Reviews tagging 'Violence'

Critical Role: The Mighty Nein — The Nine Eyes of Lucien by Madeleine Roux

13 reviews

ashley_ren_'s review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious fast-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

I read this book with no context from Critical Role (which isn’t necessary but I immediately read synopses from CR to understand the story better).
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wispy_reviews's review

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adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious sad fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I want to say off the bat that Roux is an incredible writer.  Her prose is so much fun to read, and she writes these characters so lovingly.
This is my first foray into this kind of book; the extended canon style of fiction that requires prior knowledge of the source material.  I’m a fan of the podcast and show Critical Role, but even though I am the target audience this style of novel just might not be for me.
I like when things are self contained, when they can stand alone on their own merit, and this book isn’t made to be like that, which is perfectly fine.  
I LOVE Roux’s approach to the cosmic horror elements and her note that she took inspiration from the King in Yellow definitely gave it brownie points for me.
The pacing towards the end of the book falls apart in my opinion, once we get to the story covered in the podcast.  The voice and character Lucien presents with Critical Role’s protagonists don’t quite line up with how he is in the novel up to that point.
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kirchnerkd's review against another edition

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

3.0

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queenofthefae's review against another edition

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adventurous dark tense

5.0

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marslotus's review

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adventurous dark emotional tense 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? Yes

3.25

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capitola's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

If you found this unsatisfying, you might enjoy grayintogreen's this church takes no conversions on ao3 instead.
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lanid's review against another edition

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adventurous dark tense
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madisenelizabeth's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny sad 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

5.0

Critical Role fans unite, because this book is amazing. I HIGHLY recommend the audiobook, narrated by Robbie Daymond and the original cast. This was easily one of the best audiobooks I have every listened to. This story, based from the second campaign of a DND stream, held so much nostalgia and excitement for me, and it completely lived-up to every bit of it. This will lead me to read more of Madeleine Roux’s works, because she absolutely nailed this.
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tragickore's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • 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

3.75

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modernathos's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny informative mysterious sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

"I want to thank Matt Mercer and Taliesin Jaffe [...] for allowing me the space to get weird." - Madeleine Roux, acknowledgements.

That quote is the only way I can possibly describe this book in one sentence.

I have to be honest and say that I nearly DNF'd this book several times over in the first 120 or so pages. The world-building felt lacking to me, the time jumps were weird and I would have loved for certain events that were only mentioned - like how exactly Lucien and Cree joined the Claret Orders - to have been explained instead of skipped over. However, when the first patterns of Nine/nein started to drop, the stakes started to get bigger and Vess DeRogna was introduced, the pace and plot got going and it was absolute madness until the very end in all the best ways.

The Nine Eyes of Lucien gives quite a wonderful insight in Lucien's life before he became the Nonagon, and how becoming the Nonagon and his connection with the Somnovem changed and ultimately destroyed him.

Roux's writing style is unique in a way that is perfect for a world like Exandria, and the way certain (lore-heavy) chapters are formatted pulls the reader further into the story.
Spoiler For example, in the "in-between" chapters, in which Lucien is dead but not yet Mollymauk or Kingsley, the reader is suddenly addressed as "you", and so is essentially placed in Lucien's body and mind in a way that is more intense than a first person perspective.


I can't say that I personally recommend this book to those who are not familiar with the on-stream events that the story is based off, as I think the lore and world-building might be too confusing and don't think I could have followed the first +-150 pages had I not been familiar with the story. However, I have read reviews of plenty of people who read the book and were not familiar with Critical Role, but could follow it perfectly. So, by all means, if this book intrigues you, pick it up!

Long may he reign.

Rep: genderfluid MC, bi-/pansexual MC, non-binary character (all pronouns), lesbian characters, gay characters.
January 2nd, 2023 - January 15th, 2023.


"But life is never like dreams, is it?" - Lucien Tavelle, chapter 10.

"Pain and pain and pain. A dear price for a man,
A pittance to a King,
And nothing to a God, cosmically ordained."
"Am I God or King?" he asked.
"Long may you reign." - chapter 22.

"Perhaps fourth time's the charm." - unknown, chapter 41.
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