so I was not disappointed, only pondering.
laurenbookwitchbitch's review against another edition
3.0
An action packed ride of ghosts spirits demons and magic steeped in the Orisha mythos. Arrah longs for magic of her own, especially as the child of two powerful witchdoctors. But when the kingdoms children begin to vanish, Arrah embarks on her journey she will reckon with the Demon King, a terrible creature that the ancient gods imprisoned, who is now waking up. Arrah must fight with her very soul and pay the price for the magic it will take to defeat him.
ecramer44's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
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
3.5
The pacing of this book felt inconsistent. There were times where it felt like we were jumping around quickly and others where it progressed slowly. It was an interesting premise and I will probably continue the series.
triplebriiii's review against another edition
3.75
To start - my thoughts on this book are pretty much bc my general preferences for characters and romances did not align with these characters and these romances. Nothing to do with the writing (or mostly anyways), I thought these were good characters, the plot was interesting, I enjoyed that everything was a struggle. The worldbuilding was great, I was really interested in the history and the mythology, though I do wish we had gotten a little deeper into their magic system. It seemed a bit unclear, which I think makes sense considering Arrah doesn't have magic, and we're in her POV, but that was an element that I missed.
The ending kind of saved this one for me, I appreciated the reveals and how the dots connected. One of my biggest issues was that I simply did not find Arrah compelling bc she was so Lawful Good. I generally prefer morally grey characters, neutral characters, villainous characters (what can I say 😅). Her desperation to prove herself and save the children and fight againsther mother and sister were all fine, great characters choices, just simply.... not particularly interesting to me personally. I also didn't particularly enjoy the romance aspect of this except for the Demon King bc 😍😍😍 (look I told you I'm fucked up) but that's bc I generally don't like childhood friends-to-lovers it's.... boring to me whoops 😅. The ending tho, as I mentioned, did clear some things up and helped explain exactly why Arrah was so desperate to prove herself.
I'm looking forward to continuing the series even though I'm 100% convinced that it's not going to end up the way I personally want the story to end up, but that's okay it's not all about me lol.
The ending kind of saved this one for me, I appreciated the reveals and how the dots connected. One of my biggest issues was that I simply did not find Arrah compelling bc she was so Lawful Good. I generally prefer morally grey characters, neutral characters, villainous characters (what can I say 😅). Her desperation to prove herself and save the children and fight against
I'm looking forward to continuing the series even though I'm 100% convinced that it's not going to end up the way I personally want the story to end up, but that's okay it's not all about me lol.
holly1345's review against another edition
5.0
I love the unique style of this book and the fact the topics in this book aren't overly done so it made this book so much more enjoyable, I was hooked with this book by around the 10% mark and have hardly been able to put this book down . The characters in this story are so well written and thought out, the story its self really does grab you from early on and only builds as you go on to say I had some "heart in the throat " moments in an understatement I mean you really won't see them coming. The myths and fantasy aspects of this book were breathtaking and beautifully done I cant wait to see what will follow this book.
This is one I would recommend to any and all.
This is one I would recommend to any and all.
mj_2000's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-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? Yes
3.75
humblej's review against another edition
dark
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual assault