Reviews

Year of the Reaper by Makiia Lucier

tacochelle's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful mysterious 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

4.0

This was a really cool ya fantasy, with a world inspired by medieval Europe during the black death. The mystery that drives the plot was really interesting, though I'm a little iffy on how it wraps up. The mc Cas has the ability to see and speak to ghosts, and I wish it was used more in the story. It was never fully explained, and with a plot focused on who is killing those closest to the queen, I thought we'd see Cas' power in action more, but it didn't, really.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Murder, Kidnapping, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Torture

Minor: War, Confinement, and Child death

lahren's review against another edition

4.0

I really enjoyed this book! This is definitely a book that you cannot judge by its cover because the cover does not at all accurately convey what you get with this book. I'd never felt a particular inclination to pick this book up off my shelf because the cover made me expect something really gritty and bleak, but instead this book felt more like a cozy mystery admist a medieval backdrop.

I admittedly liked the first third of this book more than the back two-thirds, but that is really down the fact that I didn't know this was an attempted-murder-mystery going in. I know my taste enough to know that I don't tend to enjoy that kind of arc, and that was definitely the part of this book I found the least interesting— but that's not on the book, that's on me for not doing my research first. Really I think the main driving force for me finishing this so quickly was Cas and everything he brought to the table. He had the sort of grumpy, reluctant-good-guy persona that reminded me in some ways of Kaladin from The Stormlight Archives, and most of my interest came from wanting to see where his story went. While the rest of the characters didn't get a ton of development, what we did see hinted at a depth that could have been explored more if this were a longer book or the start of a series.

On the whole I found this thoroughly entertaining, and I'd be interested in reading another book by this author!

claire_hell's review against another edition

adventurous dark fast-paced

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

3.5

holly_153's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense medium-paced

4.0

lamplightlibrary's review against another edition

adventurous inspiring mysterious fast-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? No

4.25

rezdorina's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious relaxing medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

purelykatherine's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

 For a YA standalone book this was absolutely a knockout. 
Gorey, dark, dabbled in with some witty banter and I was sold within the first few chapters. 
This book is written in 3rd person which is not always my preferred but the way the author connected you into the story I hardly noticed. 
I loved that the main character was a male and his backstory was soul crushing. 
In this story you are following Cas who is a higher born son within the realm. Their entire world is overrun with a plague that is killing everyone in its path. Not only is there death and destruction everywhere you look but there is also an assassin who is attempting to murder the Queen. 
Cas allies himself with a girl named Lena and together these two are thrust into a story of mystery and suspense as they try to find out who would commit such a crime. 

The prose of this book was so fast paced I hardly could put it down. I was so invested in the characters and their overall story and every page had me questioning what was going to happen next. 
I adore this book and will highly recommend this to anyone who is looking for a darker more gruesome ya fantasy/suspense. 

sanne6je's review against another edition

2.0

I do not understand why this book has such high ratings.

It’s about a man who can talk to ghosts in the middle of a plague and comes home after being imprisoned only to find that something is wrong. And he barely even uses his cool unexplained powers. The entire book is just finding out what feels off in this world that you know nothing about with random clues here and there, making the plot very boring. Many names were thrown at me at the beginning so I was at a total loss at first. Once I knew who everyone was the book was so far along and I felt like I missed why this should be interesting.

jacrosby22's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

miraclesapphire's review against another edition

4.0

I didn't quite understand the plot of this novel, however, this is a well written book. It definitely felt like a slice of life mixed with fantasy. This book is a nice and cozy comfort read.

Describing the book in 5 words: Ya fantasy slice of life