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adventurous
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:
Yes
I finally finished a book for the first time in months. REJOICE.
I'm going to be totally honest, though... I think my hopes for this were far too high :(
firstly, I'm ashamed to admit that I had no idea that this was connected to an ember in the ashes (which I haven't read yet) until I was 82% of the way through the book. I'd heard they were set in the same universe, but I didn't realise that (from what I've gathered) it's essentially a spin-off of that quartet. that's entirely my fault. I'm usually much more careful than that. I'm embarrassed.
now that that's out of the way, this was just... deeply okay? I started this expecting to love it, and while there were parts of it that were engaging and suspenseful, it was overall very underwhelming. it felt more like a setup for the rest of the series - and, listen, I ordinarily wouldn't have minded, and I am curious to see how the rest of this series unfolds, but I wasn't immersed enough in the story to really care about much that was going on or what it was setting up. a lot of the "twists" were very predictable to me, and while that usually isn't a deal-breaker for me and that I can still enjoy a story even if I'm able to discern the direction it's going in, there wasn't much else that was engaging enough to keep me invested. I think that's why it took me so long to get through this. I just wasn't interested enough to keep coming back to it.
that's not to say that it's a bad book or that it had no redeeming qualities, but I expected more from it.
I'm going to be totally honest, though... I think my hopes for this were far too high :(
firstly, I'm ashamed to admit that I had no idea that this was connected to an ember in the ashes (which I haven't read yet) until I was 82% of the way through the book. I'd heard they were set in the same universe, but I didn't realise that (from what I've gathered) it's essentially a spin-off of that quartet. that's entirely my fault. I'm usually much more careful than that. I'm embarrassed.
now that that's out of the way, this was just... deeply okay? I started this expecting to love it, and while there were parts of it that were engaging and suspenseful, it was overall very underwhelming. it felt more like a setup for the rest of the series - and, listen, I ordinarily wouldn't have minded, and I am curious to see how the rest of this series unfolds, but I wasn't immersed enough in the story to really care about much that was going on or what it was setting up. a lot of the "twists" were very predictable to me, and while that usually isn't a deal-breaker for me and that I can still enjoy a story even if I'm able to discern the direction it's going in, there wasn't much else that was engaging enough to keep me invested. I think that's why it took me so long to get through this. I just wasn't interested enough to keep coming back to it.
that's not to say that it's a bad book or that it had no redeeming qualities, but I expected more from it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Genocide, Gore, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Gaslighting, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Confinement, Sexual content, Religious bigotry
Minor: Vomit, Death of parent