Reviews with content warning for Sexual violence - The Skull Throne

I am usually not this harsh when rating books I have finished. Look, I commend the idea of putting us in the perspective of the "enemies". Many of the northerners are terrible people, but the way the brutality of the Krasians is portrayed doesn't work well for me. Amanvah and Sikvah are pretty cool, but that's about it for me. I also get a bit tired of the violence against women - even though women in this story are extremely badass demon fighters who can fend for themselves - I just feel like fantasy is better with less sexual harassment realism. Also the betrayal aspects, why are the Krasians the ones most likely to go behind each other's backs?

The book just... lacked demons. I am mostly interested in humanity vs demons. Less so about Leesha's unborn child (and her headaches), who rules Krasia and how the Duke of Rhinebeck feels about things. It sounds a bit mean, but I'm here for adventure not interpersonal drama. I loved the first book where Arlen was determined to fight the demons. And I liked the Coreling princes and their epic idea to trap the Hollow. But even Arlen and Jardir were mostly footnotes in this story. I wanted them to just head to the Core instead of finding out if Gared would marry..

I do like the world and the characters, but I think it would be better if the focus was narrower. I'm not sure if I would read these if it wasn't for my book club.

It was quite upsetting to me that Rojer died. I guess I kept waiting for him to do more and be more developed? He was the youngest of what I kind of think of as the three main characters... But there are so many people now, whom I care much less about. I guess that is why his death is extra frustrating to me. Leesha finally found some love too, and he died... It almost feels vindictive at that point.

Content Warnings

More...