3.96 AVERAGE

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-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

left me wanting more, very dark and yet addictive cannot look away
dark
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
adventurous challenging dark tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
dark emotional mysterious medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
adventurous dark emotional medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

dark indeed. Glad I read previous series in order to understand world structure a bit more.  Curious to see how the series and next book will be story flow wise. This first book seemed to build groundwork for characters with some plot points.

You know its a great read when you immediately HAVE to read the next book in the series. The ending was great and although it wasn't a big cliffhanger, I had to read more about this couple. This book had a good balance of storyline, action, and romance. It wasn't too heavy on the political strategies which I appreciate. I enjoy how each character, even the side ones, have their own reasoning/trauma/experiences for why they are the way they are, so they are developed well. While reading this, I did wonder how long she would be stuck because I thought this would be resolved rather quickly but it wasn't. The only thing that would make the series better is if they communicated more, I guess its the miscommunication trope but it seems like its both their faults as the main female lead doesn't listen or try to understand him while the male main lead doesn't even bother explaining things. Like just talk you two! Other than that, I like the worldbuilding and the power elements. I didn't think it was all that 'dark' for a dark fantasy romance.
dark mysterious medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Genuinely one of the most addicting books I've ever read. Every time I picked it up, I struggled to put it down. One book into the series and I already know Tessa is shaping up to be one of my fav fantasy fmc's of all time. She's such a strong willed bad bitch girl and I can't wait to see her become more powerful than every single other character. I am really intrigued to see where the romance (or potential romances) go, they're giving very much soulmates but kind of toxic and I'm loving it. Such an incredible start to a series wow wow wow. 
adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
challenging dark mysterious sad tense fast-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: Complicated

what a book 😭 

Theon is going to have a character ARC like no other I feel it. I relate to Tessa and I think this book does a good job at highlighting that not all trauma is loud trauma. I knew Tessa couldn’t be just a source there’s no way. 

Next book downloaded & ready to go! Waiting until November for the series to finish is going to be TOUGH I can already tell.