bookish_spoonie's review against another edition
4.0
I LOVED this book but there were certain parts that annoyed me so it's only been given 4 stars.
SPOILER ALERT.
Akos and Cyra have my heart. I love these characters. Especially Cyra. As some one that suffers from chronic pain, I felt so connected to her and some of the words used to describe her "gift" was spot on.
When her currently disappeared and then reappeared near the end I felt my heart break for her. That is what great writing does.
I could have done without Eijeh if I'm honest. He just irritated me. But other than that the characters were SO strong.
SPOILER ALERT.
Akos and Cyra have my heart. I love these characters. Especially Cyra. As some one that suffers from chronic pain, I felt so connected to her and some of the words used to describe her "gift" was spot on.
When her currently disappeared and then reappeared near the end I felt my heart break for her. That is what great writing does.
I could have done without Eijeh if I'm honest. He just irritated me. But other than that the characters were SO strong.
kmc3050's review against another edition
4.0
4.5. There could have been a few more key deaths at the end, mainly Cisi, and I could have done without Eijeh's visions showing "happy" endings for all. But I liked this one a lot. When I started this duology I thought it was a stand alone so I was disappointed to know I'd have to read another, but while reading this one I was looking forward to the next book and had to remind myself that this would be the last one. I think this storyline has ended but Roth could do a lot with this universe that she created. It's much more vibrant than what she did with Divergent. I want to know more about the Current Stream and the other planets.
All of the narrators did a good job with their voices.
All of the narrators did a good job with their voices.
elvira_2005's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
dragontomes2000's review against another edition
4.0
This was a much step up from Carve the Mark. However it still has some kinks I don't think it worked out. My one big thing was out of the two added POVs, I don't think Eijeh was needed. I liked that we explored the current more which was one of my big gripes from book one. I still enjoyed this world immensely. I am really enjoying more and more Sci-Fi. The history, mythology, and religion in this book were very interesting. I think the religion was the part that really drove this series with the help of everyone scared of their fates. I am not one who is very religious (like at all). I do believe we get to choose our own fates and it was really great seeing the characters develop and start to realize that your life doesn't have revolve around pre-determined fates. Another small thing was the main villain didn't really pack a punch. I enjoyed the main villain in book one way more then this villain. All in all Veronica Roth managed to redeem herself for me, so I can't wait to see what she has in store next.
blogan27's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
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
4.25
forsakenfates's review against another edition
3.0
2.5 Stars
Pros:
- After how much I disliked the lack of story in the first book, this book definitely had more story elements to it and I felt like there was a true purpose to what was going on with the characters.
- We got to see more of the world beyond were Cyra and Akos grew up which was a great way to expand on what was happening and showing how the "war" was affecting more than just their planet.
Cons:
- Veronica Roth did it again in terms of ruining characters. In Carve the Mark, I actually enjoyed the relationship between Cyra and Akos but in this book they both felt so flat to me. It was like they did a complete 180 and were not at all the same people.
- This is supposedly just a duology but she definitely left it open for more. But I think it is safe to say I do not need or want more.
I've decided that I do not think I am a fan of Veronica Roth's works. I've now read her two series and they have both disappointed me in the end. Divergent started off great but quickly became a struggle to finish and this duology was a struggle from the beginning. I'm not sure I will be continuing to read other books by her in the future.
Pros:
- After how much I disliked the lack of story in the first book, this book definitely had more story elements to it and I felt like there was a true purpose to what was going on with the characters.
- We got to see more of the world beyond were Cyra and Akos grew up which was a great way to expand on what was happening and showing how the "war" was affecting more than just their planet.
Cons:
- Veronica Roth did it again in terms of ruining characters. In Carve the Mark, I actually enjoyed the relationship between Cyra and Akos but in this book they both felt so flat to me. It was like they did a complete 180 and were not at all the same people.
- This is supposedly just a duology but she definitely left it open for more. But I think it is safe to say I do not need or want more.
I've decided that I do not think I am a fan of Veronica Roth's works. I've now read her two series and they have both disappointed me in the end. Divergent started off great but quickly became a struggle to finish and this duology was a struggle from the beginning. I'm not sure I will be continuing to read other books by her in the future.
meganamaral's review against another edition
4.0
It is crazy writing this review right now - I am so happy that I finally finished this book because it was painful to get through, yet towards the end of reading this book, I was getting really emotional that Cyra and Akos's story was coming to an end. Like the first book, the beginning and middle were super slow and painful to get through, but once something huge happened, the last 100-200 pages were action-packed and emotional.
This book was no exception. I felt like this book was even more painful than the first book - in the first, Crya and Akos were learning how to go from enemies to understanding one another and gaining a respect for their situations and how strong they were as individuals. During the process, they learn to work together to save one another. In this book, I felt like it was a lot of running away and Cyra and Akos making up excuses why they couldn't be together. I felt like it was mostly Akos trying to stray away from Cyra and as a reader, it really bothered me. Cyra was finally opening up after a lifetime of no one loving her except for her mother, and her brother and father using her current power to do their dirty work and then tossing her aside once they were done. Cyra, after her inner struggle with her feelings for Akos, told him that she loved him. Truly loved him. Regardless of their fates, she knew she loved him and that no matter what would happen after the war, if she was dead or alive, she wanted to share that time doing everything she could to save her people, alongside the person she loved. Akos, on the other hand, bothered me soo much. He knew that he loved Cyra, but instead of just telling her that, he tells her that their fates are the only thing keeping them together. That if their fates weren't their fates, they would have never met or loved one another. Maybe it was just because I was going through a little breakup of my own at the time I read this part, but every time Akos denied any feelings for Cyra, but still wanted to make out with her, it killed me inside. I remember getting this empty feeling in my chest everytime he would open his mouth and deny his feelings for Cyra and I remember specifically one time where I actually teared up while reading one chapter. It didn't help that I was already emotional, but Akos sure in hell didn't help.
But it wasn't just Akos denying his feelings for Cyra, slowly making her question herself, not understanding where it all went wrong (I feel you girl, literally me these last few weeks), but it was the choices he was making and not making. It was so hard for me to admit, but I actually really disliked Akos in this book. He made Cyra question her feelings and after (as well a little before) the huge plot twist in the middle after they met with the Oracle of Ogra, he kept on running away until he decided that he was going to kill Lazment, but do it on his own. I understand why he felt the need to do it alone, but it killed me because he has this HUGE support system that would do anything to help him achieve his goal, especially since it was Cyra's goal from day 1, but everyone denied her and said that they had to go a different route. I understand that he wanted to keep her safe, but throughout the first book and the first half of the second, it seems so out of character just because they've done everything together and they never left one another behind. Then in this book, he leaves Cyra behind with no indication that he was going to kill Lazment, so Cyra literally breaks down and thinks that because of their new fates aren't connected like their old ones, he had no reason to stick around.
It broke me and it broke Cyra.
The other part of why I didn't like Akos was what person he became when he was with Lazment. I completely understand why he did what he did and it killed me that towards the end, he thought about Cyra and how her life must have been growing up with him and her life with Ryzek. He thought about how he understood, but at the same time didn't understand how much stronger she was as a person and how strong she was when she broke out of the pain. He thought about how strong she was, and how not strong he was. I understood why this had to happen and why he had to completely break down in order to be rebuilt, but the ONE thing that I still cannot get over is what he did to Jorek. A LOT of people died in this book, as well as the first one, but the ONLY death that I cannot get over in Jorek's.
But I guess we have to take what we are given. At least none of the "main" characters got killed, like in Veronica Roth's last trilogy. Thank you for that. I don't think I would have survived another "main" character death.
Other than completely loving Cyra (she was a complete badass in this book. even though she was breaking down every chapter because of her people dying and Akos denying his feelings for her), and not liking Akos (of course, not until the very end when Cyra confronts him), I don't know how I feel about the other characters.
We see a lot more characters in this book, and we actually get a couple of characters from the point of views of Akos's siblings Cisi and Eijah. Which I loved because I felt like it was necessary, but at the same time, I didn't like either one of them as characters. I felt bad for Akos because his whole mission in the first book was to save his brother Eijah from the Novaks, and in the first book, they do succeed. But Eijah isn't the same Eijah. He is actually parts of himself as well as different memories that made up Ryzek, therefore, when Ryzek is killed at the beginning of the second book, Eijah and Ryzek both become one person, but two different people in the same body. Throughout this book, they are learning to coexist as the rising Oracle, not knowing who to trust and how to trust. And I felt bad for Akos and his family because Eijah never gets to that point of learning to trust either one of their families and ends up just leaving at the end. It honestly made me emotional because they put in all this work especially to save his brother, and I don't think his brother was ever saved.
On the other hand, I didn't like Cisi. She helped with the story and being the chancellor's lover helped influence her decisions with her current gift. There might have been a deadlier war if it wasn't for Cisi helping persuade her to be peaceful. But that was the only thing I liked about Cisi. Yes, her chapters gave us more background about her and Akos's life as well as us getting more background about the chancellor's life, but I didn't like Cisi as a person. Cisi seemed to always blame her current gift with her struggles and it wasn't until the end that we find out that she actually knows how to control her current gift the whole time and was purposely manipulating people to do what she wanted them to do. She believed she was innocent in this whole war, but in reality, she was exactly like her mother, the sitting Oracle, who I also didn't like. I guess it is important to manipulate your surroundings to get the best future available, but what was the best future? I guess that is why the assembly nations were trying to come to a peace agreement with the Oracles, the nation planets deciding if it was fair for the Oracles to report to a higher up government to decide what was best for the universe.
I can go on and on about the characters; how I thought that when Ryzek died so early on in this book, it was actually really lame or how I thought that everyone was manipulating one another, but honestly, at the end of it all, this book was a solid 4 stars. I know I have been complaining the whole time about what I didn't like about the storyline and the characters, and how slow it was in the beginning, but if I am being honest, this book is on a whole other level. It's its own level. As painful as the beginning was, this duology was so vibrant and emotional and even though a character did terrible things, *cough Akos cough,* you can't hate them because no matter how bad their actions were, you know that there was no other option. I mean Akos didn't have to be an ass and lie to Cyra about his feelings, BUT when he was doing all those terrible things when he was with Lazment, even though I hated him more and more as he personally broke as a person, you deep down knew that there was nothing he could do. He understood that in order to save his people, both Thuvesit ant Shotet, he had to do and go as far as he could to achieve the greatest outcome. Even thinking about the end of this book when Cyra was talking about the pain in his eyes, even after a season had passed and there was peace, Akos was willing to give up everything in order to save everyone else. And it just hit me on such a deep level. Thinking about it, I should give this book a 5 star review because it was so fucked up and emotional and I LOVED Crya and Akos because they were willing to sacrifice themselves (either their lives or their freedom or their peace of mind), willing to fight their whole lives so that their people could live free and at peace. You don't read books too often with characters like this. And maybe tomorrow morning when I have time to settle down, I will change my review from 4 to 5, but as of right now... I can't do that. The book itself was so much better than the Divergent series and I hope that Veronica Roth will come out with another masterpiece, but I couldn't stand how slow and painful the beginning was for these two books. I found myself zoning out so many times in the beginning. It wasn't until the HUGE plot twist, tha I started to actually pay any attention to the story. Please, Veronica, come out with more books and series like this one, but please find a balance where the story consistently flows and doesn't start off boring. Honestly, if this book was a standalone, I wouldn't have finished it. I think the only reason why I read all the way through, and I am glad that I did read it, was because I wanted to know how Akos and Cyra would end up.
Which is another point and my last one, as much as I didn't like Eijah's chapters, I really appreciate how the epilogue was from his pov. I loved how the final character was him looking into the future and telling the reader not only what their fate was going to be and where they would end up, but also what happened to Cisi and the Chancellor as well as the "fate" of Cyra and Akos. And I am not going to lie, it was cute, it was cheesy, and it was PERFECT. After everything that had happened to them both and what they did for both of their people, I teared up at the end because they got their happy ending doing the one thing that they love as well as the thing that brought them together in the first book. I LOVE endings like that. They are both different people from book one and they are definitely both broken in their own ways, but one thing stayed the same through it all, their love and support for one another as well as having their passion for the tradition of their people. I am a huge sucker for when authors bring back something from book one to the ending of the series. Cyra and Akos learned they loved one another in book one on the Soujern ship, and I think it was the perfect ending that they ended up being together again, on a Soujern together.
This book was no exception. I felt like this book was even more painful than the first book - in the first, Crya and Akos were learning how to go from enemies to understanding one another and gaining a respect for their situations and how strong they were as individuals. During the process, they learn to work together to save one another. In this book, I felt like it was a lot of running away and Cyra and Akos making up excuses why they couldn't be together. I felt like it was mostly Akos trying to stray away from Cyra and as a reader, it really bothered me. Cyra was finally opening up after a lifetime of no one loving her except for her mother, and her brother and father using her current power to do their dirty work and then tossing her aside once they were done. Cyra, after her inner struggle with her feelings for Akos, told him that she loved him. Truly loved him. Regardless of their fates, she knew she loved him and that no matter what would happen after the war, if she was dead or alive, she wanted to share that time doing everything she could to save her people, alongside the person she loved. Akos, on the other hand, bothered me soo much. He knew that he loved Cyra, but instead of just telling her that, he tells her that their fates are the only thing keeping them together. That if their fates weren't their fates, they would have never met or loved one another. Maybe it was just because I was going through a little breakup of my own at the time I read this part, but every time Akos denied any feelings for Cyra, but still wanted to make out with her, it killed me inside. I remember getting this empty feeling in my chest everytime he would open his mouth and deny his feelings for Cyra and I remember specifically one time where I actually teared up while reading one chapter. It didn't help that I was already emotional, but Akos sure in hell didn't help.
But it wasn't just Akos denying his feelings for Cyra, slowly making her question herself, not understanding where it all went wrong (I feel you girl, literally me these last few weeks), but it was the choices he was making and not making. It was so hard for me to admit, but I actually really disliked Akos in this book. He made Cyra question her feelings and after (as well a little before) the huge plot twist in the middle after they met with the Oracle of Ogra, he kept on running away until he decided that he was going to kill Lazment, but do it on his own. I understand why he felt the need to do it alone, but it killed me because he has this HUGE support system that would do anything to help him achieve his goal, especially since it was Cyra's goal from day 1, but everyone denied her and said that they had to go a different route. I understand that he wanted to keep her safe, but throughout the first book and the first half of the second, it seems so out of character just because they've done everything together and they never left one another behind. Then in this book, he leaves Cyra behind with no indication that he was going to kill Lazment, so Cyra literally breaks down and thinks that because of their new fates aren't connected like their old ones, he had no reason to stick around.
It broke me and it broke Cyra.
The other part of why I didn't like Akos was what person he became when he was with Lazment. I completely understand why he did what he did and it killed me that towards the end, he thought about Cyra and how her life must have been growing up with him and her life with Ryzek. He thought about how he understood, but at the same time didn't understand how much stronger she was as a person and how strong she was when she broke out of the pain. He thought about how strong she was, and how not strong he was. I understood why this had to happen and why he had to completely break down in order to be rebuilt, but the ONE thing that I still cannot get over is what he did to Jorek. A LOT of people died in this book, as well as the first one, but the ONLY death that I cannot get over in Jorek's.
But I guess we have to take what we are given. At least none of the "main" characters got killed, like in Veronica Roth's last trilogy. Thank you for that. I don't think I would have survived another "main" character death.
Other than completely loving Cyra (she was a complete badass in this book. even though she was breaking down every chapter because of her people dying and Akos denying his feelings for her), and not liking Akos (of course, not until the very end when Cyra confronts him), I don't know how I feel about the other characters.
We see a lot more characters in this book, and we actually get a couple of characters from the point of views of Akos's siblings Cisi and Eijah. Which I loved because I felt like it was necessary, but at the same time, I didn't like either one of them as characters. I felt bad for Akos because his whole mission in the first book was to save his brother Eijah from the Novaks, and in the first book, they do succeed. But Eijah isn't the same Eijah. He is actually parts of himself as well as different memories that made up Ryzek, therefore, when Ryzek is killed at the beginning of the second book, Eijah and Ryzek both become one person, but two different people in the same body. Throughout this book, they are learning to coexist as the rising Oracle, not knowing who to trust and how to trust. And I felt bad for Akos and his family because Eijah never gets to that point of learning to trust either one of their families and ends up just leaving at the end. It honestly made me emotional because they put in all this work especially to save his brother, and I don't think his brother was ever saved.
On the other hand, I didn't like Cisi. She helped with the story and being the chancellor's lover helped influence her decisions with her current gift. There might have been a deadlier war if it wasn't for Cisi helping persuade her to be peaceful. But that was the only thing I liked about Cisi. Yes, her chapters gave us more background about her and Akos's life as well as us getting more background about the chancellor's life, but I didn't like Cisi as a person. Cisi seemed to always blame her current gift with her struggles and it wasn't until the end that we find out that she actually knows how to control her current gift the whole time and was purposely manipulating people to do what she wanted them to do. She believed she was innocent in this whole war, but in reality, she was exactly like her mother, the sitting Oracle, who I also didn't like. I guess it is important to manipulate your surroundings to get the best future available, but what was the best future? I guess that is why the assembly nations were trying to come to a peace agreement with the Oracles, the nation planets deciding if it was fair for the Oracles to report to a higher up government to decide what was best for the universe.
I can go on and on about the characters; how I thought that when Ryzek died so early on in this book, it was actually really lame or how I thought that everyone was manipulating one another, but honestly, at the end of it all, this book was a solid 4 stars. I know I have been complaining the whole time about what I didn't like about the storyline and the characters, and how slow it was in the beginning, but if I am being honest, this book is on a whole other level. It's its own level. As painful as the beginning was, this duology was so vibrant and emotional and even though a character did terrible things, *cough Akos cough,* you can't hate them because no matter how bad their actions were, you know that there was no other option. I mean Akos didn't have to be an ass and lie to Cyra about his feelings, BUT when he was doing all those terrible things when he was with Lazment, even though I hated him more and more as he personally broke as a person, you deep down knew that there was nothing he could do. He understood that in order to save his people, both Thuvesit ant Shotet, he had to do and go as far as he could to achieve the greatest outcome. Even thinking about the end of this book when Cyra was talking about the pain in his eyes, even after a season had passed and there was peace, Akos was willing to give up everything in order to save everyone else. And it just hit me on such a deep level. Thinking about it, I should give this book a 5 star review because it was so fucked up and emotional and I LOVED Crya and Akos because they were willing to sacrifice themselves (either their lives or their freedom or their peace of mind), willing to fight their whole lives so that their people could live free and at peace. You don't read books too often with characters like this. And maybe tomorrow morning when I have time to settle down, I will change my review from 4 to 5, but as of right now... I can't do that. The book itself was so much better than the Divergent series and I hope that Veronica Roth will come out with another masterpiece, but I couldn't stand how slow and painful the beginning was for these two books. I found myself zoning out so many times in the beginning. It wasn't until the HUGE plot twist, tha I started to actually pay any attention to the story. Please, Veronica, come out with more books and series like this one, but please find a balance where the story consistently flows and doesn't start off boring. Honestly, if this book was a standalone, I wouldn't have finished it. I think the only reason why I read all the way through, and I am glad that I did read it, was because I wanted to know how Akos and Cyra would end up.
Which is another point and my last one, as much as I didn't like Eijah's chapters, I really appreciate how the epilogue was from his pov. I loved how the final character was him looking into the future and telling the reader not only what their fate was going to be and where they would end up, but also what happened to Cisi and the Chancellor as well as the "fate" of Cyra and Akos. And I am not going to lie, it was cute, it was cheesy, and it was PERFECT. After everything that had happened to them both and what they did for both of their people, I teared up at the end because they got their happy ending doing the one thing that they love as well as the thing that brought them together in the first book. I LOVE endings like that. They are both different people from book one and they are definitely both broken in their own ways, but one thing stayed the same through it all, their love and support for one another as well as having their passion for the tradition of their people. I am a huge sucker for when authors bring back something from book one to the ending of the series. Cyra and Akos learned they loved one another in book one on the Soujern ship, and I think it was the perfect ending that they ended up being together again, on a Soujern together.
faithtrustpixiedust's review against another edition
5.0
Space was not a finite container, but that didn't mean it was empty. Asteroids, stars, planets, the current stream; space debris, ships, fragmented moons, undiscovered worlds; this was a place of endless possibility and unfathomable freedom. It was not nothing, it was everything.
I had some mixed feelings about the first book, but I entirely loved this one! It was so good!
The inclusion of Eijeh and Cisi's perspectives really added a lot to the story and the world. We got to see so much more through them than just through Akos and Cyra, and it was greatly appreciated. I got my more planets wish and got some awesome visuals along the way (Ogra is my dream aesthetic)
The themes were great in this, and the pacing was also great. Everything was great.
I was hesitant about the Lazmet death retcon, but it was done really well and added a lot to the story. The plot twists were all super effective and the hard-hitting moments were pretty intense.
Let me just say that I hate Isae Benesit and will never like her. The end.
(note to Veronica Roth: PLEASE do not make this a trilogy! Two is fine! An unresolved political drama is perfectly okay to leave hanging. Don't pull an Allegiant on us again!)
diana2006's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
itsdanixx's review against another edition
2.0
Eh. I didn’t really enjoy this.
I still don’t like Cyra at all and none of the rest of the characters particularly appealed to me.
The relationship between Cyra and Akos felt forced and I couldn’t see any real connection or spark between them.
The plot wasn’t particularly interesting to me and I didn’t find myself intrigued to know what was going to happen.
The writing was overly, and unnecessarily, dramatic and I found myself rolling my eyes a few times.
I mean, it wasn’t all bad - there were some bits where I started to get much more into the story and thought it was going to pick up from here, but unfortunately they never lasted.
I just didn’t really like it. I’m disappointed, but based on the strength of the Divergent series - I loved all three books - I’ll still read whatever Veronica Roth does next, I just hope it’s not more of the same!
I still don’t like Cyra at all and none of the rest of the characters particularly appealed to me.
The relationship between Cyra and Akos felt forced and I couldn’t see any real connection or spark between them.
The plot wasn’t particularly interesting to me and I didn’t find myself intrigued to know what was going to happen.
The writing was overly, and unnecessarily, dramatic and I found myself rolling my eyes a few times.
I mean, it wasn’t all bad - there were some bits where I started to get much more into the story and thought it was going to pick up from here, but unfortunately they never lasted.
I just didn’t really like it. I’m disappointed, but based on the strength of the Divergent series - I loved all three books - I’ll still read whatever Veronica Roth does next, I just hope it’s not more of the same!