Reviews tagging 'Animal death'

Fortune Favors the Cruel by Lucinda Dark, Kel Carpenter

3 reviews

libertyreads789's review

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dark tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

I’m so glad I finally got around to a book that I had gotten when it was on sale for Kindle several months ago. This is a New Adult Fantasy/Romance about a now freed slave named Quinn and a nobleman named Lazarus. I would argue that this feels more Young Adult than New Adult, but that could just be my opinion. This is the first book in a self-published series about magic, nobility, and the darkness inside all of us. Though, I think what pushed me to purchase this one when I first saw it was the final couple of lines in the Goodreads synopsis: “She could be the key to everything he holds dear. His savior or his destroyer. The only thing he didn’t predict was that she would become both.”

I hate not loving (or at least really enjoying) self-published novels. I wish I had enjoyed this one more. I think there were three things I really struggled with in this novel. 1) The editing. I know that this is self-published so it goes through less rigorous editing processes, but there were some pretty big errors that threw me out of the story each time. Some were simple grammar but some were things to do with repetition, weird phrasing, so on. 2) The story structure/pacing. I know I always say that I want more from books that are under 700 pages. But this one desperately needs it. The story has no room to breathe and it keeps the reader from feeling settled into this journey. I want to care that these characters keep getting put into insane situations that they might not survive. But it’s impossible when I don’t get to see them interacting and bonding on more than a surface level. Moving from plot point to plot point just isn’t enough. 3) The world building. Similar to the last point, I want to feel grounded in the story. I want to care. But if you add in the proper amount of world building and give the characters the breathing room they need then this story easily goes to 500, 600 pages. I don’t feel like I truly understand this world or the political situation or the magic. I’m sure that the author has a perfect image of all of this in her head, but it didn’t translate well on the page.

There were a few things I did enjoy (otherwise my rating would be a lot lower) and that I think the author did a good job with. I liked the way our two main characters are so willing to go to that dark place. A lot of Fantasy novels want the reader to still love the characters so a lot of the authors are unwilling to let it go there. But several times this book does just that. And I loved those moments. I loved the setting within the mountain range that we explore. The people live in what is essentially giant treehouses with bridges between them and rope ladders to get in and out of them. Probably the best visual I have for any specific location in this story. Though, part of that could stem from a different self-published novel I’ve read in the past (The Seven by Courtney Praski). Overall, I think there is definitely an audience out there for this series. I just don’t think it’s me. I think it’s a good bridge book for someone who doesn’t typically read Fantasy. I also think there’s just enough romance here to entice Romance readers who might want to explore a bit of Fantasy.

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lillythebluepaladin's review

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adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

I really enjoyed reading it! It's definetly not my typical thing, but I found the characters interesting, and I really enjoyed having a cast of main characters that weren't all "we gotta be kind, love everyone, friendship is magic, we're basically the care bears", but had flaws, contradicting character traits and they werent scared to do bad things in the name of saving themselves and their tiny found family.

I definetly had some issues with it on MANY other aspects.
The only two non-spoiler things would be the HORRIBLE book cover, and the other is the main characters surname, why is her last name Darkova, like I'm sorry but is she the main character of *that* harry potter fanfic?

ANYWAYS, I only read this book because it was free, the book cover kept me away for a long time, but I was possitevly suprised! Will I read the sequels? Maybe next year when I'm done with Vespertine, Circe and Frankenstein, who knows...

(I made a MyCast with this book, heres the link if you want to contribute:  Fortune Favours The Cruel Fan Casting on myCast )
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lex_gutsche's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

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