Reviews with content warning for Sexual assault - A Touch of Chaos

Check trigger warnings! A good conclusion to a retelling of Hades and Persephone that spans 4 books. A lot darker and longer than the previous books with many more characters POVs that shows the build up to the war and through it. Theusus' chapters were almost unbearable to read, his treatment to other characters made me despise him. I really enjoyed Dionysus' characterisation and his relationship with Ariadne. Some really hard deaths came from this book but I felt it was nesasary to develop Persophone from an innocent almost mortal to the powerful queen of the underworld. Hecates love and protection over Persephone was so great and Hermes humour really lifted this book in dark moments. Overall the characters really carried this world but the plot sometimes fell short with battles commencing fast and issues being resolved very fast

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renee_fae's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional lighthearted mysterious sad tense medium-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

4.0

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belle13's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny sad tense slow-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

4.75

Amount of spice: 🔥🔥🔥

Explicitness: 🌶️🌶️🌶️

I actually had pretty low expectations with this book but I was pleasantly surprised! In terms of plot I think this is some of Scarlett’s best work. I liked Persephone so much more in ATOC and I loved her character growth. I also adored all the supporting characters and the whole found family feel this book had. It was even a little heartbreaking which I wasn’t expecting. I think this was a fantastic ending to a series that I’ve loved so much.

Now I want to see a Lexa and Thanatos story!

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frantically's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.5

Sadly, not nearly as strong as the previous books and really disappointing in some aspects.

I still love Hades and Persephone and they were definitely the highlight in this book for me but it didn't even feel like a Hades and Persephone a book at some point, just...a war book. I also feel like we've lost any aspect of a "modern" retelling – Persephone's media job seems non-existent and all the time is spent in the underworld anyway.

Hermes is reduced to nothing more than comic relief (and bad one at that) and Apollo doesn't appear until like 80% in.

Sooo many people and gods died in this and it all felt so inconsequential and basically noone mourned?? There's horrid things happening and we just don't get any satisfying conclusions.

Definitely my least favourite of the series 🥲 Still love the rest of them though 🫶🏻

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l4urenf13's review

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adventurous dark tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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amandascozycorner's review against another edition

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dark emotional hopeful tense medium-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

2.0

Somehow there both too much and not enough going on in this book. I feel like there was enough material to cover two more books had it been given some proper due. Every challenge thrown at our darlings was horrible, the end of the world… until the solution was served up on a silver platter. There seemed to be no consequences for serious actions, and it always worked out in the best possible way. Ugh.

The series as a whole was lovely - I enjoyed watching the romance develop and deepen between Persephone and Hades. Watching a couple not only decide to be together but also work through differences to stay committed was refreshing and felt real. Unfortunately it seems that that level of story telling was left out of this book in favor of nonstop action that didn’t allow enough time between events to do anything other than the obligatory spicy scene. Speaking of spice - the scenes were definitely steamy but I just didn’t feel the same level of intensity that earlier books had, for all the reasons I’ve already mentioned.

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