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ezzzma's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
jvantland's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
himalaya's review against another edition
4.0
I enjoyed this! I loved the way magic is woven into the world, almost subtly with all the nature spirits and talking animals - that most people ignore, but she notices them. I like a complex death character who is NOT a love interest. makes it actually interesting.
And there is a love interest but it’s not really a romance. the princess is pretty terrible. (but also clearly very fucked up also). definitely more of a personal journey among Too Much Stuff Happening kind of narrative more than anything. no idea where it’ll go in book two!
And there is a love interest but it’s not really a romance. the princess is pretty terrible. (but also clearly very fucked up also). definitely more of a personal journey among Too Much Stuff Happening kind of narrative more than anything. no idea where it’ll go in book two!
why do eels have to be the symbol for the evil religion, justice for eels :(
also wish it had the arc cover instead of whatever this is
also wish it had the arc cover instead of whatever this is
grack21's review against another edition
dark
emotional
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
aeeklund's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
loafhart's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
The cover is really ugly for such a great book
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Miscarriage, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, and Abandonment
If you have mommy issues. Beware.ashhopk's review against another edition
slow-paced
3.0
Ok the story is SO interesting and there’s so much you wonder what will happen next but the book moves SO SLOW and honestly lost my interest so I probably won’t read the next one because it didn’t leave a lot to desire
cscheue's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Obsessed. The writing was beautiful and made the whole experience of the story feel etherial and dreamy.
tinlizzyd08's review against another edition
3.0
An unusual book! Right off, I’ll just tell you I am torn about my feelings regarding Marianne Gordon’s debut novel. It is such a unique premise and I could not predict where this book was going at any point. I must say, I’ve never read anything quite like it and I like that! But there were a few areas that made me not fall in love quite the way I wanted to, and I really wanted to!
Hellevir (what a name, right?) is a peculiar young girl who can talk with things in nature, not just animals but trees and the hearthplace fire and even Death…well, he may be death. Put a pin in that!
With this questionable gift she finds herself able to do what can rarely be done, go into the realm of the dead and bring back those who have lost their life, but only at a dear cost to herself.
When her skills become known, she is forced by the Crown out of her quiet village and into a court full of political scheming and deceit. Will she help the Crown? Does she want to? If so, what will it cost her? Exciting questions and lots of potential!
The overall premise is so intriguing, and I gobbled up the first 1/3 of the book eagerly waiting for the plot to truly come to light. But frustratingly, it never really did. I see this is meant to be the first in a series so maybe there is some slow playing here, which I appreciate. It makes sense that things will develop and more will be revealed down the road. I don’t mind being patient. But I never quite got the point of why we should care if Hellevir succeeds in helping the princess and the queen she is bound in service to. They are both very hot and cold characters without a lot of backstory as to what drives them or why they are the way they are.
Hellevir is also so wishy washy and I wasn’t sure if i really liked her.. She doesn’t know her own mind and vacillates between what she wants to do and doesn’t want to do so often that I didn’t know what to cheer for. It was hard to really embrace her as the main character and want her to succeed because I was just never sure what she should be succeeding at. Saving the princess? Is that good? Bad? She makes it seem negative and against her will but then has a deep desire to save her. But it’s very unclear as to why and we don’t fully get to go inside her head and see the real turmoil that would make us sympathetic to her agitation. She doesn’t know what she wants and neither do we, and we don’t know WHY! I’m a girl who needs to know the inner workings of a character’s mind and then I’m all in for them. The lack of character development left me feeling uncommitted and I steadily lost interest more and more as the book continued.
Even as the book is over, I honestly still can’t put my finger on what the overall plot was because it felt like a bunch of small situations without a bigger endgame. We have a lot of great elements and all the pieces here, but the STORY is missing for me. A really wonderful Book Two could bring it all into focus and I think I am invested just enough to read a second book! I hope Gordon’s next book gives us more insight into where we are going because her writing is beautiful, creative and wholly original. Hopefully this is just the beginning of Hellevir’s story and I will get to fall in love with her yet!
Thanks to Avon and Harper Voyager books for this Advanced Reader Copy! This ARC was kindly provided to me in exchange for my honest review.
Hellevir (what a name, right?) is a peculiar young girl who can talk with things in nature, not just animals but trees and the hearthplace fire and even Death…well, he may be death. Put a pin in that!
With this questionable gift she finds herself able to do what can rarely be done, go into the realm of the dead and bring back those who have lost their life, but only at a dear cost to herself.
When her skills become known, she is forced by the Crown out of her quiet village and into a court full of political scheming and deceit. Will she help the Crown? Does she want to? If so, what will it cost her? Exciting questions and lots of potential!
The overall premise is so intriguing, and I gobbled up the first 1/3 of the book eagerly waiting for the plot to truly come to light. But frustratingly, it never really did. I see this is meant to be the first in a series so maybe there is some slow playing here, which I appreciate. It makes sense that things will develop and more will be revealed down the road. I don’t mind being patient. But I never quite got the point of why we should care if Hellevir succeeds in helping the princess and the queen she is bound in service to. They are both very hot and cold characters without a lot of backstory as to what drives them or why they are the way they are.
Hellevir is also so wishy washy and I wasn’t sure if i really liked her.. She doesn’t know her own mind and vacillates between what she wants to do and doesn’t want to do so often that I didn’t know what to cheer for. It was hard to really embrace her as the main character and want her to succeed because I was just never sure what she should be succeeding at. Saving the princess? Is that good? Bad? She makes it seem negative and against her will but then has a deep desire to save her. But it’s very unclear as to why and we don’t fully get to go inside her head and see the real turmoil that would make us sympathetic to her agitation. She doesn’t know what she wants and neither do we, and we don’t know WHY! I’m a girl who needs to know the inner workings of a character’s mind and then I’m all in for them. The lack of character development left me feeling uncommitted and I steadily lost interest more and more as the book continued.
Even as the book is over, I honestly still can’t put my finger on what the overall plot was because it felt like a bunch of small situations without a bigger endgame. We have a lot of great elements and all the pieces here, but the STORY is missing for me. A really wonderful Book Two could bring it all into focus and I think I am invested just enough to read a second book! I hope Gordon’s next book gives us more insight into where we are going because her writing is beautiful, creative and wholly original. Hopefully this is just the beginning of Hellevir’s story and I will get to fall in love with her yet!
Thanks to Avon and Harper Voyager books for this Advanced Reader Copy! This ARC was kindly provided to me in exchange for my honest review.
tinlizzyd08's review against another edition
3.0
An unusual book! Right off, I’ll just tell you I am torn about my feelings regarding Marianne Gordon’s debut novel. It is such a unique premise and I could not predict where this book was going at any point. I must say, I’ve never read anything quite like it and I like that! But there were a few areas that made me not fall in love quite the way I wanted to, and I really wanted to!
Hellevir (what a name, right?) is a peculiar young girl who can talk with things in nature, not just animals but trees and the hearthplace fire and even Death…well, he may be death. Put a pin in that!
With this questionable gift she finds herself able to do what can rarely be done, go into the realm of the dead and bring back those who have lost their life, but only at a dear cost to herself.
When her skills become known, she is forced by the Crown out of her quiet village and into a court full of political scheming and deceit. Will she help the Crown? Does she want to? If so, what will it cost her? Exciting questions and lots of potential!
The overall premise is so intriguing, and I gobbled up the first 1/3 of the book eagerly waiting for the plot to truly come to light. But frustratingly, it never really did. I see this is meant to be the first in a series so maybe there is some slow playing here, which I appreciate. It makes sense that things will develop and more will be revealed down the road. I don’t mind being patient. But I never quite got the point of why we should care if Hellevir succeeds in helping the princess and the queen she is bound in service to. They are both very hot and cold characters without a lot of backstory as to what drives them or why they are the way they are.
Hellevir is also so wishy washy and I wasn’t sure if i really liked her.. She doesn’t know her own mind and vacillates between what she wants to do and doesn’t want to do so often that I didn’t know what to cheer for. It was hard to really embrace her as the main character and want her to succeed because I was just never sure what she should be succeeding at. Saving the princess? Is that good? Bad? She makes it seem negative and against her will but then has a deep desire to save her. But it’s very unclear as to why and we don’t fully get to go inside her head and see the real turmoil that would make us sympathetic to her agitation. She doesn’t know what she wants and neither do we, and we don’t know WHY! I’m a girl who needs to know the inner workings of a character’s mind and then I’m all in for them. The lack of character development left me feeling uncommitted and I steadily lost interest more and more as the book continued.
Even as the book is over, I honestly still can’t put my finger on what the overall plot was because it felt like a bunch of small situations without a bigger endgame. We have a lot of great elements and all the pieces here, but the STORY is missing for me. A really wonderful Book Two could bring it all into focus and I think I am invested just enough to read a second book! I hope Gordon’s next book gives us more insight into where we are going because her writing is beautiful, creative and wholly original. Hopefully this is just the beginning of Hellevir’s story and I will get to fall in love with her yet!
Hellevir (what a name, right?) is a peculiar young girl who can talk with things in nature, not just animals but trees and the hearthplace fire and even Death…well, he may be death. Put a pin in that!
With this questionable gift she finds herself able to do what can rarely be done, go into the realm of the dead and bring back those who have lost their life, but only at a dear cost to herself.
When her skills become known, she is forced by the Crown out of her quiet village and into a court full of political scheming and deceit. Will she help the Crown? Does she want to? If so, what will it cost her? Exciting questions and lots of potential!
The overall premise is so intriguing, and I gobbled up the first 1/3 of the book eagerly waiting for the plot to truly come to light. But frustratingly, it never really did. I see this is meant to be the first in a series so maybe there is some slow playing here, which I appreciate. It makes sense that things will develop and more will be revealed down the road. I don’t mind being patient. But I never quite got the point of why we should care if Hellevir succeeds in helping the princess and the queen she is bound in service to. They are both very hot and cold characters without a lot of backstory as to what drives them or why they are the way they are.
Hellevir is also so wishy washy and I wasn’t sure if i really liked her.. She doesn’t know her own mind and vacillates between what she wants to do and doesn’t want to do so often that I didn’t know what to cheer for. It was hard to really embrace her as the main character and want her to succeed because I was just never sure what she should be succeeding at. Saving the princess? Is that good? Bad? She makes it seem negative and against her will but then has a deep desire to save her. But it’s very unclear as to why and we don’t fully get to go inside her head and see the real turmoil that would make us sympathetic to her agitation. She doesn’t know what she wants and neither do we, and we don’t know WHY! I’m a girl who needs to know the inner workings of a character’s mind and then I’m all in for them. The lack of character development left me feeling uncommitted and I steadily lost interest more and more as the book continued.
Even as the book is over, I honestly still can’t put my finger on what the overall plot was because it felt like a bunch of small situations without a bigger endgame. We have a lot of great elements and all the pieces here, but the STORY is missing for me. A really wonderful Book Two could bring it all into focus and I think I am invested just enough to read a second book! I hope Gordon’s next book gives us more insight into where we are going because her writing is beautiful, creative and wholly original. Hopefully this is just the beginning of Hellevir’s story and I will get to fall in love with her yet!