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words_and_dreams's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
Second part of the Godspeaker trilogy. The book moves away from Hekat, although we get glimpses of her throughout, and moves to Ethrea. Ethrea is a more western fantasy setting and the people there have their own god and godspeakers.
We follow a Princess, the heir to the throne who is being pressured into marriage, a toy maker who starts having visions and a mysterious stranger who we find out ia connected to Mijak and Hekat.
I found the first half really slow and It took me ages to slog through it. Second half picked up a little. The story uses a lot of familiar tropes, however I felt that the white 'Christian' styled nation being the good ones and the darker 'savages' are evil a little erm....well...😬😬
We follow a Princess, the heir to the throne who is being pressured into marriage, a toy maker who starts having visions and a mysterious stranger who we find out ia connected to Mijak and Hekat.
I found the first half really slow and It took me ages to slog through it. Second half picked up a little. The story uses a lot of familiar tropes, however I felt that the white 'Christian' styled nation being the good ones and the darker 'savages' are evil a little erm....well...😬😬
Content Warnings
Moderate: Violence
Minor: Religious bigotry and Bullying
ashybear02's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Genocide, Murder, Death, Blood, War, Torture, Sexism, Religious bigotry, Physical abuse, Misogyny, Medical trauma, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Confinement, Colonisation, and Classism
Moderate: Slavery
venti's review
adventurous
dark
tense
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? Yes
4.5
another shrug. “all places, rhian. all places men are men. men want, men take. you want stop?” he raised his knife. “this stop.”
loved this book (admittedly i loved empress more, though) but hated prolate marlan. being the antagonist of this book, you’d think he’d be less fucking annoying and more generally evil. but alas, in the face of all the shit hekat has done — no one seems quite as evil as her.
i really liked rhian. she was very consistent, and though i thought she would fold to the whims of the dukes and marlan toward the end of the book, she stayed consistently stubborn as hell. which like, relatable queen (literally.) but alisadair did get on my nerves when they got married. like king, rhian is looking for a man to step on, and you are not emulating that idea very well.
also zandakar deserved more lines </3 my fav blue hair man does not get enough speaking time. look at that banger at the start of the review and tell me he doesn’t deserve every line ever.
+ on a final note, omg helfred actually grew on me wtf. props to karen miller for being able to make me like a character who literally whipped the main character LOL
p.s. adding content warnings (if you’ve read empress you’re probably aware of the shit that goes on LOL) and just realised religious bigotry is an option. adding it in solely as an homage to the king helfred
loved this book (admittedly i loved empress more, though) but hated prolate marlan. being the antagonist of this book, you’d think he’d be less fucking annoying and more generally evil. but alas, in the face of all the shit hekat has done — no one seems quite as evil as her.
i really liked rhian. she was very consistent, and though i thought she would fold to the whims of the dukes and marlan toward the end of the book, she stayed consistently stubborn as hell. which like, relatable queen (literally.) but alisadair did get on my nerves when they
also zandakar deserved more lines </3 my fav blue hair man does not get enough speaking time. look at that banger at the start of the review and tell me he doesn’t deserve every line ever.
+ on a final note, omg helfred actually grew on me wtf. props to karen miller for being able to make me like a character who literally whipped the main character LOL
p.s. adding content warnings (if you’ve read empress you’re probably aware of the shit that goes on LOL) and just realised religious bigotry is an option. adding it in solely as an homage to the king helfred
Content Warnings
Graphic: Colonisation, Death of parent, Genocide, Misogyny, Slavery, War, and Grief
Moderate: Self harm and Torture
Minor: Religious bigotry
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