A review by floofymoosereads
Between Life and Death by Jaclyn Kot

dark emotional 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

5.0

Between Life and Death by Jaclyn Kot is the first book in the Between Life and Death series. This is a dark romantic fantasy about a Cursed woman, Sage, in a world where the Cursed must be Cleansed if they are discovered. Her brother is taken and she embarks on a quest to save him with Cursed rebels and the mysterious Von. Tropes include touch her and die vibes, found family, shadow daddy, angst, fated mates, gods & goddesses, and who did this to you. Please check the content warnings before reading as there are some dark topics/themes in this book. 

The Lovely: By far, these characters, main and otherwise, were my favorite part of this book. Sage is wonderfully complex (and funny) while Von is morally dark dark gray. Their relationship is full of questions and trying to resist temptation, and morphs over the course of the book. Ezra cracks me up - how has she not managed to poison anyone yet? Even the villain is ambiguous and it’s tough to decide if he really is that bad, or not. Just be careful who you get attached to because the last 100 or so pages will rip your heart out - more than once. 

Also Lovely: I also loved the plot and the tension. You never really know what is coming next or how the characters are going to reach their goals (or what their goals really even are). To be fair, the reader spends a lot of the book trying to piece together what is going on and how the things learned fit together. It’s surprisingly complex and I already want ot go back and re-read the book to understand more of what happened. 

The Mundane: I would have liked to have seen a bit more world building in terms of the magic system. While we kind of understand the “Cursed”, the lore, the Gods, etc. isn’t really fully explained (to maintain the mystery). But, we don’t really understand the rules around the magic (system), which be confusing. 

Rating: 5/5 Stars 2/5 Flames 

Recommendation: I entirely selected this book because it was dark and promised a shadow daddy. Then I was gifted a copy of the book (thanks Melissa) so it jumped up my TBR. And I am in LOVE with this book. I’m normally more into fae fantasies than Gods and curses, but this book was so beautifully written it hit all the right spots. And it made me FEEL - I cried, I laughed, I wanted to strangle a few people and I was worried. I’m glad it’s “only” a three month wait until book 2 releases in late February 2024, but even that might be too long If you like romantasy books with a darker undertone but heavy on the characters and their relationships, you would like this.