wordsareweapons's review
5.0
Oh I just love this series! Tea is such a great character, and I'm loving the development of her character and the relationships. The dual story timelines is great. I am starting to think this will not be a happy ending to the series...but maybe?!
kanha's review
3.0
3,5 stars.
Listened to the audiobook, still had a hard time with the changing narrators.
I liked this book, and I think that I will like this more when I read a physical copy! I honestly think this could be 4 stars after a re-read.
Really looking forward to the next book!
Listened to the audiobook, still had a hard time with the changing narrators.
I liked this book, and I think that I will like this more when I read a physical copy! I honestly think this could be 4 stars after a re-read.
Really looking forward to the next book!
leonas_library's review
4.0
This story gets better and better and the love stories in this had my heart-melting. There is a YA fantasy so there is no spice but you still feel all warm inside. I cannot wait for the third book so I know all the truths and see how it ends I'm so afraid I'm going to cry!!
melaninny's review
4.0
I had a feeling I would like the second book in this series even more than the first, and I'm pleased to say the feeling was correct. Dark, riveting, with full immersion in this compelling world, this book encompasses so many of my favorite YA tropes.
Honestly, my enjoyment of The Heart Forger would bring it to a 5 star rating, but there were some things that kept me from awarding it with that. There were a few pretty obvious editing errors that were a bit distracting, and also a few scenes that made me think that perhaps the publication of this book was rushed.
Still, I absolutely gulped it down, and that's a rarity for me.
Honestly, my enjoyment of The Heart Forger would bring it to a 5 star rating, but there were some things that kept me from awarding it with that. There were a few pretty obvious editing errors that were a bit distracting, and also a few scenes that made me think that perhaps the publication of this book was rushed.
Still, I absolutely gulped it down, and that's a rarity for me.
caitlinwhetten's review
4.0
Such an improvement over the first one and I enjoyed this so much more. There's much more happening, more plot, characters have more to do and we get more of this world and its politics in an interesting way.
We also get an enemies-to-lovers romance which I liked, though it had some slightly awkward moments where Tea's compulsion powers come into play and I'm like:
It didn't go all the way with it, but it still made me a bit antsy. However, I also enjoyed the little side romances we got, including some LGBT ones. I think the characters and their relationships are a lot stronger in this book and I really enjoyed that.
What keeps this from being a five-star is that I still think the present-day storyline is the more interesting one and what I wish the majority of the book had been. Tea goes full-on badass Daenerys bitch in this one, raising an army of the undead and shadow monsters to conquer and overthrow a kingdom. We get a morally grey hero, some broken friendships, legitimately scary, dark magic and it's just everything I want this series to be. But those present-day chapters are only five pages long at the most and they're not the focal point of the story. It's really frustrating.
I also wish that the reason why Tea's been exiled and what was supposedly her tipping point into the dark side had been a bit more "punched up." I was expecting a little bit more and everyone seems to give her the benefit of the doubt so it didn't seem to add up to what's happening in the present day storyline.
But this one was more fun, more action-packed and had more magic and I enjoyed my time with it. I finished it in two days so I'll hopefully be finishing out the series soon.
We also get an enemies-to-lovers romance which I liked, though it had some slightly awkward moments where Tea's compulsion powers come into play and I'm like:
It didn't go all the way with it, but it still made me a bit antsy. However, I also enjoyed the little side romances we got, including some LGBT ones. I think the characters and their relationships are a lot stronger in this book and I really enjoyed that.
What keeps this from being a five-star is that I still think the present-day storyline is the more interesting one and what I wish the majority of the book had been. Tea goes full-on badass Daenerys bitch in this one, raising an army of the undead and shadow monsters to conquer and overthrow a kingdom. We get a morally grey hero, some broken friendships, legitimately scary, dark magic and it's just everything I want this series to be. But those present-day chapters are only five pages long at the most and they're not the focal point of the story. It's really frustrating.
I also wish that the reason why Tea's been exiled and what was supposedly her tipping point into the dark side had been a bit more "punched up." I was expecting a little bit more and everyone seems to give her the benefit of the doubt so it didn't seem to add up to what's happening in the present day storyline.
But this one was more fun, more action-packed and had more magic and I enjoyed my time with it. I finished it in two days so I'll hopefully be finishing out the series soon.
joylene45's review
3.0
The action definitely picked up in this volume, but it still didn't grab my attention well enough to be interested in reading book three.
sevro_au_barca's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
kaiyakaiyo's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I like the characters and I like the world building but holy moly does the narrative style not do it for me.
I’ve seen in other reviews that people love the flashback-flashforward effect but for me it was exhausting trying to keep up with what’s going on knowing that there are only a few months in between. I don’t think the “present day” story from the Bard should have come until book 3; frankly all it did was annoy me in books 1 & 2 because I had no way of knowing how the actions in the flashbacks led up to the events in the present. Something that helped me enjoy this book more was reading all the “present day” scenes then going back for all the flashback scenes; that helped me feel less thrown around by the two ends of the same story.
Overall, these books have felt like when you get a really pretty skein of yarn & go against your better judgement & try to pull from the center only for it to prolapse into a mess of tangles that you have to pick through for hours to put back in order. gorgeous material, bad execution.
I’ve seen in other reviews that people love the flashback-flashforward effect but for me it was exhausting trying to keep up with what’s going on knowing that there are only a few months in between. I don’t think the “present day” story from the Bard should have come until book 3; frankly all it did was annoy me in books 1 & 2 because I had no way of knowing how the actions in the flashbacks led up to the events in the present. Something that helped me enjoy this book more was reading all the “present day” scenes then going back for all the flashback scenes; that helped me feel less thrown around by the two ends of the same story.
Overall, these books have felt like when you get a really pretty skein of yarn & go against your better judgement & try to pull from the center only for it to prolapse into a mess of tangles that you have to pick through for hours to put back in order. gorgeous material, bad execution.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Torture, War, and Murder
Moderate: Homophobia and Transphobia
mindlessmartyrr's review
3.0
I don’t know why I’m still reading this series when I barely skimmed the last 150 pages. But I’m trying to give it a chance. And I have the third one. I love Kalen and Tea. I just want the books to be all about them and less about the other things I don’t care about. I’m just weak when it comes to romance... and this is what I crave the most since it took so long to get them together. Maybe the third book will be better. Or maybe I’m just restless about reading since I’m having a baby soon, who knows?