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lanagio 's review for:
Blood & Steel
by Helen Scheuerer
adventurous
dark
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This was a solid read! I personally don't agree with the folks who feel that the characters & dialogue were YA/teenager-ish. That's not to say I didn't experience frustration or disappointment over the characters' choices, behaviors and/or things they said. I experienced this particularly with Thea, who, to me, does come off as quite self-absorbed for a good portion of the book and rather judgemental of anyone who values different crafts than the one that is her passion. Which I do not love.
However, having a couple different characters call her out on her bullshit throughout the book helped me tolerate it. It made me feel as though she was intentionally written that way, giving her room to grow.
Not for nothing, she's only 24. I was mostly a total idiot at 24, nearly just as much as at 18. That's just me though.
The romance btwn Wilder & Thea is whatever. The fact that they reference "this thing between us" out loud, more than once is pretty cringe. While Thea does piss me off sometimes in this book, she is also a badass woman fighting the patriarchy in any way she can to become what she knows she is meant to be. While Wilder's whole personality is like, hey I am hot & gruff & super good at warrior-ing. Not much else has shown up thus far.So, like, good for you for nailing the super hot war hero Thea but I'm hoping book 2 will give him some wittiness or silliness or creativity or SOMETHING to make this pairing make a bit more sense.
All that being said, I really enjoyed myself reading this. There is a good mix of action & calm, I don't think I felt bored at all. I like this world. I like the way Scheuerer created this situation of women's rights being suppressed and then goes on to have several strong, smart, capable women in different capacities (or multiiple capacities!) to be like, yeah that shit's so dumb.
Also, Kipp is pretty top tier, IMHO.
I think it's worth a read y'all.
However, having a couple different characters call her out on her bullshit throughout the book helped me tolerate it. It made me feel as though she was intentionally written that way, giving her room to grow.
Not for nothing, she's only 24. I was mostly a total idiot at 24, nearly just as much as at 18. That's just me though.
The romance btwn Wilder & Thea is whatever. The fact that they reference "this thing between us" out loud, more than once is pretty cringe. While Thea does piss me off sometimes in this book, she is also a badass woman fighting the patriarchy in any way she can to become what she knows she is meant to be. While Wilder's whole personality is like, hey I am hot & gruff & super good at warrior-ing. Not much else has shown up thus far.
All that being said, I really enjoyed myself reading this. There is a good mix of action & calm, I don't think I felt bored at all. I like this world. I like the way Scheuerer created this situation of women's rights being suppressed and then goes on to have several strong, smart, capable women in different capacities (or multiiple capacities!) to be like, yeah that shit's so dumb.
Also, Kipp is pretty top tier, IMHO.
I think it's worth a read y'all.