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thesubplot's Reviews (496)
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
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
A solid 4 stars from me. I’m very eagerly waiting for the next book.
The first line in the book hooked me. The magic system was confusing at first and would have liked more detail in this book explaining it. However, I went to the author’s website and was able to see more explanation. Which made the rest of the read easier to understand. I could see how for some people not doing this, it would seem a bit muddled. For me as an avid reader of this genre if more of the world building and magical system were explained in the first book, this would have easily rated higher for me.
The unique flow of the writing held the rating for me. While parts of the concept of the plot have been seen before, the writer was able to captivate me enough to want to continue the story. While for some the repetitive use of the tapping of the knives could be seen as an overused word filler, I liked to view it as a grounding TIC that really opened up more of the character’s personal self, outside of the revenge plot.
Can’t wait to see where the next book takes the characters!
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I’m giving a generous 2 stars to this book. Mostly in hopes that the following books live up to my Criminal Minds bar. Please, don’t advertise books coded as Criminal Minds characters, and then NOT deliver.
My brain was scrambled more than those eggs Kiera was shaking in that Ziplock bag, trying to comprehend if Hotch was even in the damn room with us at all during this book. If I had a dollar for the amount of times I shouted out loud “HOTCH WOULD NEVER!”, I’d be able to buy myself the complete series on DVD. I saw more Reid coded character development in this book than the supposed MMC (which let’s face it, I’m just trying to pull through for the 4th book.)
About halfway through the book, I just had to pretend this had jack all to do with anything CM and look at it from that perspective, otherwise I would have had to DNF the book on principal alone. This book had the bones to be a potentially great one, if we edited about 50% of it.
In theory an age gap, protective MMC, dealing with the mafia sounds great on paper. However, you had to make the FMC the most insufferable stubborn dumbass. You mean to tell me, you’ve lived YEARS in WITSEC, and you didn’t develop one iota of self-preservation? Then when things get dicey, SURELY it has absolutely nothing to do with you? Or the fact that you’re a tattoo artist and tattoo works of art on people, but can’t identify your dad’s paintings? Can you feel my eyes rolling into the back of my head from here?
The MMC (if I completely ignore who he is advertised as), is so run of the mill. I’m protective because of past duty, wahhh but my dick is so hard. I bet if I went back and counted the number of times this MF talked about how hard he was, we’d have at least 20% of the book. I also never want to hear any part of someone referred to a rudder again in my life.
Don’t get me wrong, there were a few moments, that I was like “Wow, I really enjoyed that well written paragraph.” Then it was ruined by the use of the word womb where I instantly just face palmed.
There needed to be so much more fleshing out of the characters to make this more enjoyable as a non-coded book, even. If you’re looking for Hotch anywhere in this book, don’t. Just go read some fanfiction.
I’m going to continue the series in hopes of some sort of redemption.
adventurous
challenging
funny
inspiring
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
So, I said this would be the year I started to write reviews. Well, buckle up buttercup because this is quite the doozy to start this goal. In advance - you're welcome for my unhinged reviews. If you're wanting a literal synapsis of the book; this isn't the place for you. Sorry not sorry. You get ADHD fueled reviews based off vibes. I will however give you this favor of TL;DR:
4.25 Stars (Oh yeah, it’s also the year I’m going to be a more critical rater). Will continue the series, and I’m excited to find out what happens next.
Now, onto some spoilers most likely…
FIRST OFF, I went into this book almost completely blind. Now, some people might ask, "Cara, how were you able to do this?" Sheer willpower, that's how! All I knew coming into reading this book was Dragons. Which was enough to pique my interest. However, not enough to get me to read it immediately. Sure, Dragons are awesome, but so are a ton of other things. All last year, all my book friends told me "You have to read this! It's so amazing!" I said, sure sure... I'll save it to January to binge before the next book comes out.
UM, if you guys really wanted me to read this asap, all you had to do was tell me there was CHRONIC ILLNESS rep, and I would have been on this book at a moment’s notice. You didn't, and now here I am behind on times sprinting to catch up with everyone else. Thanks a lot.
Okay, with that said. I went into this book blind and almost reluctantly, because it was the "book series I'm putting off" side eyes everyone. However, right away the chronic illness rep got me. You know what else? The damn mommy issues. Shit, dead father and mommy issues, I knew there was potential for some delicious self-loathing drama subplot there, and it didn’t disappoint. Almost to a detrimental point.
Then we get to add in messed up family dynamics (dead father, cold hearted mother, successful older siblings one of which who is deadzo as well), and we have the perfect recipe for what could be a therapist’s wet dream. This was all garnered within the first part of the book!
At first, main FMC Violet is like "Welp, guess I'm off to die because Mommy said so." and I was like whhhaaa? Then I remembered the family dynamics, and was like "Well, I guess that makes sense." If I were her daughter, I would probably be ready to just jump off the parapet myself, not going to lie. (Once again, just my feeling from the start, but woof did the remainder of this book back this up.)
So, I'm immediately vibing with Violet, right? Her sister is all "Whatever you do, stay away from this dude." I'm like what dude? Oh, you mean broody Xaden? The son of the family's late enemy? If there's one thing that would get me to NOT stay away from someone, is someone telling me TO stay away from them... and if ya girl didn't do exactly that. Sure, she beat around the bush a bit (which added delicious sexual tension), but let's face it, it was basically written out from the start that it was going to happen.
Let's pause that line of thought (because I'm sure there will be more later) and talk about Dain. I don't think I have EVER hated a character so much before. That's saying a lot, because usually I will find something to like about them. I don't care if this MF'er has some sort of immaculate redemption arc within the next few books, he will still be on my shit list from now until the end of time.
At first, you’re given this lovely gooey backstory of how they are childhood best friends, and how much he can be trusted. Perfect Dain will take care of poor Violet. Thankfully, she grows a backbone at some point in time (which, surely being away from Mommy dearest and sibling’s shadows helped) and realizes he’s just trying to control her. Like, duh girl.
Yet, she gives him chance after chance, and he continues to fail. So, I’m not going to be mad if something tragically happens to him. Even if he saves everyone in the world. This man demeaned her throughout the entire book weaponizing her chronic illness to make her feel less than, for what? His fragile piece of mind? More like this fragile male ego that Violet is one BAMF, and his brown nose feels inadequate AF.
You have a great cast of supporting characters that I hope to see more of (can we not kill off a favorite again, and stick to the jerk offs that didn’t make the cut?) At this point, I’m almost scared to say who I really like, because these students are getting offed quicker than a marathon of survivor. RIP Liam, your loyalty and little Dragon wood carvings will live on forever in my heart.
Let’s get down to the meat and bones. The Dragons. Okay, they’re completely bad ass. Have I read other Dragon books? Yes. Do I enjoy a Dragon with a stoic deadpan sense of humor? Absolutely. I think Violet’s Dragons were a perfect balance for what she needed. I loved how even though Violets physical limitations kept her from being able to be just like everyone else, her Dragons didn’t discriminate against her and actually accommodated her and praised her other strengths (You taking notes there, Dain?)
You know who was taking notes? Xaden. No wait, I don’t think this man even had to take notes. Sure, he was stuck in his own tragic backstory, but that didn’t stop him from not believing in Violet. Was their undeniable chemistry a great motivator? Maaaaybe, but considering I had to wait like half the book for any sort of spice, he for sure won best love interest from me. Am I biased because I’d like a shadow daddy to “help” break windows an all my furniture? Most likely.
Let me try to explain a little bit of my pros/cons of this book to flesh out my final rating:
Pros:
- Chronically ill FMC rep
- Great family dynamic subplot (found family and juicy dysfunctional driving family.)
- Dragons with a sense of humor.
- Cool ass powers channeled through dragons?
- FMC who can adapt (hello, poison? Okay badass!)
- Great storyline flow (I am grateful that unlike this review that never ends, I didn’t have to go by literal day by day of a year of training drug out.)
- The nonchalance of students fuckin’ and dyin’ left and right.
- The mind communication between Xaden, Violet, and the Dragons. Especially when they’re trying to fluster one another, and then getting teased by the Dragons about it.
Cons:
- Shitty “best” friend. Sure, it added to the drama of the story, but at this point I wish bro would get struck by lightning.
- Another book hinting (and I’m sure telling us later point blank) how corrupt ruling parties are. (I mean, we face this enough in real life. Can we find a new villain?)
- Not once did I believe this to be a true enemy to lovers’ trope. Sure, they kept threatening to kill one another, but that was all just foreplay.
- Speaking of Xaden, bro really needs to work at his communication skills better.
- This book really did try to hit every single trope imaginable. Like damn, leave some more for the next few books.
- The absolute monster of a cliffhanger ending. How is bro just going to show up, like “Whaddup sis!”
So, I guess, even though I’m annoyed at myself and throwing the blame at everyone else for not really going into depth about why I should have read this book ASAP, I’m honestly tickled pink at the fact that I don’t have to wait forever to read the next book. Suckers.
