Reviews with content warning for Grief - Wenn ein Stern erstrahlt

This book was even better than House of Earth and Blood! Definitely had to push through to get to the good parts but like any SJM book, the last 100 pages HAD ME HOOKED and made the entire plot building up to it WORTH EVERY PAGE. I CANNOT WAIT to read CC3 in January!!!!!

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elledanie's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

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cryosphinx's review against another edition

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dark emotional medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

What a freaking GREAT read. The plot is a bit thinner than the first one but without the slog of the world building. There is still more learning about the characters and the world but I found it a lot less info dumpy. I love every character and did love that this book and more POVs and more back and forth. Bryce and Hunt may have moved up to be my favorite SJM couple and they're are just so delightful with the banter and the growth and love they have. And like everyone says...THAT ENDING. I had the very, very end spoiled for me but the build up and the twists and turns still made it one hell of a ride.
If I had to make ken complaint it's that

Danika is dead and SJM seems to just hand off anything to her and her lil' secrets club. She's gone so we don't get to hear anything from her about her motivations and can only speculate. But how many damn secrets was she walking about with??

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colorwriter's review against another edition

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adventurous funny mysterious 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

4.0

I love the world that SJM has built and find all the characters loveable. I do feel like this was a step down from the first book as to depth of plot. In the second half the spice level upped quite a bit and I found myself frustrated with the characters because the plot line was on a time crunch and this is really what your focusing on over and over again instead of the missing kid you're desperate to protect?

That said I enjoyed the expansion of the CC world beyond the confines of Lunathion and exploring the impact of the war on the continent. I hope the next book delivers on the highly anticipated plot and probable crossover.

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amanda_reads13's review against another edition

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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

3.5

As Bryce and Hunt are trying to settle into a "normal" life, they are pulled into the rebel plans.

I was a little lost for most of this book as to why it was necessary (considering the HEA we got in book one), but as we progressed through the book it made more sense. I really liked how the multiverse was beginning to be revealed. I am excited to see how she is going to tie all these worlds together, especially after that ending!!

I felt like Dankia and Jesiba were over used to "explain" or conviently give them things. Dankia was one busy woman. How did she live this entire other life and keep a never ending list of secrets from Bryce? And Jesiba just gives Bryce whatever she needs? I feel like this is a cop out.

Speaking of women, where are all the women at? This was a very male heavy book. Can we get a few more women in the mix?

I liked that we got to see a bit more of the side characters, because the are really great. I am interested to see the direction of each one, especially

Tharion's blood oath (will the dragon be involved here?), Ruhn/Lidia, and Ithan/the Fendyr alpha!

I found the big "reveal" to be interesting. The Asteri survive off of first and secondlight of other species. It is revealed that they have have conquered different planets that they deemed suitable, then drained the life force. But have also destroyed many other planets that rebelled. We are told that both Hel and Prythian had both successfully banished the Asteri.

It turn out that Midgard is actually made up of a collection species the Asteri has stolen from other world to feed on. This explains why the Great Library of Parthos stays hidden. The Asteri do not want the citizens to know the truth of where they came from and what happened before the Asteri conquered the world. They do not want a full scale rebellion. The Asteri also created the Malakim!

We know that is possible for the Asteri to be killed because one was killed when Hel rebelled. So will Bryce return with the knowledge of how to kill them?

Tropes: urban fantasy, multiverse, mates, found family

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