Reviews with content warning for Grief - Os nossos eternos destinos

Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Os nossos eternos destinos by Laura Steven

63 reviews

psychnp's review against another edition

1.5

reflective slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Painfully slow
While a fairly unique idea, reads like a writing assignment with a prompt about soulmates and/or reincarnation. I cannot recall another book that had such little plot and such limited character development simultaneously

Content Warnings

fairynanook's review against another edition

2.75

emotional mysterious medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

The premise for this book was so interesting, but the plot just doesn't deliver. The reincarnations were interesting enough, but we never learned anything much through them, so that when the actual reason for the plot came about, it felt out of left field and ridiculous. I didn't like that part, even a little bit. Then there was a hastily added "why" towards the very end. The author poorly tries to give the characters a happy ending, but in reality, it all falls very short of the mark. All in all, I would not recommend this book at all.

Content Warnings

_simply_cyndi_'s review against another edition

3.75

adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious 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

Content Warnings

micaelamariem's review against another edition

2.0

emotional reflective slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

I really wish I could have liked this book. I’ll give credit where it’s due: the cover is almost as beautiful as the writing style. The writing style is exquisite and carefully crafted.
However, the beautiful words is where the enjoyment stopped for me. I found the plot to be repetitive and dull. I wasn’t invested in the love story and felt as if I already knew the ending.
I didn’t completely know the ending, as this huge twist comes out of the blue—but it was a twist that was very out of character for the book and it didn’t immerse me enough to buy into it. Not to mention, once we jump into the twist, we seem to completely forget about the side characters, and never see how their lives play out.
I think if there were more (albeit much much smaller) twists throughout the book and the ending was more led up to with better foreshadowing, I could have liked it more. As it was, though, I wasn’t invested and didn’t enjoy the story 🙁

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lisa_m's review against another edition

4.5

adventurous emotional funny inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

I have been excited to read this book since before it came out. Because of this my expectations where automatically high as well.
Luckily it gave me a lot of things I absolutely adore!

1. I love both our protagonists so much! Even though we only get Evelyns POV they are both very flushed out characters with a lot of charm to them. Their love-hate pulled me in and I couldn't stop reading because I just wanted to learn more about them. Arden was such a good love interest!

2.

I also loved the fluidity of gender in both our protagonists. It could have been confusing with all the time jumps but since the POV stayed the same it wasn't. And it strengthened the premise of them loveing each other in every lifetime, no matter in what body, from what family or in which country. Talk about soulmates!

Even though a big part of the conflict is miscommunication (which usually annoys me a lot) it didn't bother me here. I can't exactly pinpoint why though.

I loved getting glimpses of all the different times and countries they lived in. I love time-jumps in stories if done right and without being confusing to the reader and it was definitely done well here.

I loved Evelyns current family. Her sister and mother had so much character even though they only show up on the periphery. They feel like real human beings with flaws and character and not just plot devices support / elevate the main character.

So now you may ask yourself "But Lisa, why if you loved this story so much did you not give it 5 stars?"

Well dear imaginary reader of my reviews, I really thought I was going to! For about the first 350 pages of this 400 page book I was convinced this would be a 5 star read. Unfortunately the ending left me a bit unsatisfied. It was not predictable, I'll say that much, and it was definitely unique. The issues I had are:

Throughout the book Arden struggles so much with what he has to do. Making him entirely innocent broke my heart in a bad way because it automatically makes Evelyn the bad guy. Yes they're selfless and likeable generally but everything they put Arden through is just horrible. The way she treated him, always blaming him even though he's in this mess because of her? It made me like her a bit less (even though it's not her fault!)

Also the ending being once again mainly Evelyns choice made me mad. Arden sacrificed SO MUCH. All just for this love. And Evelyn can just stand there and not only call him a villain for it but actively refuse to let him keep it?

Also the whole "final battle/ facing the villain" part of the story was one of the most uninteresting bits which is sad.
The 'Mother' was not built up enough and even though the bond Evelyn felt towards her was very interesting it's not a great sign if the big villain of the story is the least detailed character in the entire book. All the information is just dropped on you and then they talk for a bit and she's defeated almost by accident/ by her own mistake/idea? Not exactly satisfying.

I also don't know what exactly I'm supposed to take away from the story about how Evelyn became a devil except that it is completely her own fault and selfishness that started all this? (And of course her live but still).
I much preferred the idea of her just being born this way and not wanting it.

Also it kind of makes Arden seem even more like an innocent victim in all this. All the plans were made while he was dead, being tortured or not having all the information.

I really wish I liked the ending more because I enjoyed the book so much! And I love Evelyn and Ardens dynamic. But sadly I might just have to not think about the ending too much in order to continue to enjoy it.

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harleyglynn's review against another edition

3.5

adventurous emotional mysterious fast-paced

I thought the concept was so interesting, and it could have been fantastic, but it was just ok. I wanted so much more. I think if this had been developed a bit more it could have been amazing. Instead, it felt a lot like The Invisible Life of Addie LauRue but not done nearly as well. I thought the writing was beautiful, and I loved diving into the different time periods and locations around the world and the different personas the characters embodied, but I wanted more depth from each time jump.

To be fair, I did read this in like 48 hours because I needed to know the answer to the mystery, but, honestly, I was a bit let down by the reveal. Again, I wanted more development.

I also have a very hard time accepting this as YA when it has so much sexual tension/content throughout.

Content Warnings

crystal_sprout's review against another edition

4.0

emotional hopeful mysterious sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

This is probably one of the most romantic books I’ve ever read.🥺💛

I was getting five star feelings from chapter 3… though I never in 1,000 years would’ve guessed the last 25% of the book. I’m still processing it and I don’t know how I feel about it- but we’re going to keep the five stars because everything else about this story was deeply, tragically beautiful and moving.

(Edit: changed rating to 4 stars because after a month of thinking about it, I decided I didn’t like the ending)

The prose and thoughts on love in this book quietly found their way right into my own soul. (I have 120 highlights lol). The steady consistency that who these two were at their core followed them through each life felt like such a comfort.

I loved the concept. I loved the execution. I loved the set up and the flashback chapters. I loved the mystery of it all.

Notes:
I wish the mystery of who Arden was in this life was drawn out a little longer. I feel like it could’ve been dragged out just a teeny bit longer, the big reveal didn’t feel very big to me.

Evelyn also became a little too wishy washy. She hated Arden and would say as much but in the same breath long for him so deeply. I get the complexities of their relationship, but sometimes this back & forth was too much for me.

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sms29's review against another edition

3.5

adventurous emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

I liked this, but not as much as I hoped I would. I didn’t realize it was YA at first and I think most of the issues I had with the book may have been improved if it was Adult instead of YA.

I loved the concept and got hooked by the plot pretty quickly. I also really enjoyed that we got to see Evelyn and Arden’s lives (briefly) through the last 1000 years. The end was probably the most impactful for me and I enjoyed the twist at the end.

I also loved the Greece chapter to wrap up their origin story.

On the flip side, I felt very little connection to the characters because of the consistent switching of time periods and lives. I wish that the book was actually longer so as to spend more time in each life,

rather than generally just finding out how they find each other and die

. This also made it difficult for me to believe that Evelyn and Arden had a deep, epic love. It shined in the last few chapters, but I wanted it throughout. I also wanted to explore the twist more.

Overall, Our Infinite Fates was good and I may read it again in the future. The writing was also pretty good and I may read more by this author in the future.

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