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therealredsrecs's reviews
224 reviews
A Tempest of Tea by Hafsah Faizal
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
tense
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? Yes
5.0
Leather & Lark by Brynne Weaver
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
tense
fast-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
House of Flame and Shadow by Sarah J. Maas
4.25
The way I waited nearly 2 years for this book and still wasn't ready to read it when I finally had it in my hands.
I had a very mixed experience with this book. I loved the classic SJM writing style, I loved that we finally got answers, and I loved Ruhn!
But I also went back and forth on how I felt about the constant POV changes, the storylines for Ithan and Tharion, and even how I felt about Bryce. So let's start somewhere.
From really early on this book was giving me Kingdom of Ash vibes. We're building up to this really big battle and all along the way we have our FMC in an altered mental state who is even keeping her plans from us the reader. This is something I loved about Aelin, but having Bryce be the same at times did annoy me. We've already had an FMC like this, why do this again?
Even after Bryce and Hunt are reunited, Bryce doesn't always feel like the same Bryce we had in books 1 and 2, I can excuse this though because a lot of the characters go through a fair amount of trauma and have to deal with that all while trying to literally save the world and honestly my personality would probably have changed as well. That being said, both Ithan and Tharion were making even dumber decisions that Bryce and theirs weren't even for the ultimate goal of saving the world.
They were both acting very selfishly and emotionally and yeah the world might end, but considering the world might end would you rather not expend all your energy into helping Bryce rather than fucking about?
Even the Autumn King seemed like a completely different character at times and I know there's a lot of controversy around him online.
ANYWAY. Ruhn was perfect and I love him.
The world building as ever kept being phenomenal. Seeing more of Midgard, and learning more about the Asteri, everything was perfection for me.
The plot for the most part was really good but there were points where I was just not enjoying it at all and I even took a three-week break because of lack of enjoyment and the amount of anxiety this book was giving me. Not that I expected it to be, but this book is not a light read.
The pace was okay but now and then it would slow down and it felt like I couldn't read quickly enough to get to a point where it was interesting again.
In terms of the romance, there was hardly any which for the context of this book was fine, but when it was there it was mid. The only time I enjoyed any romantic moments it was when it involved Ruhn (obviously I have a thing for him).
The spice was also very sub-par excluding one scene between Bryce and Hunt but it was so short-lived. I will never understand how they could be separated, then reunited then not want to bang each other's brains out immediately. JUST SAYING.
Overall I loved enough of this book for it to get a pretty high rating but I would've loved for a lot of it to go differently. The plot overall wasn't bad but the way the characters lived through it annoyed me and gave me anxiety.
I had a very mixed experience with this book. I loved the classic SJM writing style, I loved that we finally got answers, and I loved Ruhn!
But I also went back and forth on how I felt about the constant POV changes, the storylines for Ithan and Tharion, and even how I felt about Bryce. So let's start somewhere.
From really early on this book was giving me Kingdom of Ash vibes. We're building up to this really big battle and all along the way we have our FMC in an altered mental state who is even keeping her plans from us the reader. This is something I loved about Aelin, but having Bryce be the same at times did annoy me. We've already had an FMC like this, why do this again?
Even after Bryce and Hunt are reunited, Bryce doesn't always feel like the same Bryce we had in books 1 and 2, I can excuse this though because a lot of the characters go through a fair amount of trauma and have to deal with that all while trying to literally save the world and honestly my personality would probably have changed as well. That being said, both Ithan and Tharion were making even dumber decisions that Bryce and theirs weren't even for the ultimate goal of saving the world.
They were both acting very selfishly and emotionally and yeah the world might end, but considering the world might end would you rather not expend all your energy into helping Bryce rather than fucking about?
Even the Autumn King seemed like a completely different character at times and I know there's a lot of controversy around him online.
ANYWAY. Ruhn was perfect and I love him.
The world building as ever kept being phenomenal. Seeing more of Midgard, and learning more about the Asteri, everything was perfection for me.
The plot for the most part was really good but there were points where I was just not enjoying it at all and I even took a three-week break because of lack of enjoyment and the amount of anxiety this book was giving me. Not that I expected it to be, but this book is not a light read.
The pace was okay but now and then it would slow down and it felt like I couldn't read quickly enough to get to a point where it was interesting again.
In terms of the romance, there was hardly any which for the context of this book was fine, but when it was there it was mid. The only time I enjoyed any romantic moments it was when it involved Ruhn (obviously I have a thing for him).
The spice was also very sub-par excluding one scene between Bryce and Hunt but it was so short-lived. I will never understand how they could be separated, then reunited then not want to bang each other's brains out immediately. JUST SAYING.
Overall I loved enough of this book for it to get a pretty high rating but I would've loved for a lot of it to go differently. The plot overall wasn't bad but the way the characters lived through it annoyed me and gave me anxiety.