aqulia's review against another edition
adventurous
hopeful
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.5
blok_sera_szwajcarskiego's review against another edition
3.0
If you read a previous Poston's series "Once Upon a Con", you can pretty easily guess how is this book. And I don't mean anything bad by that, just that the author has a pretty consistent style of both writing and creating stories, and it just screams "made by Ashley Poston".
I actually very enjoyed her previous books, and I did enjoy this one, too. Not that much how I could, but it would be a lie to say it's bad.
The idea behind is marvelous - cursed woods around village, plant-based magic, kings and queens, ancient beings hidden in the shadows - it catches an eye. At least for me.the resolution of this aesthetic is... actually 50/50. I'm a bit disappointed that the atmosphere from first sixty-seventy pages never returned, both with characters from it. Yes, they still matter, and yes, they still have a small presence there, but it's never fully used potential. Especially talking about cursed soon-to-be-queen, the only actual heir to throne. There's no panic, no problem, once Cerys goes into the woods, there she goes! The rest of the world kinda freezes til the end.
And I really liked Wen (especially after that small paragraph after the epilogue, which was a crime that it lasted only a paragraph), and I really liked Cerys's dad (bisexual dad, bisexual dad!).
The plot twist with Fox was.... the first one just caught me thinking "Oh so now we're furries, okay". The second plot twist was... I think I could expect that, yet still it wasn't, let's say, full.
Let's talk about it for a sec.
What I really enjoyed was that before anything happens, we have sixty-seventy pages of introduction. But not "this is stick. now we're going to tell you every single detail of its past in order to make sense the rest of the plot" nor "cage man with stick" kind of exposition. It was really, really good, settling us in this world and in the same time developing relationships between characters. But later, when we focused on the journey through the woods, this good pass starts to slow down.
Like, major plot points or plot twists are shown in a very casual way, so when - for example - they finally defeat big, bad evil (no spoilers ofc), the time skip six months into future just BUM! happens. Same with plot twists, and the one with Fox's identity wouldn't be considered bad, but just not exactly satisfying. Not bad, yet not perfect, either.
The same issue is with the world-building - it is here, it is thought of, yet it doesn't really become a full picture. The potential is being used, just not fully. And it kinda made me sad, cause sheesh! it could be so much. I know Ashley Poston can, yet here it felt like she was stopping herself.
Overall, it's a good book. Maybe not the top of fantasy genre, but truly enjoyable. If you enjoyed "Once Upon a Con", I think you should give it a chance.
I actually very enjoyed her previous books, and I did enjoy this one, too. Not that much how I could, but it would be a lie to say it's bad.
The idea behind is marvelous - cursed woods around village, plant-based magic, kings and queens, ancient beings hidden in the shadows - it catches an eye. At least for me.the resolution of this aesthetic is... actually 50/50. I'm a bit disappointed that the atmosphere from first sixty-seventy pages never returned, both with characters from it. Yes, they still matter, and yes, they still have a small presence there, but it's never fully used potential. Especially talking about cursed soon-to-be-queen, the only actual heir to throne. There's no panic, no problem, once Cerys goes into the woods, there she goes! The rest of the world kinda freezes til the end.
And I really liked Wen (
The plot twist with Fox was.... the first one just caught me thinking "Oh so now we're furries, okay". The second plot twist was... I think I could expect that, yet still it wasn't, let's say, full.
Let's talk about it for a sec.
What I really enjoyed was that before anything happens, we have sixty-seventy pages of introduction. But not "this is stick. now we're going to tell you every single detail of its past in order to make sense the rest of the plot" nor "cage man with stick" kind of exposition. It was really, really good, settling us in this world and in the same time developing relationships between characters. But later, when we focused on the journey through the woods, this good pass starts to slow down.
Like, major plot points or plot twists are shown in a very casual way, so when - for example - they finally defeat big, bad evil (no spoilers ofc), the time skip six months into future just BUM! happens. Same with plot twists, and the one with Fox's identity wouldn't be considered bad, but just not exactly satisfying. Not bad, yet not perfect, either.
The same issue is with the world-building - it is here, it is thought of, yet it doesn't really become a full picture. The potential is being used, just not fully. And it kinda made me sad, cause sheesh! it could be so much. I know Ashley Poston can, yet here it felt like she was stopping herself.
Overall, it's a good book. Maybe not the top of fantasy genre, but truly enjoyable. If you enjoyed "Once Upon a Con", I think you should give it a chance.
quizzle99's review against another edition
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.0
nikkid810's review against another edition
4.0
I was a bit slow to get moving on this book, but the creepy magic and mystery of the woods eventually got me hooked. The romance was a little predictable and the ending seemed a bit abrupt (with things wrapping up a little too nicely if that makes any sense to anyone but me), but I did like the story. There was enough action to keep the story moving along, and plenty of mystery to keep readers invested.
kclikesthings's review against another edition
adventurous
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
3.75
ash_ton's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.75
i loved it. super cute and fun.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Body horror, Death, and Violence
Moderate: Animal death and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Genocide and Medical content
echoingpages's review against another edition
4.0
i'll give this 3.5 stars. the first half was a solid 4, and the second half barely a 3. the story line was good and this book started off so promising, but the author kinda fumbled it towards the end. which is kind of a shame. it wasn't bad tho! i'm just a little disappointed, and if this had been fleshed out more (perhaps into a duology/trilogy?) i probably would've liked it better. i feel like everything just happened too quickly. (maybe that's just me.)
anna94230's review against another edition
5.0
This book was just so sweet I almost cried at the end
savreads28's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
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
3.25
artmis02's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
tense
fast-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? It's complicated
4.5