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3.91 AVERAGE
3.91 AVERAGE
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
[3 stars]
It was an decent read for me, though I think the story-pacing is terrible with almost 70-80% of the book uneventful when Wren is trying to run away from her magic, I'm not reading a slide-of-life alright. But I like the dynamic between Singard and Wren, it reminds me about Cardan and Jude's which I adore. The world building is very decent, besides the main city Blackreach and Wren's hometown, no city mentioned in the map actually has something happened in those areas expect some info dump which makes the world feel more like tell than show to me. And the thing pissed me of the most would be how the author used those modernised slangs in the fantasy setting, how do that sound fantasy to you?
Though, Im kinda curious how Singard and Wren even ended with each other so yea I guess I will continue with the second book.
P.S. What the f*ck is the smell of starlight???? Even it's fantasy, it needs to be logical. And what the hell is Black Art? Who calls their king like that? Don't even need to mention about Black Hand. Alright I get it, everything is Black, Art, Hand, reach. Should I expect Head, River, Sea,... in the future :)))))
It was an decent read for me, though I think the story-pacing is terrible with almost 70-80% of the book uneventful when Wren is trying to run away from her magic, I'm not reading a slide-of-life alright. But I like the dynamic between Singard and Wren, it reminds me about Cardan and Jude's which I adore. The world building is very decent, besides the main city Blackreach and Wren's hometown, no city mentioned in the map actually has something happened in those areas expect some info dump which makes the world feel more like tell than show to me. And the thing pissed me of the most would be how the author used those modernised slangs in the fantasy setting, how do that sound fantasy to you?
Though, Im kinda curious how Singard and Wren even ended with each other so yea I guess I will continue with the second book.
P.S. What the f*ck is the smell of starlight???? Even it's fantasy, it needs to be logical. And what the hell is Black Art? Who calls their king like that? Don't even need to mention about Black Hand. Alright I get it, everything is Black, Art, Hand, reach. Should I expect Head, River, Sea,... in the future :)))))
adventurous
funny
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
i really enjoyed this book. the characters, sin and wren have my entire heart and the story was so captivating i really didn’t want to put it down.
i’m really mad at myself because i spoiled the twist for myself, and i just know that if i hadn’t done that, the last like 10 pages of the book would have hit so much harder, and probably kicked up the rating a bit due to just pure emotional investment.
i’m really excited to see where wren and sin’s story goes, and how they come back from this.
i love that wren held her values and her self to a high standard, always knowing when to pick and choose her battles and stand up for herself. her moral beliefs were never changed simply due to a man, instead she had to go through the process of grappling with the different parts of her brain.
sin is such a conflicted character by nature. he has so many influences in his life and doesn’t know where to go. he reverts to tradition because that’s what most (or i guess the strongest influence) is telling him to do. even if he has much growth to do still, i really liked the growth he managed in this book.
also, i love that it wasn’t insta-love/lust. usually, when the mmc is introduced, it’s through vocabulary like “beautiful” “stunning” and overall flattery. in this, however, he’s introduced just as any other character, and the attraction doesn’t start until well into the book.
also, wren, while on the caster’s high, admitting to falling in love with him, but then after recovering, her feelings like regress. she has like clarity that i really enjoyed because when she first said “love,” i was like god damn it it was going so well but then the author had to expedite the connection. but then, in the next chapter, she regresses her feelings, acknowledging the high and how much of their interactions were fueled by lust. though, some of this is also denial for her feelings and so there’s a good mix of both.
okay, now i’ll try for a plot summary, but i don’t promise to be accurate:
so, at the beginning, wren is captured by legion (a rebellion group against the castle), but then is quickly recovered by kingdom soldiers and taken to the castle. Singard (the black art) sees wren and first assumes that she’s a legion spy, but after she saves him using magic, he realizes she is a mage. she runs away, for fear of punishment for lying.
in reality, wren isn’t a regular mage, but a bloodwitch. she can sense people’s emotions through their collectives, and has a thirst for blood. it is believed that after wren makes her first kill, she’ll become a insatiable monster.
sin discovers that she is a bloodwitch and decides to use this to his advantage against legion.
wren has history with legion, as she had once been tricked by their leader (cathal) and taken and abused and raped.
wren discovers that her sister has been captured, and in return for helping sin win the fight against legion, he’ll help her find her sister.
so throughout their time, they go on trips and overall bond more.
wren discovers that sin is a transcendent, the very people that he aims to kill.
the kingdom looks down on bloodwitches a lot, but also looks down on transcendent (shifters). wren was raised by a chosen family of transcendents after her mom kicked her out after discovering she’s a blood witch.
there, she met her sister cosmina, who is the main motivation for much of wren’s actions.
wren realizes that much of sin’s actions against transcendents stem from his father, who’s wife was a transcendent and allegedly killed by her own family due to her betrayal.
sin’s father is very manipulative and controlling, upset that he wasn’t chosen as the black art after killing the prior black art, elphaim.
towards the end of the book, wren and sin fight side by side against legion and win. they have an emotional bond that is consummated. but, wren realizes that nothing can ever come of it. she meets cornelius, the older brother of bennett, a prior suitor who was getting too handsy. she tells cornelius about her sister during a ball, where sin watches in jealousy.
wren and sin are intimate once more, before sin backs away, and tells wren to leave the castle. he says that he is a bad person, and that he’s harmed her.
right as wren is about to leave, there is a big explosion and tldr: sin’s mother (dusaro’s wife) is actually alive (seraphina) and has been planning the rebellion. she couldn’t stand to watch her people die, but has no clue that sin is also a transcendent. cornelius has been working with the rebellion, and PLOT TWIST uncovers that sin took cosmina and held her as leverage against wren.
wren is heartbroken and decides to go with seraphina and the rebellion, who are simply looking for transcendents to not be so mistreated. there’s a heartbreaking moment between wren and sin, and sin begs her not to leave with them, as he cannot protect her if she’s fighting as his enemy.
wren leaves anyway, leaving sin and herself completely heartbroken.
throughout all that plot, there’s many moments of wren and sin being flirty, and truly bonding and understanding each other. it truly is heartbreaking to see them split apart, andsin’s betrayal is absolutely a fucking shock
i think the only reason that this book isn’t rated higher is because it lacked that strong emotional impact for me. part of this is probably due to the fact that i spoiled the bit twist at the end, but i also just feel that i need more time with these characters. i didn’t feel as connected to them as i do for comparable books. also, the writing style is a bit simplistic. and, while theres nothing inherently wrong with this, i often found myself missing and truly feeling the absence of a more eloquent style. i felt like that would have given a lot more impact to the inner monologues of wren, because sometimes it can come off as “i’m a badass. deal with it.”
despite this, i really really enjoyed this book, and i can’t wait to read the next.
i’m really mad at myself because i spoiled the twist for myself, and i just know that if i hadn’t done that, the last like 10 pages of the book would have hit so much harder, and probably kicked up the rating a bit due to just pure emotional investment.
i’m really excited to see where wren and sin’s story goes, and how they come back from this.
i love that wren held her values and her self to a high standard, always knowing when to pick and choose her battles and stand up for herself. her moral beliefs were never changed simply due to a man, instead she had to go through the process of grappling with the different parts of her brain.
sin is such a conflicted character by nature. he has so many influences in his life and doesn’t know where to go. he reverts to tradition because that’s what most (or i guess the strongest influence) is telling him to do. even if he has much growth to do still, i really liked the growth he managed in this book.
also, i love that it wasn’t insta-love/lust. usually, when the mmc is introduced, it’s through vocabulary like “beautiful” “stunning” and overall flattery. in this, however, he’s introduced just as any other character, and the attraction doesn’t start until well into the book.
okay, now i’ll try for a plot summary, but i don’t promise to be accurate:
in reality, wren isn’t a regular mage, but a bloodwitch. she can sense people’s emotions through their collectives, and has a thirst for blood. it is believed that after wren makes her first kill, she’ll become a insatiable monster.
sin discovers that she is a bloodwitch and decides to use this to his advantage against legion.
wren has history with legion, as she had once been tricked by their leader (cathal) and taken and abused and raped.
wren discovers that her sister has been captured, and in return for helping sin win the fight against legion, he’ll help her find her sister.
so throughout their time, they go on trips and overall bond more.
wren discovers that sin is a transcendent, the very people that he aims to kill.
the kingdom looks down on bloodwitches a lot, but also looks down on transcendent (shifters). wren was raised by a chosen family of transcendents after her mom kicked her out after discovering she’s a blood witch.
there, she met her sister cosmina, who is the main motivation for much of wren’s actions.
wren realizes that much of sin’s actions against transcendents stem from his father, who’s wife was a transcendent and allegedly killed by her own family due to her betrayal.
sin’s father is very manipulative and controlling, upset that he wasn’t chosen as the black art after killing the prior black art, elphaim.
towards the end of the book, wren and sin fight side by side against legion and win. they have an emotional bond that is consummated. but, wren realizes that nothing can ever come of it. she meets cornelius, the older brother of bennett, a prior suitor who was getting too handsy. she tells cornelius about her sister during a ball, where sin watches in jealousy.
wren and sin are intimate once more, before sin backs away, and tells wren to leave the castle. he says that he is a bad person, and that he’s harmed her.
right as wren is about to leave, there is a big explosion and tldr: sin’s mother (dusaro’s wife) is actually alive (seraphina) and has been planning the rebellion. she couldn’t stand to watch her people die, but has no clue that sin is also a transcendent. cornelius has been working with the rebellion, and PLOT TWIST uncovers that sin took cosmina and held her as leverage against wren.
wren is heartbroken and decides to go with seraphina and the rebellion, who are simply looking for transcendents to not be so mistreated. there’s a heartbreaking moment between wren and sin, and sin begs her not to leave with them, as he cannot protect her if she’s fighting as his enemy.
wren leaves anyway, leaving sin and herself completely heartbroken.
throughout all that plot, there’s many moments of wren and sin being flirty, and truly bonding and understanding each other. it truly is heartbreaking to see them split apart, and
i think the only reason that this book isn’t rated higher is because it lacked that strong emotional impact for me. part of this is probably due to the fact that i spoiled the bit twist at the end, but i also just feel that i need more time with these characters. i didn’t feel as connected to them as i do for comparable books. also, the writing style is a bit simplistic. and, while theres nothing inherently wrong with this, i often found myself missing and truly feeling the absence of a more eloquent style. i felt like that would have given a lot more impact to the inner monologues of wren, because sometimes it can come off as “i’m a badass. deal with it.”
despite this, i really really enjoyed this book, and i can’t wait to read the next.
dark
emotional
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
it took me literally over a month to read this bc i think it was the worst book i have ever read literally what the fuck
adventurous
dark
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Blood
Minor: Child abuse, Sexual violence