Reviews with content warning for Violence - Oaths of Legacy

Reviews tagging 'Violence'

Oaths of Legacy by Emily Skrutskie

5 reviews

mallorypen's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional inspiring sad 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

5.0

OH MY GOD this was SO GOOD. The politics are so brilliantly told, and the constant twists are simply delicious. Wen come crashing into her own in this novel, Ettian is the dashing, careworn hero he spent the first book building up to be, and Gal … Gal is the unreliable narrator with a beautiful growth arc that brings him from unlikable, manipulative, cowardly brat to a noble, capable, loyal man.

A note on this narrator: definitely not as compelling as the first book’s narrator. Book 1 used a British accent for Gal, and the overall performance was just better. I was disappointed to hear someone new for book 2, and though he did a good job, it just wasn’t on par with the first narrator.

Gal’s story arc is by far the winning point of the novel, though the political machinations around him are fantastically plotted. He grows from hard to like to incredibly sympathetic, and the amount of times my heart hurt for him with his fears about Ettian and Wen continued to grow throughout the book. I adored how he grew to care for Wen, and how he fights between his desire to protect his birthright and his desperation to keep the people he loves safe. The abstract versus the actual did really interesting things for his character development, and the

Spoiler

friends to lovers to enemies to lovers

storyline was just *chef’s kiss*

The twists … my God, the TWISTS. Just when I thought I knew where the story was going, the author yanked the rug out from under me in the most surprising and tension-heightening ways. Ettian giving his victory speech and then

Spoiler

getting shot by HANJI of all people … holy shit. And then Gal finding her and beating the ever loving shit out of her for shooting the man he loves - oh hell yes!

Not to mention the general forcing Wen away from command and speaking with Ettian’s voice by offering her

Spoiler

the powersuit, which, for her character, oh my God what a pivotal moment for her!!

And then in the 11th hour, after Gal

Spoiler

makes up his mind (in gorgeous parallel to the decisions Ettian makes to save Gal in Book 1) that the only empire he wants is one with Ettian in it, WEN BETRAYS HIM AND GIVES AWAY THE POWER SUIT?! ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!!!

All that to say, this book was one ruttin’ hell of a ride. On to the final book of the trilogy!

Content Warnings

wardenred's review

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adventurous medium-paced

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

3.5

I don’t want to die. That’s what all heat-of-the-moment choices come down to, isn’t it?

I remember the first book of this trilogy made me kind of angry when I read it, because the concept of it was right up my alley, but the execution of the concept was just... asdfghjkl, how was I supposed to be on those characters' side at all? And how was I supposed to view their romantic relationship, built entirely out of my most favorite tropes in the world, as something remotely shippable? It was so weird, like a meal made of all my favorite ingredients cooked in an entirely unpalatable manner.

This book is both better and worse and ultimately more of the same. We're now in Gal's POV, and hey, he's exactly as bad and manipulative as I saw him in the first book, except now at least the narrative doesn't seem to make excuses for him and instead highlights his mistakes and flaws. That's good. That's something I'm down for. Give me all the flawed, wrong, villainous protagonists that are explicitly framed as such, show me a clear reason they're like that, throw in a couple of sympathetic traits, and I'm along for the ride!

Unfortunately, with Gal, I didn't get that clear reason. It's like he's like that because his genocidal mom told him that's the way to be, and he hardly learns at all from the experiences he's facing. Every time he watches the Archons do their thing / listens to them speak about their more people-centric approach to governing where the ruler is the servant of their people and not the centerpiece the entire machine of the empire revolves around, he's like, "THAT’S NOT HOW GALACTIC EMPIRES WORK!" (This is a direct quote from his thoughts, by the way. Yes, in all caps. That's how it is in the book). He completely refuses to reflect on the crimes his mother and his empire have committed. He justifies genocide. He literally blames Ettian for letting him think he could be a more peaceful ruler than his mother, because "when I was planning my peaceful reign, I hadn't seen actual war, and Ettian had, so he should have known I would also have to be a tyrant" or some shit like that. He shows so little growth or even just reflection throughout the book, and when he does start swaying the Archons' way, it's because of emotional attachments alone.

What's more, I feel like the author chose a really bad approach to writing a manipulative character. It would have been so much better with an unreliable narrator angle, having Gal keep some cards up his sleeve and only vaguely alluding to his actual goals, making the reader doubt if he's playing Wen/Ettian/someone else or being genuine. Instead, he keeps spelling out his intentions and his methods in his head. "This is what I want to achieve, this is what I'm working with, this is what I'm doing." What's the fun of a manipulative protagonist if never manipulates the reader? :D

To top it all, I just felt like for this part of the overarching story's plot, Gal was the worst possible narrator simply because he's a political prisoner who directly interacts with only a few important players. Yes, he was eventually given reason to walk around more freely and observe stuff he really shouldn't be observing, and it required a few supposedly smart, experienced, battle-hardened characters to make some super dumb choices. But even with the author stocking the cards in his favor like that, he's still not really involved with some of the potentially more interesting parts of the story.

Meanwhile, it seems like from what can be seen of Ettian in this book, he might have actually gone through some of that growth I hoped to see in him in book 1. I wish I could have witnessed it. Also, Wen remains my absolute favorite and will be the sole reason I'll finish the trilogy (what's with that twist at the end, I'm dying to know). I wish I could read this entire story from her POV, because she's the one having all the big, protagonist-worthy crises, dilemmas, actions, and reactions. Come to think of it, she was the most proactive and the most affected on a deeply personal level in the first book, too. Maybe she should have been the protagonist of the entire trilogy.

For some other stuff: the writing here remains solid, the space battles are extremely intense and fun to read, and the plot has some interesting bits but suffers greatly from the pacing. In the first half, very few things happen, then there are a few really rushed sections in the second part. Once again, I attribute the structural problems to having Gal as the sole narrator—perhaps a dual or triple POV would have helped mitigate them.

Content Warnings

thepictureofashjayy's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

OH MY STARS!!

I need book three right now!! I really enjoyed getting to know Gal better as we saw the story continue from his point of view, I’m hoping that Vows of Empire is told from both Gal and Ettian’s perspectives, I really cannot wait to see how the finale unfolds!!

The queer rep in this book was as incredible as the first book, the romance TUGGED at my heartstrings and I loved how well it played into the enemies-to-lovers trope!!

Despite all of this, I did take a star off my review as I still don’t think it’s a white woman’s place to tell the story of two queer boys of colour. Though, I would be very interested to hear what Black and Latine readers have to say!!

Overall, it was fantastic. I’m thinking it may very well end up being the Empire of the trilogy!! I’m so excited (and terribly nervous) to read the finale…

Content Warnings

ace_of_spades_'s review against another edition

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adventurous funny 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? It's complicated

5.0

AMAZING WOWOWOOWOW CANT WAIT FOR THE NEXT ONE HOLY FUCK

Content Warnings

xoodlebooks's review

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adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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