“Love is an amazing thing. It can move armies. It can destroy people. It can cause even the mightiest of us to fall to our
Final Rating: 3.75/5
“Love is an amazing thing. It can move armies. It can destroy people. It can cause even the mightiest of us to fall to our knees in supplication. It’s terrifying and wonderful, and if you let it, it can be the greatest thing in the world.”
I am in dilemma. I loved it, but it also felt dragging in some part and there were too many sex jokes for my liking. But the humor is indeed very priceless so if you wanna laugh your ass off, read this and suffer from very witty jokes and situations.
But then it hits you with feelings and you will probably want to lie down and cry.
►►► STORY & CHARACTERS:
This is a high fantasy with a very specific trope. Sam of the Wilds is in love with knight commander Ryan Foxheart and everyone knows that they are crushing on each other, except themselves.
Enter prince Justin, who is engaged to Ryan and Sam is supposed to be his future wizard, so it makes things very awkward, especially when a dragon kidnaps the said prince after the prince tries to teach Sam a lesson that Ryan is his. It does not go well, of course.
Enter Gary, the gay unicorn, Tiggy, the half giant that wants to smash (the two being Sam's only friends) and Ryan who is there among them in order to get Justin back from the dragon whose name is the same as #2 from the foxhole court, yep.
It was funny, it was witty, it was angsty behind all of these situations and sometimes it made me hurt.
But. It is not a masterpiece and i feel like if you didn't read any other Klune's book (for example: Wolfsong and please read it i beg of you), then you might not appreciate the gold that hides beneath.
►►► OVERALL:
I loved it this much, yes. So why 3.75 stars? Because sometimes it was too much and sometimes it had trouble holding my attention. But it was damn good. Will finish the series though, because i have high expectations of the other books.
I had a lightning-struck heart and my gods did it beat.
►►► OTHER IMPORTANT INFO:
⚠ TYPE OF SERIES: series ⚠ Point of View: first POV, 1 narrator ⚠ Cliffhanger: no ⚠ Triggers: i have no idea where to even start but i'm guessing everything except cruel blooded torture is included.... ⚠ Love triangle: yes, somewhat ⚠ Angst: oh boy ⚠ Supernatural: fantasy: mages, dragons, idiots ⚠ Explicit content: yes...more
And then... then it got so dragging to me that I couldn't finish it for months!
Which is hFinal Rating:3.5/5
Up until 60% this was pure 5 stars from me.
And then... then it got so dragging to me that I couldn't finish it for months!
Which is honestly, very very sad, considering I love Rick's books, but come on at some point I just wanted to end this and I had to force myself to continue.
I love Alex, Sam and Hearthstone to bits, to be honest - they are wonderful and fantastic characters AND I WOULD READ MORE JUST FOR THEM. Then, the realization hit me: there is actually more. Oh no.
►►► OVERALL:
I wish, I wish i wasn't bored as much as I was, because honestly, this is good series, but also honestly? I really, reaaaaaaaaaaaaally disliked Magnus in last 2 books - for some reason, i realized that I didn't want to be "inside his head" at some point....more
“What’s next?” I ask doubtfully. “Fairies?” “Well”—he turns and leans his hip on the bulwark so he can face me—“they have bee
Final rating: 2/5 stars
“What’s next?” I ask doubtfully. “Fairies?” “Well”—he turns and leans his hip on the bulwark so he can face me—“they have been a large part of the mess you’re finding yourself in.”
This was a huge letdown and disappointment. I almost DNF-ed it at 40% but because I hate doing that, I survived till the end. In short: this story is quite predictable, dragging, has annoying main character and lots of undeveloped characters (1 dimensional, 2 dimensional, whatever).
Also, don't worry, there is no love triangle here.
But that's not even the worst. This book is so damn predictable. I knew how it would end. I guessed everything. Everything. The only pleasant surprises in this book is (view spoiler)[Rowan. (hide spoiler)]. This book also tries to play tricks on you to guess who is real villain and who is not - and to be honest, it was a nice try, but it was obvious here who the real hero is. Our stupid heroine doesn't get that until she starts regretting her life choices.
And the worst of all is that i felt nothing of sadness, happiness, delight, nothing of what I want and need to feel. The only thing I did feel was anger, annoyance, please kill me now feeling, i want to enter the book and actually slap the MC feeling.
I was also bothered by the writing. Especially the use of "mysterious boy story" at the beginning of each chapter. Because it was too mysterious, it threw me of the board because those parts were so short between much longer chapters, and it was hard to follow - until the reason for it was revealed, but even then... ugh... metaphors. It would have been better if the book was split in... for example, 3 parts, then had 2-3 pages of the "boy story" because it would have been easier to follow. I have read books that have the same thing used as this book at the beginning of each chapter, but here, it was just not executed properly. Because of all of this, I had hard time appreciating the bread crumbs at the beginning of the each chapter. And when the revelation was finally here, of the meaning of those chapter, I did not feel anything.
Also, while we are at writing, is it just me or is this sentence absolutely ridiculous?
He gives me a dark and dangerous smile that has something equally dark and dangerous curling in my belly.
Also, for the real villain of the story, he felt (view spoiler)[quite 2 dimensional. I appreciate amazing villains, but this one was plain bad and not developed enough (hide spoiler)]. Of course, it's easy to understand who the real villain is. You have Captain Hook and Peter Pan. Neither of them are innocent, and both of them killed for their own purposes. But, through the first half of the book, I noticed little hints our darling Gwen didn't and of course she didn't think it through and she just kept and kept throwing away the help back to their face.
There are some minor plot holes and not really understandable parts. Basically, (view spoiler)[ I thought we would find out what happened to her father, and what I got? He disappeared and no one heard from him. Thank you. And, what in the end was Pan? From what I've got, he was another boy dragged into this realm who got obsessed with power and took Peter Pan name because one of the other boys told him he reminds him of the character in the story? Really? Okay, that was not so bad... but really? Also, the queen? What was the point of her anyway. At least Fiona had a point. (hide spoiler)]
► STORY:
Since I have no patience for this, the fitting story synopsis can be found on the book page itself.
► CHARACTERS:
Gwen is quite annoying, irritating, selfish and reckless protagonist, who makes more mistakes because author thought it would have given us more insight to the both sides of the story. What did I get? Nothing in return. Halfway through the book I knew who was telling the truth and who was deceiving.
Peter Pan, like synopsis says, says all the right things one would believe when distressed. Then there is captain Hook, who is completely honest - even when he kills someone else. Neither of them are innocent in this whole story, and the point was to choose the lesser evil of the two. Of course, our captain Hook doesn't tell everything to Gwen, which only makes her even more controllable by the other party.
Did I mention Gwen is naive? She would also rather judge a person based on his actions and not even thinking to wonder what the other one is offering her and whether he could be trusted. Also, Gwen is contradictory to herself through most of the book. She acts like one person at one moment, then in the other moment, she is completely different, and the next one she is someone else. Her character was not consistent. While we are at it, Gwen is quite ungrateful. (view spoiler)[ Hook risked everything, his best friends, his family, his brother, for Gwen and she didn't say thank you or sorry - not even once! (hide spoiler)] Ugh. Instead our characters feel inclined to apologize to her!
Also, did i mention this book was insta love? Because it is. Let's look at this this way: (don't worry, the following scenes are from the beginning of the book):
It’s not I who will kill you, lass,” he says softly. “Neverland will do that well enough on its own.” He steps back abruptly then and turns to face the sea. I’m surprisingly aware of the loss. His attention was like a flame, warming me, even as it threatened to burn. His dismissal makes the night feel that much colder, that much more dangerously empty.
Pan’s body is my only warmth against the chilly air, his arms the only thing between me and falling to my death. But his darkened expression is so sure, so determined, I can almost make myself loosen the tight grip I have on his neck. His face is masked with shadows, but a smile plays about his lips as we fly. I can’t tell if it’s from the satisfaction of besting the Captain or from the pleasure of the flight itself, but it seems like a secret smile. I don’t think it’s meant for me. Still, the longer we fly, the more I find myself drawn to him. The more I find myself wanting him to look at me. Maybe it’s because he smells like the night, wild and free as the wind whipping through my hair, but it takes all my focus not to let myself lean into him. His is a cold scent, distant and empty as a winter day, but that doesn’t make it any less enticing. I want to breathe him in, and it’s only when he chuckles darkly that I realize I’m doing just that. Then, before my cheeks can even flush warm with embarrassment, before I can even register how strange it is that I would be so taken by him, we’re falling.
“I’ll not let him have you, Gwendolyn,” he says with a determination that has my cheeks flushing hot. “I never let him take what’s mine.” For a moment, I don’t pull away. I feel as though all I can see is the clear blue of his eyes. For a moment, I feel that same tug toward him, that overwhelming urge to just agree with whatever he demands of me, to give him anything he wants. But then he glances up, breaking our gaze. Without the steady intensity of his attention, I feel almost lost. The intensity of that feeling is enough to bring me back to myself—to make me realize how quickly, how easily I fell under his thrall again. And enough to scare me.
Good for you. At least she understood that she is not safe. But once again, she disregards what she felt here - the fear - and she continues (view spoiler)[obeying him (hide spoiler)].
“Owen!” I scream, trying to warn him. The boy’s eyes look up to find who called his name, but it’s a mistake to take his attention off the fight even for a second. Pan’s already in the air, already over and behind him, and the same moment Owen’s eyes meet mine, Pan drives his dagger deep into the boy’s back. “No!” I scream as Pan’s blade finds its new sheath. Owen’s eyes go wide, his face contorted in a kind of shocked agony. “No,” I whimper. But my protests are worthless. Owen—the boy who was so easily flustered by a kind word—has already crumpled to the ground, his blood a terrible flower blooming across his back. Pan glances up at me, his eyes bright with the rage and the delight of battle, and he smiles before he gives me a jaunty salute and plunges into the battle once again. “No,” I moan, unable to take my eyes from Owen’s still body. Because I know his death was partially my fault. Maybe even entirely my fault.
What the hell did she expect when she called his name? (view spoiler)[ She just got him killed. (hide spoiler)] Did she even heard that distractions can be dangerous? Really? is he just that stupid or what?
“You think I brought you here?” The Captain doesn’t give me time to respond. He’s already answering, his voice growing louder with each point he makes. “You’re not exactly what I look for in my crew,” he says, narrowing his eyes at me. “You’re pretty enough, to be sure, but not exactly handy in battle, aye? Every time I turn around, you’re needing rescuing, and here I am again, risking myself and mine to save your ungrateful behind only to have you throw this accusation at my feet.”
And I need time away from Pan. One thing became painfully clear the moment Pan admitted Fiona was working for him—he does have a way to get us back. Fiona was in London, and if she’s on Pan’s side and not the Captain’s, she could take us back there. If he wanted her to. So why doesn’t he want her to?
Where I start wondering if she is completely brainless.
And to finish the blow to my brain: She spends half of the book hating (view spoiler)[Rowan, aka Hook (hide spoiler)], then one scene of not hating him, then does the same thing over and over again and in the meantime she thinks of how attractive he is? Here are some quotes:
And in that instant, I believe him. My fears fade away, and all my doubts are suspended, because I want. And what I want is nothing more than to feel his body against mine. So I can know what it would be like to put to rest, once and for all, the simmering tension that always seems to boil over between us.
As for Gwen's mother - her actions were quite contradictory. If she was running away from the Fey - which she was, of course - she should have told it to Gwen. This all seems good, that she hides the truth in order that Gwen has "normal life", but the consequence of that behaviour was that Gwen thought her mother was crazy. If she wanted Gwen to have a "normal life", then she shouldn't have shown her paranoid behavior in front of everyone, everyday, every time. Or, she should have told her and they would be able to hide better because they would have known of what to hide from.
As for Olivia, at first we get to see a rich girl who cares for her best friend and is a bit estranged from her parents. That's it. That is all there is to be known about Olivia. Because of the synopsis I thought Olivia would have a huge part in this story too. I was so wrong. I am disappointed, really. Mostly because of this. I thought it would be different with two female characters struggling and fighting through this world, but what did I get? I got a 2 dimensional Olivia, who ended up being a (view spoiler)[mindless drone for the use of Pan, without memories, clinging to him, practically being his toy (hide spoiler)]. So yeah, a huge disappointment really.
Out of all the "lost boys" only Will was somewhat characterized. But even so, not so much. As for others, pretty empty characters.
Also, don't worry, there is Tinker Bell too.
And now, for the Hook: he was the only one who was well characterized. The only one. Not even Gwen had that kind of development that he had and he was the only reason I stuck with this book. He was my favorite in this book.
Also, I am not the only one who imagined Hook as Killian Jones because.... mmmmm....
[image]
I have something for well done antagonists, because they are also characters who have their ambitions, goals, and they are doing whatever they need to do in order to accomplish their goals. And did i get one? One yes - the other one: disappointment.
► OVERALL:
This book was apparently supposed to be dark and scary take on Peter Pan story. What did I get in return? Nothing of the sort. Would I recommend it? Sorry, but no. I just don't have enough space to tell everything I felt reading this book. This book is definitely for one time read only.
If you want a really scary, fantastic and very dark look on Peter Pan, read The Child Thief, because it's so much better.
In one of my reviews I have said this. You can't love a book in first person Point of View if you dislike the character that is narrating it. If the story is fantastic, then you can love the book for the story itself, but not for the character. But when you dislike the character AND think the story is just plain OK, you get something like this book.
OTHER IMPORTANT INFO: ⚠ Standalone: Yes ⚠ Point of View: First POV, 1 character. ⚠ Triggers: mind games, (view spoiler)[death of children, self harm, harm of one's child (hide spoiler)]. ⚠ Love triangle: No ⚠ Angst: Is it angst if I don't feel anything? In other words, yes, there was angst, but not well executed. A shame, really. ⚠ Supernatural: Yes. Fey. ⚠ Explicit content: No ⚠ Ending type:(view spoiler)[ Bitersweet (hide spoiler)] ⚠ Recommended:No...more
“I don’t like this,” Safi said, really having to yell now. “In fact, I hate this—the storm and the plan. Why does it have to be ‘we’? Why not just me?” “Because ‘just me’ isn’t who we are,” Iseult hollered back. “I’ll always follow you, Safi, and you’ll always follow me. Threadsisters to the end.” A fierce, burning need rose in Safi’s lungs at those words. She wanted to tell Iseult everything she felt—her gratitude, her love, her terror, her faith, but she didn’t. Instead, she smiled grimly. “Threadsisters to the end.”
A great quote to start my review telling people how disappointed I am by this book. Especially after having to rewrite the damn review because my PC played with my feelings and restarted while I was writing the first half of the review. Now I have to do it all over again. Which frustrates me even more.
Honestly? I am disappointed. I expected more. I got that more in the last 15% of the book. And what of the 85%? The whole experience was like a tide: pacing was either too slow, or fast and properly done. And fluctuating all the time. 50% of the book bored me, 30% interested me (mostly the foxes part and last 15%) AND the other 20% was okayish.
This book is for me nothing special - the main reasons being (ENTIRELY SUBJECTIVE, and not objective, this is MY PERSONAL opinion (I usually write objectively), and may of course differ from yours whenever you read the book itself):
◈ I did not connect with any of the characters. I did not care about them or what happens to them, they annoyed me, i disliked them. At the beginning I liked the two main female characters Safi and Iseult. Especially Iseult. But as the story went I started to dislike them. The same with Prince Merik, the third main character. Completely uninterested in him, but I somewhat... what? I can't even describe the feeling I have for him. I don't care about him, but I liked him and at the same time, disliked him. And then, there was Aeduan, the antagonist. That guy might actually be the only reason for me to continue reading this series. He actually made me want to read on and on.
◈ Characters are not developed enough. While some will think author did great job at it, I did not. I was not moved by any of them and I could not define their characters properly even after reading the book. Rarely happens because I usually have a lot to say about characters.
◈ The world building was good and well thought of, but the execution is awful and there was not enough information on the important empires/countries. It just wasn't enough. I need more cultures, history, politics. Some of those are just mentioned in info-dump paragraphs from the beginning and chaotically explained. The other problem were the terms: It took me 90% OF THE BOOK to understand some of the terms (Adders, Cleaving...etc) ! While some of them were explained, some of them were just thrown there to expand the world building but served no purpose in this book at the moment (like Hell-Bards, no point in this book at all. It would have been better if the whole business with them was mentioned in other parts, when it's relevant. Now, it was only useless information among MANY other which are important, like cleaving and Origin Wells). And I still have some questions: Why do people hate Nomatsi people? for example. I might have missed it, but I also don't think so? I remember some of the things, but then I forgot a lot of facts, especially from the beginning, thanks to the sudden infodump.
◈ Plot is okay, but not special - in fact, I had the problem with the beginning: I FORGOT FIRST HALF OF THE BOOK. This rarely, very rarely happens to me! (If you asked me to tell you what this book is about from the beginning, I wouldn't know, but I would know from the moment they (view spoiler)[got on the ship (hide spoiler)]. Even if i have hard time understanding the book (like To Ride Hell’s Chasm, which has simple story, but complex world building and even more complex use of English language where I had to look up to 5 words per page) I never have problem with forgetting what the hell I just read. I blame it on confusing world building info dump which took away most of the first half of the book. The last 15% were worth it.
THE GOOD: ◈ The ships and the sea battles and sea action.
◈ Also, a very complex world building ONCE YOU UNDERSTAND IT. Very promising if done well in the next books and properly explained. From what I have seen, these empires and the map itself remind me of Europe. And most of all Nubrevna reminds me of my country, which is also small, not prosperous enough and in somewhat difficult position, and of countries beside my country which were thrown into wars by surrounding empires/kingdoms/countries, but usually stayed intact. I hope I am not wrong with this, but I am 100% sure this world is based on Europe. Just look at the map in the book. Dalmotti's position reminds me of Italy, Nubrevna of Serbia/Croatia/Greece etc, Cartorra of France/Germany and the others, the lands above (Lusque, Svoden and the Sleeping lands) of scandinavian countries and Russia, Portolla and Krit of Spain and Portugal, and so on and on.
◈ I also loved the play on the words, or I'm just imagining things: Lovats is read the same as Lovac in my language, meaning Hunter (ts is usually read as c) . Coincidence = it's in Nubrevna, which corresponds to Balkan countries, especially Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia, Montenegro. Then, there is nation called Biljana, which is casual Serbian name.
◈ Last 15% = awesome.
► STORY:
Please, do me a favor and just read book synopsis. I'll try to explain the plot in the characters section. While I explained the world building and the story in my first attempt at this review, I am not so inclined on re-doing this torture in great detail. But i'll write some things about the world building, because it will help me when I revisit this series on second read when the next book comes out, and to help readers who need more info on the world.
This world known as Witchlands is rulled by Witches of different aspects. Fire, Wind, Aether, Earth, Water and Void. Voidwitches are feared and considered extremely dangerous to be allowed to live. In some countries, Firewitches are forbidden, but there are others too, and the empire of Cartorra has it's own force of witch hunters that hunt witches who hide (aka, heretics) or dangerous witches like Firewitches and even Truthwitches themselves. The whole world fears Voidwitches the most, and one of the witches that are considered to be Void are Bloodwitches, who are usually and practically immortal unless you cut of their heads because it's the only thing they cannot recover from. They are considered demons and are rare, and the same goes for Truthwitches.
Though no one knew what made a person cleave, Iseult had read theories that linked the corruption to the five Origin Wells spread across the Witchlands. Each Well was linked to one of the five elements: Aether, Earth, Water, Wind, or Fire. Though people spoke of a Void element—and of Voidwitches like that Bloodwitch—there was no record of an actual Void Well.
There are many empires in Witchlands.
One of the most important and the largest is Cartorra Empire which expanded mostly through marriages and alliances. Their ruler is Emperor Henrick and heir (?) is Prince Leopold. Their nobility is called doms (for males) and domnas (for females).
Second empire is Dalmotti Empire, who depends on sea-trade and have naval fleet. Their rulers are Guildmasters and they are a republic. Veñaza City is their capital, and current home of Truthwitch Safi and Threadwitch Iseult.
Empire of Marstok is the most stable empire so far, and their ruler, Empress of Marstok Vaness would do anything to secure their Empire and is a powerful Ironwitch. Very powerful, they have an army of Firewitches and are dominated by females.
Former republic of Arithuania is a country between Marstok and Cartorra. They were a republic once, but it descended into anarchy, ruled by Raider King and filled with outlawed witches, persecuted Nomatsi and is basically a country filled with violent people and anyone who wants to be free of goverment. Their capital - Poznin. Home of (view spoiler)[ Puppeteer (view spoiler)[Weaverwitch (hide spoiler)] and (view spoiler)[ Aeduan, the Bloodwitch (hide spoiler)](hide spoiler)].
And there is another, but also very, very important small nation of Nubrevna, still independent from the three empires because of their excellent navy. But this small country went through a lot of damage in the past wars and is currently in very difficult position. Nubrevna's nobility is called ‘vizers'. Their capital - Lovats, their another important town - Lejna. Home country of Prince Merik, a windwitch and Admiral of the Royal Navy and Admiral of the ship Jana, his threadbrother Kullen, also a powerful windwitch, Princess Vivia and the current heir to the throne, their King Serafin and his outcasted sister Evrane, a waterwitch and healer Carawen monk. "During times of war, the Queen ruled the land and the King ruled the seas." But Vivia wants to rule both, thus putting Merik into difficult position.
And lastly, Nomatsi people, which live in tribes are outcasted and disliked with pale skin, angled eyes and black hair. And they are usually a walking targets for other people. In some of the countries, Nomatsi (short 'Matsi) have no legal protection at all, and carrying a weapon in public could result into death by hanging. Dalmotti Empire accepted to make space for Nomatsi people to live and allowed them to live as they wanted, as long as they settled far away of any city. Despite this, they consider them "animals" and Nomatsi have no legal protection in Dalmotti. Midenzi tribe is the only one which settled down and stopped nomadic travel, because they found a safe place. They also dislike outsiders. Home to Iseult det Midenzi, Gretchya (Iseult's mother), Alma (Gretchya's apprentice) and Corlant.
In Nomatsi caravans, it was the job of the Threadwitch to unite Thread-families, to arrange marriages and friendships, and to unsnarl the looms of people’s lives. One day, just as Gretchya did now, Alma would use her magic to lead the Midenzis.
And there is an organization of Carawen monks, whose sole purpose is to protect the mythical pair called Cahr Awen. "And if the Carawen monks were to be believed, then only the return of the Cahr Awen could ever heal the dead Wells or the Cleaved."
And then, there is 20 years truce contract between countries that ends the any wars for that period. Gods help those who break the contract first. It's 19th year at the moment and Empires are ready.
► CHARACTERS:
◈ Safiya fon Hasstrel is living her life to the fullest. Living as a heretic witch, (meaning she is not registered user and is hiding her true power) she is afraid of people discovering what she truly is: A Truthwitch. She can make difference between lies and truths, thus making her useful for political conflicts. Not just that, she also senses the truths and lies in beliefs, but can't differentiate if someone is convinced they are telling the truth. Her ability makes her a dangerous woman, and a valuable ally. Safi is blond haired, blue eyed witch as well as domna of Cartorra, a nobility. Her uncle is Eron and he does whatever he can if possible for Safi. She is in great relationship with Leopold, Prince of Cartorra and is the threadsister of Iseult, for which she would do anything. Anything.
◈ Iseult det Midenzi is a Nomatsi woman, as well as Threadwitch (Aetherwitch). She can see emotions and bonds in form of threads, but she cannot see her own. Despite being an outcast, Safi took her in and accepted her in her life and made her her threadsister. Iseult, however, is troubled by an enemy of her own - a shadow which stalks her dreams. She has speech impediment, where she occasionally stutters, but tries to control it.
◈ Merik Nihar is the prince of Nubrevna, a windwitch. He is in command of Royal Navy and Admiral of the ship Jana, named after the late Queen. And he would do anything to help save his country. They lost in the war many years ago and they are in hard position. And he desperately wants to open trades with different empires to secure food for his small country. His sister, Vivia, would rather resort to piracy and steal that way, but Merik wants to do it in peace, even if it includes making a very dangerous trade contracts for his goals, at any costs. He is very close to his threadbrother Kullen (who is in relationship with Ryber), and also a powerful windwitch, even more than Merik himself, as well as his first officer on Jana. He requires obedience on his ship and never fails to meet out punishments if his orders are broken. And even so, he is a respected leader and can be reasoned with, although a bit hardly.
A silent, hysterical laugh rose in his throat. He had lost more than he’d ever thought he could lose, yet there was an aching certainty welling in his lungs. (...) Then Merik Nihar, Prince of Nubrevna, rolled back his head and prayed. For all that he had loved, for all that he had lost, and for all that he—and his country—might still regain.
◈ Aeduan is a Bloodwitch and Carawen battle monk as well as mercenary - the highest bidder wins. And even though he is called a demon, a Voidwitch, and is outcasted by people, he enjoys being feared by them: it makes him able to avoid people and the hindrance they could cause to him. And he has no problems with being alone. As long as his reputation and abilities get his jobs done. Being a bloodwitch, he can control person's blood, scent it and track the person down and can heal from everything except beheading. He considers life-debts a very serious involvement and whenever he is bound by it, he is honorable enough to upheld it. But he is also revengeful, holds grudges, but he does relent to people when it's least expected. He goes easier on people he knows personally. And he is usually in many dilemmas, as he conflicts with himself on most of the things he does, or will do. He works foremost for his own father, and hides his identity.
Poisonwitchery. Their power over poison was such a dark subset of Waterwitchery—a corruption of Waterwitch healers, Aeduan had once heard—yet it was Aeduan’s power that was considered Void magic. Aeduan was the one called demon. It had always struck him as … unfair. Then again, it also worked in his favor.
► OVERALL:
A good book. I liked it, but at the same time I was bored while reading it. As you can see, it took me 3 hours to write the whole world building out and get the facts right. If i had this manual from the start that would have been much better. But overall, good book, waiting for the sequels, and I'm hoping they will be better. I really want to continue it only because of Aeduan, the most interesting character of them all, which says something because he is antagonist and is better to me than the entire cast.
LIKED: ☑ Aeduan, the only character worth reading for ☑ Four sided POV - 2 female characters (absolute main) and 2 male characters ☑ world building idea is good ☑ last 15% of the book.
DISLIKED: ☒ world building was executed badly. It was more like an info dump and it was hard to connect dots sometimes. ☒ I forgot half of the book - especially the beginning. ☒ Uninteresting characters ☒ Not captivating plot ☒ Felt nothing while reading
OTHER IMPORTANT INFO: ⚠ Standalone: No. Part of a 4 book series. ⚠ Point of View: Third POV, 4 characters. ⚠ Cliffhanger: Yes, but nothing worth pulling the hair out of your head ⚠ Triggers: Nothing severe. ⚠ Love triangle: No? ⚠ Angst: very little. ⚠ Supernatural: withches and sea foxes, don't ask ⚠ Explicit content: No. ⚠ Ending type: ⚠ Recommended: No....more
I am honestly disappointed with how this series started. Compared to the first one? It'Buddy read with Nouf *LostinFantasy* :D
Final rating: 3/5 stars
I am honestly disappointed with how this series started. Compared to the first one? It's uninteresting. There is this thing with me. If I am interested in something, I'm gonna read it even dead tired from work. But I didn't because this book just didn't hold my attention. I even forgot what happened in half of the book.
Anyway, it's a low and slow start, sometimes pretty cliche and predictable, with cliche pairings that are uninteresting and honestly totally not needed. Why must there be insta-love in everything YA? I wonder... If only it was easy to insta-love.
Newslfash! Some people are lucky enough and they click with each other and marry 6 months later (case of my parents), some drag themselves for years. But these are kids, who saw each other few times, had a "connecting moment" and then fell in love instantly.
It was so annoying and distracting from the main plot it was just too much.
Not to mention unnecessary deaths for the sake of improving a character (or worsening them by making them face a super-angsty situation). There wasn't even enough time to remind us of them, how they were, more scenes, etc.
It was all so sudden it was plain and just... unshocking and untouching.
For new readers, it's probably just confusing. For older ones, like me, it's frustrating (in most of the cases).
As for the characters, no one was interesting, there are more questions than answers, it was all so randomly thrown in, like a badly made soup.
I don't know. Too much happened, and too much of it felt random.
► OVERALL:
I suggest you read the review by my friend, Nouf *LostinFantasy*, she has a bit more positive opinion on this book and more sorted out concerning stories and characters.
I'm gonna continue the series, of course. I still wanna know how it ends, but i'm not holding it as a priority. ...more
No. No. No. No and no. My friend loves this series. To be honest, i read first and second book Final rating: 1/5 stars
This review will be very short.
No. No. No. No and no. My friend loves this series. To be honest, i read first and second book because i DESPERATELY WANT TO READ THIRD BOOK. But, i was completely disappointed with this. And i'm also very stunned to see so many 4 and 5 stars ratings from my friends. Guess i fall into minority, because as much as i wanted to like this book, i couldn't.
First of all, author here wrote about some very touchy topics. Not everyone in this world is comfortable with either abuse, torture, or rape, spousal hitting and other. Well, in this book - you have it all. If anything of this bothers you, you should not read this. Especially rape. Because you will see a lot of rape in here - because of course, rape is part of the "culture" in this book. And worst of all, i don't think author managed to solve those problems well.
This review will include some minor spoilers:
♦ I liked the heroine, but sometimes her POV made me feel irritated and bored. Let's say i disliked being in her "head" the whole time. ♦ I dislike the hero, for many reasons, but i won't bother explaining them. ♦ I hate it that they turned relationship based on rape (it's not really a spoiler, that's how book starts and that's what you will read about, a lot) into a romantic relationship. "Because it's the way of his people." Accept it heroine, you are in their world now and rape is another common thing you will see everyday, as well as abuse of women, oh, you should also know most of them are slaves. But not even wives sometimes get a good husband, someone could get a sadistic son of a bitch who loves torturing his wife and showing it in front of everyone. Oh wait, rape, or basically, collective WIFE HUNT where warriors of this barbaric tribe hunt down their women one night and rape them, means they own them and their bodies for the rest of their lives (nicely put - they married them). Basically this whole book is Stockholm syndrome based. ♦ Women here have no rights, they are mostly used only for sex and for.... nothing else, oh wait, who does domestic jobs if not for women? Except for the ones blessed to be in the company of our dear heroine, there, they translate and are friends with each other, explain world building and culture of the "savage" tribe. And of course, men are all warriors, can do as they love, as they please and rape at least 30 women for fun before coming home to their wives after the raid, and it is expected that wives accept that. Worst of all, it's common knowledge about what they do. Of course our heroine doesn't accept that. But noooooooooooo, it's against their culture and she shouldn't complain about that to her husband. Thankfully, her husband "loves" her enough to do promise he won't touch any other women. ♦ Guilt passing: "are you realizing he gave up on --------- because of you, and it was HIS RIGHT and way of his people for generations? Yes he gave all of this for you and you still deny him?" I got tired of this very quickly. Oh wait, here is a direct quote from the book:
“And, I would say, that Dax being Dax Lahn it is a good possibility that lash might graduate to the tip of a whip or the edge of steel should you carry on much longer holding your grudge and withholding your charms. The man is practically begging for a challenge or some reason to unleash some of his impatience on someone and the only thing I know is that someone will not be you.” Oh man! Before I could even open my mouth, she kept right on going. “What I’d like to know is, are you willing to be responsible for one of the trainee warriors not buffing his saddle to a deep enough shine and having his back opened up for this perceived mistake?” No. One could say I didn’t want that, like, not at all.
OVERALL:
I just... I barely read the whole book. I barely hold on to my sanity and read it. All the while i was pissed off and mad. I didn't feel any romance in the air. I didn't feel anything. ANYTHING except for ANGER. I read books with subjects that included everything this book has. But those books solved those problems in the right way. The goal of this book was to be brutal. I think even GOT was less brutal with Dothraki people. All in all, i am disappointed. Very disappointed in this book and i think even 1 star is generous.
So... Mara Dyer. I wanted to read these books for a very long time, but never had time for them. Now that i finally had, i Final rating: 3/5 stars
So... Mara Dyer. I wanted to read these books for a very long time, but never had time for them. Now that i finally had, i don't know what to think about this book. There are many split opinions about this series, and this book in particular and i can now finally see the reason why.
“Thinking something does not make it true. Wanting something does not make it real.”
In the same time i liked this book, but i found it boring for the 70% of it. Actually it was just too slow. Nothing important happened in all of that time, and that just made 70% of the book pointless. And that is not a good sign for me. I almost every time finish the book till the end, because i feel that it might not have been as disastrous as it seemed. And this book was just that way. The last 30% were fast and confusing, but it did make me interested into continuing this series. Actually those 30% were so fast that it left me with questions for which i need answers. Some of them i got, but some of them... dunno. The little plot twist in the end may actually prove to make other sequels better.
It all began on the birthday party of Mara Dyer's friend. Six months later, Mara's friends all died one day when the building crushed them all, and mysteriously, Mara was the only person unharmed. Because of this Dyer family decides to move away to another place and start over. But Mara's past slowly catches up with her and not everything is as it seems.
I feel that this book actually mostly lacked character depth. I never connected with either Mara nor Noah, nor any other person in particular. They felt to me like they never had a personality to begin with. Don't ask me why, it's just how i felt. I also didn't feel anything for Jamie, nor for her brothers Daniel and Joseph, and the author had plenty of pages to characterize them well. But she didn't and that is the problem.
Mara is feeling like she is going insane, her friends died, she is alone, she changed her name and she moved to another school. She has PTSD and is going to therapies - and she is trying to cope with it.
Noah is the classic popular, rich, handsome (coughcoughmanwhorecough) guy who set his eyes on our heroine. He is mysterious (of course) and different (of course).
Hopefully, next book will characterize them better and make me care about them, and what happens to them, because they need a proper depth.
Overall, it was not the bad book, it had interesting story, and it had potential, but it was not used in the right way. It was necessarily long but it was kind of interesting as well. I will be definitely read the sequel, and soon, because it finally caught my attention. ____________________________________________
This is a story that comes after the book "On the Island", and is not meant to be standalone. When i saw that there is a novel about T.J. and Anna again, i was excited. Alas, this is not their story: this is story of Owen and his planned solitude on the island. His decisions were the key point and he regretted them the moment he heard about T.J.'s and Anna's entrapment on the island...
Owen is a wealthy young man whose family is careless and selfish.. And he decides to move to the island indefinitely to sort things out and to escape from the world. But this is not only his story... This is a story of "Bones" as well.
It was slow, dragging and i didn't particularly care about anyone in this novel, but it was nice seeing the duo again and i am glad to see more of their lives together. It shows how much their lives had been different, the contrast between survival and vacation on the same island, same conditions and same wild island. But overall, it was just nice novel.
“You know it’s the end of the world when Jackal starts making sense,” he whispered. “It’s...pretty bad when the egot
Final rating: 3.5/5 stars
“You know it’s the end of the world when Jackal starts making sense,” he whispered. “It’s...pretty bad when the egotistical murdering vampire has to set you straight. I guess I had that kick in the head coming for a while. At least Jackal is good for something.”
You know something is wrong when my favorite character in this book is Jackal. To be honest, I couldn't wait to read this book at first, but now, after i read it, i felt even more disappointed.
The biggest problem I had was with Allie's "monster inside me (insert a word)" sentences, which reminded me of how much i hated "inner goddess" from a certain heroine i very much disliked.
In any case, the book got more interesting in the second part. But, the first part of the book was too dragging and boring for me.
I felt so much when I read the first and second book - enough for me to praise the book to all my friends. But, now, reading this book, my expectations have been crushed. I cannot describe the disappointment I am feeling at the moment. I gave it 3,5 stars, but in general, it's more like 3+ grade. If only I wasn't spoiled with the ending (glares at certain someone) who gave away what happened - it was just one scene - I would have at least felt something in the end.
As for the characters themselves - beware, there might be spoilers, so skip this section if you don't want to know. Allie honestly irritated the hell out of me. Too much weeping and angst and i'm a monster parts. I know it was hard for her to let the sorrow pass, but it only brought up worst qualities in her. Insert Kanin who is actually voice of reason - I wouldn't be so interested in the whole series if it wasn't for him. Jackal, on the other hand, became my favorite character. I don't think anyone can forgive him for what he had done in the past, nor will I make any excuses for defending him - i just wanted to say, that, of all characters, he was the greatest. Allie disappointed me, there just simply wasn't enough of Kanin to make me scream of happiness, not to mention Zeke. Zeke, Zeke, Zeke. We knew from the previous book that he was alive, and that was amazing cliffhanger. But now, while reading the book, i thought i would have preferred if Allie had gotten over him, saved the world with Jackal and Kanin and take up Jackal's offer. I don't mind happy endings either, but still, this kinda ruined it for me. As much as I liked Zeke, I couldn't stand seeing him not caring about anything. Thankfully, later on, he was kinda back, and that's when i actually started enjoying the book - you know, Zeke gets better, Allie stops with monster, monster monster etc.
In other words, I really wish the book was written from third person perspective. I have to say, but, I have read more than 500 books. I found out that books in first person view usually bore the hell out of me, no matter how good the story is. I just can't stand being in another person's head. Also, the advantage of third person books is that you can write multiply POVs. And if one character starts boring the hell out of you with angsty parts, you can look forward to other characters. All in all, this is the second series that was disappointing to me from Julie Kagawa. I doubt I will read any other series/book from her, because even the Iron Fey series had a downfall with the fourth book. I still look forward to her completing the Iron Fey sequel series, and I hope i won't feel disappointed with it, cause I really like it. Who knows, if i reread the whole series from the beginning to the end, i might have a different opinion.
“I told you. You own me. I'm yours. All that I have been. All that I am. All that I will ever be. Your happiness is
Final rating: 3.5/5 stars
“I told you. You own me. I'm yours. All that I have been. All that I am. All that I will ever be. Your happiness is mine. Your fury is mine. And your needs will be met before mine. I love you, and to me, that means placing you first and giving to you what I will never give to another. Power over me.”
Considering how much I love this series, this time i can only say this: Could have been better. I had high expectations of this book. What I love the most in this series is a wide array of different characters and great world building. Now that I have finally read the third book in the series, I feel a bit disappointed. Mostly because of the characters, since the story was very good (but only last 40% actually)
Now, I will write out the problems I've had with it:
♦ ♦ ♦ First: The world building for this whole series is great. But, this book didn't focus on it at all. Except for a bit more information on Phoenix, and appearance of one Demon Prince, it wasn't really important because of the love story in the middle of it.
♦ ♦ ♦ Second: I wasn't very fond of the characters - which is sad. I like Thane, but sometimes it just felt like I was reading about a completely different character. On the other hand, I didn't like heroine Elin. I don't know, but I just didn't fall for their chemistry, i guess? Not to mention there was an insta-lust of which I am not really fond of.
♦ ♦ ♦ Third: I enjoyed more reading about secondary story and characters than reading about the main characters and their story. So yes, I was pretty much bored for half of the book.
But overall, the last 40% were better than the first 60, where finally things started to happen. The beginning of the book left me a bit confused, so i quickly reread all the parts with Thane, Xerxes and Bjorn in the previous book, which had helped a lot (considering how it ended with cliffhanger in previous book).
Thane is the leader of "Thane, Bjorn and Xerxes" trio and also the boss of his club Downfall. He is one of the Sent Ones from the Army of Disgrace, under direct command of Zacharel. After the emotional trauma he experienced in the captivity by demons, he learned that he enjoyed inflicting pain on others and experiencing it himself (he is basically SM). He doesn't want to bond with anyone, or sleep with anyone more than once, until one Phoenix, Kendra, screws him up by changing her shape into different women he slept with and ultimately bonding with him, making him her slave the moment he killed her (since she is a Phoenix, she can resurrect, every time stronger than before). And this is exactly how the book starts, with him being a mindless slave of Kendra. Until Elin, another slave, helps him remember who he is and saves his life.
I like Thane, really. I was always interested in his character, and when I saw he was getting his book, I was delighted. Except, of course, something happened and Thane didn't give off the same air as Thane before. Well, that is actually a good change, since it was positive, but he very easily changed his moods and he sometimes really irritated me, like the fact that he is judgmental and maybe too obsessed with Elin. Too obsessed means trouble, right? Anyway, his relationship with Elin went into total different direction - the fact that he showed that he could be someone else with her was interesting, but so out of his character, i don't really know how to explain it.
♦ Elin:
Elin Vane is the heroine of our story. She is a halfling = half human, half Phoenix. She was married to a human Bay, and lived with her mother and father. Her mother was pure blood Phoenix and was married to a human. Everything was well and great, until Phoenix clan found them. They killed Elin's father and husband and took her mother and Elin to their camp and made them into slaves. After a while, her mother died too and Elin was left alone. Her life was suddenly utter catastrophe, being forced to act like an animal, being constant target of punishments and humiliated all the time. But then she saw the opportunity to escape in the Sent One they had captured.
I didn't really like Elin, I couldn't even love her. Mostly because she gave the air of being immature. I never enjoyed reading her POVs, even though, in the end, she became stronger and bolder heroine. Maybe it was the writing style that made me dislike her, because, to me, it didn't feel like i was reading about the woman who was once married and who has 21 years - instead it felt like i was reading about a horny teenager from young adult novels.
♦ Bjorn and Xerxes:
Thane, Bjorn and Xerxes have a special bond. Being captured by demons, not so long ago, made them all mentally and emotionally unstable, but they still try their best to function like they should. Except sometimes, that isn't enough and their only comfort is each other. After Bjorn's sudden disappearance in the previous book, he is back, but with secrets he cannot disclose with his brothers. He has to disappear from time to time, and whenever he comes back, he is in worse shape than ever before, which greatly worries Thane and Xerxes. I want to know more about these two, so I hope they will get their books as well.
♦ Everyone else:
There were plenty of Lords of the Underworld characters, and sadly, i haven't read their books so i couldn't connect them (and i believe i would have enjoyed reading about them in these books, had i known them) (i am interested in Lucien and William the most).
I am interested in that McCadden guy, and i can't figure out if he belongs in LoU universe or in this one. If he is from this one, then I really want to know more about him in the upcoming books.
I liked the girls from the club Octavia, Chanel, Savy and Bellorie. Adrian was interesting as well (although I just can't remember if he had appeared before, but I guess he had).
Of course, there was also someone who irritated the hell out of me and it was Kendra, the Phoenix. She wanted revenge on Thane for many things and she delighted into having him submit to her and do what she wanted. Until Thane escaped and made her life miserable, once again. I don't pity her at all, in fact I despise her as much as Thane does.
Even though i was disappointed with this book, and even though I probably won't remember much about it, i still have high hopes for this series because all of the precious angels that have yet to get their books (like Xerxes, Bjorn and Axel) - i want to read their stories, no matter how they turn out to be. ____________________________________________
This was beyond the ultimate horror i thought it would be.... I have no words how hilarious this was. EsFinal rating: 1/5 stars
[image]
Oh.my.dear.god.
This was beyond the ultimate horror i thought it would be.... I have no words how hilarious this was. Especially since i am from Serbia, and damn, this didn't make any sense at all!!!
Really. Charisma Knight should have done a better research of our: 1. culture, 2. history (which was totally wtf and wrong btw), 3. titles (there was never Tsar, there was only Car, and Car=EMPEROR), 4. language (you simply do not call your woman "ljubavnica", it sounds like you are cheating your wife with your ljubavnica. Lol....and proper dialogue would be "moja ljubavnice", not my ljubavnica (because afterall, Serbian and other languages like ours are really hard to learn!), 5. names (which are not even Serbian or do not have any sense at all.) because everything was beyond wrong. In that include poor writing and hilarious dialogues. And poor story as well.
Other than that, Charisma Knight, i really suggest that next time you explore more about the country you wanna write about before you start writing a book.
“The thing is that it’s really hard to stop discrimination when something’s illegal,” the girl says. “I mean, e
Final rating: 2/5 stars
[image]
“The thing is that it’s really hard to stop discrimination when something’s illegal,” the girl says. “I mean, everybody thinks of workers as being criminals. Like, people use the word ‘worker’ to mean criminals. And, well, if we work a work, even once, we are criminals. So most of us are, because we had to figure it out somehow and that was usually by making something happen.” “And there are lots of workers who never do anything bad. They go to weddings and hospitals and give people good luck. Or there’s people who work at shelters and they give people hope and make them feel confident and positive. And that word—‘cursing.’ Like all we can do is bad magic. I mean, why would you even want to do the bad stuff? The blowback’s awful. Like, if all a luck worker ever does is make people have good luck, then all he has is good luck too. It doesn’t have to be bad.” “Magic,” the girl says. “It’s just all magic.”
I don't get whats up with the hype about this book? It definitely sounded promising but...there are lot of buts around. This is a story about a guy[Cassel] who killed his best friend [Lila], and the white cat who is stalking him. Sounds weird but ok......(right?)?
Anyways, the paragraph above explained the status of so called "workers", and i was wondering why the author didn't put it in the beginning in the first place. It just made the story pointlessly confusing at times. Not to mention that lack of fast revealings got the story quite slow, and add to it loooooooong chapters and there you have it. I thought about dropping it in the middle, but i decided to stick till the end (because i can't just drop it before i read it all, not my style xD). So, the last 1/4 was extremely entertaining - actually really awesome >:D, while 3/4 of the book were confusing and quite boring. Which is why i am gave this 2 stars.
I didn't predict though that the brothers Philip and Barron (MAJOR SPOILER) (view spoiler)[ used Cassel to kill people, then erased his memory and that they were doing it from the accident with Lila (hide spoiler)]. ___________________________________________
Not to mention, i didn't like any of the characters.
♦ Cassel:
Cassel is totally boring guy. I usually love when books are told from first person view but only when it is the guy who is the narrator, but Cassel, Cassel just irritated the hell out of me. I don't think i succeeded in having sympathy for him at all. He is the type of the teenage girls in whose story everybody is keeping secrets and she doesn't know anything about it. Oh, and everyone here are keeping secrets from Cassel, under the "you are not worker so we can't tell you anything". So.......he is the non-worker in worker family. Check. He doesn't have powers. Check. Boring. Check. Irritating. Check. Not to mention: average. Check.
♦ The white cat:
i can't really say anything about it, except it is an object of horrors. Hahahhaha.
♦ Lila:
Meet Lila: [image] Ironically, i was watching anime "K", where there is a girl called Neko, which has strikingly same appearance as Lila from the flashbacks (except for the length of her hair). Cute. And that is all i am going to say about her. Except, i don't like her so much.
♦ Everyone else:
All of them were annoying me. Except Cassel's mother. She didn't have time to annoy because the whole book she was in Jail. Barron and Philip - i wanted to slaughter them. But as they say, everything for the family. ___________________________________________
Characters were very much annoying, and the plot was cofusing and boring at times, but it does have strong ending. Therefore, only the ending was enough for me to not drop this series. I just hope that the second book will be better than White Cat. I really hope so. ____________________________________________
“Too much pain, rage, grief. Too much reality.” There are so many things that can break you if there’s nothing to hold you to
Final Rating: 4/5
“Too much pain, rage, grief. Too much reality.” There are so many things that can break you if there’s nothing to hold you together.
The problem with reading the translated versions of the books is a difficulty of finding the quotes I wanted on English. That and the spelling of the names.
Anyway, I bought this book at the book fair, knowing that ALL of my friends on goodreads have rated it 5 stars, so I thought I wouldn't regret my choice.
In a way, I loved it. In a way, I didn't like it for sometimes it was too dragging and it kept losing my interest in it.
But it was also very very good and I appreciate the fact that in the end, I did love the characters in it. It was hard to love them, but eventually I did. You can't even imagine how much Nastya sometimes irritated the hell out of me, but I also understood that everything she did was her coping and recovery mechanism.
On the other hand, Josh was very interesting to read about, and so was Drew (i loved both of them) and no, this is not a love triangle and i appreciate it, even if it seemed this way.
It's a story of recovery of a girl, of loss of self and becoming someone else. Of someone who lost everyone close to him and has instead tried to keep his circle as small as possible because he couldn't take another death of someone he cared for.
This is a story of them finding each other.
►►► STORY & CHARACTERS:
Nastya is a girl whose life ended few years ago when she was attacked, had her arm broken, and lost her ability to play piano. She also stopped talking and made no exceptions. When she gets transferred to another school, she meets two people: Drew, a womanizer who tries to understand her, and his best friend Josh, who is withdrawn, always alone and is almost invisible.
Josh has lost every single member, and he is losing the last one he has: his grandfather is dying. Soon, he will be the only Bennett left from a family of six and it's horrifying. Soon, it will all be over and no one else will be left to leave. Except his best friend (maybe). But the grief and his withdrawal from the world made others ignore him and leave him alone. Until a strange girl who doesn't talk ends up in his care.
“No one ever asks. Like they think they’re doing me a favor. That if they don’t bring it up, I won’t have to think about it. I never stop thinking about it. Just because I don’t talk about it, doesn’t mean I forget. I don’t talk about it because no one ever asks.” He stops and looks at me again and I wonder if I’m supposed to say something, but I don’t want to, because if I say something, I’m afraid I might say everything. He turns back to the fountain so his eyes aren’t on me anymore, but I think he’s still watching. “I’d ask you, you know. If I was allowed. I’d ask you a thousand times until you’d tell me. But you won’t let me ask.”
They find each other. Somewhat.
►►► OVERALL:
Very good book, I just wish it kept my attention the whole way, but sadly it lost me somewhere in the middle and today was the day that i finally FINALLY finished it after a month.
The reason for 0.5 stars less. I guess.
►►► OTHER IMPORTANT INFO:
⚠ TYPE OF SERIES: standalone ⚠ Point of View: first, 2 povs ⚠ Cliffhanger: no ⚠ Triggers: violence, attempted rape ⚠ Love triangle: no ⚠ Angst: 65% ⚠ Supernatural: no ⚠ Explicit content: mild, you know...more
I just need to say this: it could have been so much better!! but sadly, it wasn't Final rating: 1.5/5 stars
Finally, it's over!!! YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY XD
I just need to say this: it could have been so much better!! but sadly, it wasn't and that is my problem. It was action packed i admit but there is just something that bothered me. It was all too fast. It was practically jumping from one scene to another. So, she should have just made this series a little longer (in pages, not in books) because i found Hidden short for all of that.
The thing i also didn't like, not just in this book, but in others as well, is the love triangle. Was it really necessary? I mean, what do Will and Cassian see in Jacinda? I don't even like her. She is just a stereotype teenage girl who is "a rare fire dragon", and hell yeah, she is wanted by her pride's prince and the hunter with guess what-dragon blood! Oh common, even Tamra is better than her, and Tamra does not even appear so much! Seriously Jacinda, [image] I mean, why, why did this turn out into a freaking love triangle which is not even that interesting since we all know who she ended with.
I am for team Cassian btw...
Anyway, since she ended with (view spoiler)[ Will (hide spoiler)] i did not feel so disappointed, but, BUT, what happened with (view spoiler)[ "i am a dragon lady, hell yeah, and you are just a human who will live probably two times shorter than me!!" (hide spoiler)] They are just going to live happily ever after and pretend it is not a problem? [image]
If it was a book about Tamra and Deghan from the start, it would be awesome. And let's face it, Tamra's power is hundred times more unique than a fire breather.
Also, even though i don't mind first person POV, i did mind it here. I think writing was more or less ok, but more to the less ok. I guess i minded it because it was all Jacinda, and it would be great if there were some perspectives from Will's and Cassian's POV.
It was interesting, and it was nice time killer, but not good enough for higher than 2 stars it's officially 1 star (including all three books). ...more
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