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yorweth 's review for:
These Hollow Vows
by Lexi Ryan
adventurous
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
☆ Fun Factor 2/5
☆ Writing Style 4/5 (better than SJM by miles)
☆ Characters 3/5 (cardboard cut outs from Sarah J. Maas's ACOTAR series)
☆ Plot 1/5 (If you read ACOTAR books 1 &2 you've literally read this book)
☆ Setting 2/5
☆ Feels 1/5
☆ Spiciness 1/5 (constantly horny thoughts even though we're in a hostage situation ok)
☆ Gore 1/5
If this were a movie it'd be rated: PG-13
☆FOR FANS OF: A Court of Thorns and Roses, but you want the prose to be actually good? If I hadn't read ACOTAR first I would've vastly preferred this to it
Ultimate verdict: ☆☆/5
☆☆☆Best Character Award goes to:☆☆☆ Sebastian :C
Review: ACOTAR at home
Did you read ACOTAR and hunger for more after you finished it? Worry not! This is literally books 1 & 2 with the serial numbers filed off. We got:
✔️ Edgy tough girl stabby female POV protagonist who's all tough and grizzled and kicks so much @ss despite the fact she probably hasn't eaten or slept in a week or two.
✔️ Entitled siblings/family members who take our poor stabby edge queen for granted
✔️ The blonde prince who's more than he seems (and gets character assassinated for some reason)
✔️ The shadow daddy Love Interest 2 who's just Rhysand again, complete with annoying, irrelevant lackeys I don't care about
✔️ Sequels I have no interest in because the author butchered the characterization of my favorite from the first half
I saw other people complain that this is plagiarizing, but it's literally beat for beat with some very minor details filed off. Sebastian is Tamlin, Finn is Rhysand, and Brie is Feyre. Beat. For. Beat. Almost nothing was done to make them different, they even match the same color palettes. Sebastian "Bash" is the blonde, Finn is black haired, and Brie is red/reddish brown.
Brie is maybe the dumbest female protagonist I have ever read in a genre stereotyped for having vapid idiots as our leading lady. There was a point towards the middle I had to put the book down and try to understand her choices because they are that infuriatingly stupid. Spoiler in case you're interested what that was:in the human world, Brie has literally nothing. No home, she's a fugitive on the run from the law. She was stealing to survive. Sebastian offers her a place in Faerie to stay with him and be safe, fed, and loved. And she doesn't want it. ON WHAT PLANET does a starving person say, "nah thanks I'll pass on security?" ESPECIALLY when she has a little sister to protect who is the entire point of this whole book. She's in Faerie in the first place to rescue her sister. She's just stupid, stupid. Faerie has ice cream, lots of food, and people that care about her. The human world has literally nothing for her but jail or death. I just cannot with a character this stupid!!!!
Finn was so boring (along with his dumb flunkeys) that I wanted to take some Nyquil and go to sleep rather than read any more. I hated Rhysand, he was why I DNF'd the ACOTAR series, so just having his little clone here prancing around doing Rhysand things was enough to make me roll my eyes.
Sebastian, like Tamlin,is a totally different character in the first half of the book (and the rest of their respective series) because I guess the author decides she'd rather write the edgy one as "but he's a really nice guy despite his Shadow Daddy status". I didn't like it in ACOTAR, I don't like it here. I'm FINE with a character changing or secretly being less than great, but at least give me some foreshadowing, some build up. It just comes out of nowhere for the sake of copying SJM's homework I guess?
So basically if you read ACOTAR you've read this. It brings a few neat little things different to the table, like the hair obsessed goblins and is more of a Cinderella tale than Beauty and the Beast. But that's really the only key differences.
I was GOING to read the whole series but I am not going to waste my time. It's a shame because Ryan has better prose than Maas, but she has no original ideas to bring to the table. An utter waste of paper.
☆ Writing Style 4/5 (better than SJM by miles)
☆ Characters 3/5 (cardboard cut outs from Sarah J. Maas's ACOTAR series)
☆ Plot 1/5 (If you read ACOTAR books 1 &2 you've literally read this book)
☆ Setting 2/5
☆ Feels 1/5
☆ Spiciness 1/5 (constantly horny thoughts even though we're in a hostage situation ok)
☆ Gore 1/5
If this were a movie it'd be rated: PG-13
☆FOR FANS OF: A Court of Thorns and Roses, but you want the prose to be actually good? If I hadn't read ACOTAR first I would've vastly preferred this to it
Ultimate verdict: ☆☆/5
☆☆☆Best Character Award goes to:☆☆☆ Sebastian :C
Review: ACOTAR at home
Did you read ACOTAR and hunger for more after you finished it? Worry not! This is literally books 1 & 2 with the serial numbers filed off. We got:
✔️ Edgy tough girl stabby female POV protagonist who's all tough and grizzled and kicks so much @ss despite the fact she probably hasn't eaten or slept in a week or two.
✔️ Entitled siblings/family members who take our poor stabby edge queen for granted
✔️ The blonde prince who's more than he seems (and gets character assassinated for some reason)
✔️ The shadow daddy Love Interest 2 who's just Rhysand again, complete with annoying, irrelevant lackeys I don't care about
✔️ Sequels I have no interest in because the author butchered the characterization of my favorite from the first half
I saw other people complain that this is plagiarizing, but it's literally beat for beat with some very minor details filed off. Sebastian is Tamlin, Finn is Rhysand, and Brie is Feyre. Beat. For. Beat. Almost nothing was done to make them different, they even match the same color palettes. Sebastian "Bash" is the blonde, Finn is black haired, and Brie is red/reddish brown.
Brie is maybe the dumbest female protagonist I have ever read in a genre stereotyped for having vapid idiots as our leading lady. There was a point towards the middle I had to put the book down and try to understand her choices because they are that infuriatingly stupid. Spoiler in case you're interested what that was:
Finn was so boring (along with his dumb flunkeys) that I wanted to take some Nyquil and go to sleep rather than read any more. I hated Rhysand, he was why I DNF'd the ACOTAR series, so just having his little clone here prancing around doing Rhysand things was enough to make me roll my eyes.
Sebastian, like Tamlin,
So basically if you read ACOTAR you've read this. It brings a few neat little things different to the table, like the hair obsessed goblins and is more of a Cinderella tale than Beauty and the Beast. But that's really the only key differences.
I was GOING to read the whole series but I am not going to waste my time. It's a shame because Ryan has better prose than Maas, but she has no original ideas to bring to the table. An utter waste of paper.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Confinement, Misogyny, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Blood, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, War, Classism