Reviews with content warning for Animal death - The War of Two Queens

holy shit. this was significantly better than the last book! I had my fears but it definitely proved me wrong. Once again this book falls victim to a action packed beginning and end but a relatively boring middle. I think Poppy is wayyy too overpowered in terms of where we started. I will say though between the end, the joining, the Poppy & Castiel reunion, and Tawney I have a lot of positives too. Which is why the book is rated as high as it is. While this book falls victim to a lot of the pitfalls of the 2nd and 3rd book, it is entertaining as hell and FINALLY answers series long questions (despite how ridiculous some answers are).

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yarisbooksandbevs's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional slow-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

3.5

I have to admit I went back and forth with this book. There were some moments I really liked and there were others I was very upset about.

I love Cas. I love Kieran. I love Reaver. There are other characters I love but these are probably my favorites. They’re witty and sarcastic and also loveable. I feel like Poppy really grew throughout this book especially.

I did find it a little irritating that they were overly confident and kept underestimating Isbeth. Her death was satisfying. Go Poppy. I have to say I am so freaking glad we finally got the joining and it was sexual. The joining was definitely spicy but it was also beautiful and sweet. They give me throuple vibes but it’s sweet how much they care for each other

.

I do feel like Armentrout does fall into this cycle of repetition that kind of drags on but I really like the actual storyline so I look past the repetitive jokes that have lost their effect and the repetitive info for the general story that I’m really enjoying.

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midnacine's review

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adventurous dark emotional 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

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lem0nbalm_'s review against another edition

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adventurous dark tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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josxphinchen's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional 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? It's complicated

4.25

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cassie12_21's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark tense 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? It's complicated

3.75

Just found out there is going to be 2 more books, I don’t want to wait to see how this ends😭.

at least Isbitch is dead, and the 3-some happened, although I was anticipating more from it, slightly disappointed

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cluckieduck's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.5

A roller coaster of fantasy fun!

I’ll start with the actual book review before touching on the scandal that has grown.

In typical JLA fashion, this book is a bit overstuffed with info & description and could probably be 1/4 thinner, at least. As well, there’s so many redundancies between this series & the newer Flesh & Fire series; Poppy & the Consort are basically the same characters, so having two series practically repeating is a bit much with the double-info dumps, but I digress. The bulk of this was quite enjoyable! There’s a lot of action, tension, angst, grief, love, lust, surprise…everything you want in a fantasy novel. I just wish she were a better writer, or at least had a better editor.

The characters, both main & supporting, are appropriately loveable & hateable. Even more than Isbeth, Callum is a particularly despicable villain. And Reaver is a delightful addition to our core group of heroes and I am here for all his snark & dry remarks. I’m interested to see where the next book will take us after the ending we are given.

Id rather not address this, but I think it’s almost necessary at this point. I stayed away from social media after I saw grumblings of how JLA “ruined” the series with this book, so the whole time I was reading, I kept wondering what all the griping was about, then finishing to see it’s all linked to the Joining…get a grip people. The rise in vitriol that female authors of these kind of series receive is disgusting when a storyline or a “ship” doesn’t go a a particular way. Now, I was neither for or against the Joining. That’s up to JLA as a writer and I don’t think she was swayed by fan opinion. Could it have been written better? Probably. Did it detract from the story? No!

Everyone is welcome to their opinions and everyone has their own tastes, which means you can read or not read what you want to. Criticism is ok, but doxxing & threats are disgraceful. This is a fantasy series after all.

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