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chocolatechump's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: War and Violence
sofiadanielle's review
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.0
A little on the fence for the 4 star rating, but 3.75 felt too harsh. I’d say this book sits somewhere below 4 for me, but nothing too severe.
Okay! With that out of the way! As other reviews have said, I don’t know that this story was the most original plot line ever (though maybe it’s just me having read a lot of Fantasy novels recently.) This book doesn’t reimagine a storyline you’ve never heard before. However, I think Pearson writes in such a way that it’s so easy to continue to read, which was an incredible feeling for me personally. You could easily sit through 50 pages of this book, feeling like only 5 minutes passed. I think this point about her writing really drove my rating being closer to a 4 star than anything.
The romance was a bit rushed, and the pacing is hard for me to get a grip on, but the story is honestly fine. I still enjoyed it enough, and do look forward to reading the second book. I will say, though, I don’t feel so driven to read the Remnat Trilogy before this series, though. Will see if that changes at all after the second book.
Okay! With that out of the way! As other reviews have said, I don’t know that this story was the most original plot line ever (though maybe it’s just me having read a lot of Fantasy novels recently.) This book doesn’t reimagine a storyline you’ve never heard before. However, I think Pearson writes in such a way that it’s so easy to continue to read, which was an incredible feeling for me personally. You could easily sit through 50 pages of this book, feeling like only 5 minutes passed. I think this point about her writing really drove my rating being closer to a 4 star than anything.
The romance was a bit rushed, and the pacing is hard for me to get a grip on, but the story is honestly fine. I still enjoyed it enough, and do look forward to reading the second book. I will say, though, I don’t feel so driven to read the Remnat Trilogy before this series, though. Will see if that changes at all after the second book.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Blood, Violence, and Trafficking
Minor: War
bluebell4's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
It was so good 😭❤️
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death
Moderate: War, Cursing, Grief, and Murder
Minor: Torture, Slavery, and Trafficking
jg34's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.75
I was pulled into this one from the start! I am a sucker for a good romance and I loved Kazi and Jase. Love a male main character who gets proved wrong by a woman over and over but takes it like a man and doesn’t let pride get in the way. I felt like at the end Jase could see why Kazi did what she did and was understanding and even grateful despite how angry he may have been at first. That type of maturity may only exist in books but I knew this was a fantasy going in and I LOVED. I also liked the female friendships in this book!
I will say I’m coming at this just focusing on the story, I really don’t pay close attention to how well the world building and lore and all that is so I can’t be critical about that. I was confused about certain details sometimes but likely my fault. Some plot lines were left open but there is a sequel so I will be reading that asap!!
Not spicy if that’s what you’re looking for (but u shouldn’t be bc this is young adult)
I will say I’m coming at this just focusing on the story, I really don’t pay close attention to how well the world building and lore and all that is so I can’t be critical about that. I was confused about certain details sometimes but likely my fault. Some plot lines were left open but there is a sequel so I will be reading that asap!!
Not spicy if that’s what you’re looking for (but u shouldn’t be bc this is young adult)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, and Death
Minor: War
readsswithines's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
I'm not going to read nor listen to bad reviews about this book, I'm going on a highway of good books and nothing it's going to k*ll my vibe
Content Warnings
Moderate: Violence, Death, Trafficking, and War
Minor: Blood
victoria_elaine's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
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? N/A
4.25
Loved this book! It was a perfect mix of romance and fantasy world building/politics kind of vibe. It starts out a little slow, but just give it a couple of chapters and you’ll be hooked! Love Jase and Kazi ❤️❤️ cute lil enemies to lovers moment but it’s predictable so I’m not spoiling dw. ALSO THE END???? (There’s a sequel btw)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Terminal illness, Grief, Death, Violence, and Blood
Moderate: War and Death of parent
Minor: Abandonment and Trafficking
mrsalexisrjones's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
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? Yes
4.75
This book is a dystopian possibly fantasy novel that links together the rich and the poor, the friends and foes, the enemies and lovers. It’s a dance amongst thieves.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death of parent, Grief, Miscarriage, Trafficking, War, Gore, Torture, Violence, Murder, Blood, and Death
moanareads's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
hopeful
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Kidnapping, Murder, Sexual content, and Slavery
Moderate: Death, War, Child death, Cursing, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, and Violence
pageafter_paige's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I haven’t read any fantasy in a hot minute but I think this was a good one to read to get me back into it! I like how after the first 20 pages or so I was able to fully comprehend the fantasy world without much effort. I also love a dual POV and an enemies to lovers trope (also lowkey has the forbidden lovers thing)!
It was definitely a slow burn romance wise. I think the book had a pretty good pace, maybe a little slow at some parts but not too bad.
Honestly the thing that annoyed me the most was how the FMM being constantly described as an untouchable warrior but like we see she makes mistakes that seem a little obvious… maybe she blinded by love though so who am I to judge.
Overall I liked Jase’s character a lot and hearing the history of his family was VERY interesting I almost wish there was a book on that! Kazi was also likable and gave me Inej vibes form Six of Crows (except Inej is actually untouchable lmao). I’ll be interested to see what happens with them in the second book.
It was definitely a slow burn romance wise. I think the book had a pretty good pace, maybe a little slow at some parts but not too bad.
Honestly the thing that annoyed me the most was how the FMM being constantly described as an untouchable warrior but like we see she makes mistakes that seem a little obvious… maybe she blinded by love though so who am I to judge.
Overall I liked Jase’s character a lot and hearing the history of his family was VERY interesting I almost wish there was a book on that! Kazi was also likable and gave me Inej vibes form Six of Crows (except Inej is actually untouchable lmao). I’ll be interested to see what happens with them in the second book.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Stalking, War, Alcohol, Bullying, Child abuse, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Pedophilia, Sexual content, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Excrement, Trafficking, Abandonment, Classism, Gaslighting, Toxic relationship, Blood, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Violence
oonnika_1's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder
Moderate: War