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3.73 AVERAGE
3.73 AVERAGE
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
adventurous
dark
emotional
tense
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:
No
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
dark
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:
Complicated
The reviews I read after finishing this book were very negative and I do not agree with them. 4.25/5 but I rounded up. The criticisms that I read were mostly on the unsurprising plot twist and how it wasn’t a super original plot line however, I feel that that doesn’t acknowledge the concept of a mythology retelling. As it’s meant to be a Hades and Persephone inspired story, I think it is original enough within those guidelines. Also, it follows many tropes of the genre, which is not a criticism, but rather a reasonable thing to expect in a romance fantasy.
Sage is a woman living in a kingdom ruled by a monarchy that disavows the old gods and the resulting magic found in present day people. When someone is revealed as Cursed with magic, they meet a violent end via Cleansing, aka pyre. She lives with her found family: Ezra her mother figure and Kaleb her brother by fate instead of blood. When the king drafts the village’s young men to fight in his war, Sage plans to attack the soldiers to save her brother from a known death sentence. Von is forced to intervene and take the air from her lungs and shadow walk her away. She wakes and learns of Ezra’s relationship with the Cursed Rebels and four of them offer to help her to find where her brother has been sent and rescue Kaleb. Skipping a lot of steps which involve character development, moonlighting as escorts to get the attention of the advisor to the king, and a deal with Arkyn - said advisor and God of Truth - , and a rescue mission which fails and results in the death of Kaleb and the capture of Soren. After Kaleb’s burial, we have Soren’s betrayal, leading to the capture of Sage as bait so that Arkyn can kill the god of death and Von can return the Crown of Thorns?
Questions we have for the next book: obviously we will learn more about the fact that Von has a brother who looks just like him, but also what god does that make him and his sister? Why is his sister living without wings in a brothel and hating Sage? What happened to the Crown of Thorns and why did Von make it in the first place? Will Soren get his redemption arch after his unethical mind control is what forced Sage to “kill” Von? How did Von survive, or was it his brother who was killed? Where did Ezra disappear to and is she a Demi god? What else does a mate bond entail? What killed Sage in her last life, and what caused her to be reborn instead of move to the Spirit Realm? Will Ryker get some closure over Fallon now that we can safely assume she is going to end up with Kaleb?
Also not that the spice was very good. Not too much, lots of longing.
Sage is a woman living in a kingdom ruled by a monarchy that disavows the old gods and the resulting magic found in present day people. When someone is revealed as Cursed with magic, they meet a violent end via Cleansing, aka pyre. She lives with her found family: Ezra her mother figure and Kaleb her brother by fate instead of blood. When the king drafts the village’s young men to fight in his war, Sage plans to attack the soldiers to save her brother from a known death sentence. Von is forced to intervene and take the air from her lungs and shadow walk her away. She wakes and learns of Ezra’s relationship with the Cursed Rebels and four of them offer to help her to find where her brother has been sent and rescue Kaleb. Skipping a lot of steps which involve character development, moonlighting as escorts to get the attention of the advisor to the king, and a deal with Arkyn - said advisor and God of Truth - , and a rescue mission which fails and results in the death of Kaleb and the capture of Soren. After Kaleb’s burial, we have Soren’s betrayal, leading to the capture of Sage as bait so that Arkyn can kill the god of death and Von can return the Crown of Thorns?
Questions we have for the next book: obviously we will learn more about the fact that Von has a brother who looks just like him, but also what god does that make him and his sister? Why is his sister living without wings in a brothel and hating Sage? What happened to the Crown of Thorns and why did Von make it in the first place? Will Soren get his redemption arch after his unethical mind control is what forced Sage to “kill” Von? How did Von survive, or was it his brother who was killed? Where did Ezra disappear to and is she a Demi god? What else does a mate bond entail? What killed Sage in her last life, and what caused her to be reborn instead of move to the Spirit Realm? Will Ryker get some closure over Fallon now that we can safely assume she is going to end up with Kaleb?
Also not that the spice was very good. Not too much, lots of longing.
adventurous
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
dark
emotional
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
There is just quite a bit of inconsistency with the world building. Once I got to the part where she finds a library and starts talking about enjoying smut and morally grey men , I just couldn’t get back on track. My mind was too focused on all the other little weird, present day phrases and slang to ignore it anymore. It wouldn’t have been a problem if this was like an urban fantasy or more contemporary, but the author sets it up telling us that her “brother” invented a wheeled mop bucket to help the woman who raised them and then they go on to talk about how some still don’t have modern indoor plumbing and they explained how someone did invent it and how it works but like I said, the random modern things thrown in just took me out of it and I could no longer ignore it.
I might come back to this, I might not. Idk, but if you’re someone who can get past little details like that, the story itself was interesting from what I read.
I might come back to this, I might not. Idk, but if you’re someone who can get past little details like that, the story itself was interesting from what I read.
dark
emotional
hopeful
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
This book was super heavy on the spice. Skipped a decent amount. Cussing sporadically throughout.
The plot was pretty good and the FMC and MMC are great. Cool magical abilities, great plotline. I was a little upset that the MMC was so intensely into Sage from the very beginning, but the reason was revealed later on. Some of the characters genders weren't super obvious or descriptions weren't super obvious but I think there were some gay side characters. Hopefully that doesn't become a main thing in the following books.
The plot was pretty good and the FMC and MMC are great. Cool magical abilities, great plotline. I was a little upset that the MMC was so intensely into Sage from the very beginning, but the reason was revealed later on. Some of the characters genders weren't super obvious or descriptions weren't super obvious but I think there were some gay side characters. Hopefully that doesn't become a main thing in the following books.
adventurous
dark
emotional
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes