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solarmatrixcobra's review against another edition
It was refreshing to find a romantasy that wasn't built atop a mountain of cringe dialogues and overused tropes.
Sadly, while the book is passable albeit really laggy at times (we spend over 50 pages with the character sitting around in a tower infodumping and then describing a map we already have illustrated at the start of the book), it's just okay/meh, and I have other books I'm more excited to read, so I think I'm just gonna cut my losses and not continue. I don't know what I was expecting, but I wasn't really wowed by the creativity, or lack thereof.
Sadly, while the book is passable albeit really laggy at times (we spend over 50 pages with the character sitting around in a tower infodumping and then describing a map we already have illustrated at the start of the book), it's just okay/meh, and I have other books I'm more excited to read, so I think I'm just gonna cut my losses and not continue. I don't know what I was expecting, but I wasn't really wowed by the creativity, or lack thereof.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Sexual content, Death of parent, Murder, and War
dovahkiin_shea's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Sexual content, and Blood
Moderate: Death of parent
Minor: Murder
callistag1's review against another edition
emotional
mysterious
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? It's complicated
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Death, Sexual content, Slavery, Violence, Xenophobia, Murder, and War
Minor: Child abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Torture, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, and Classism
zimmerlemon's review against another edition
There’s just a lot going on here and I couldn’t quite get into it. Had a hard time fully picturing some of the characters, honestly especially Romeria which is unfortunate since she’s the MC. Around the 30% mark it was getting better but then when it turned out that Zander is a vampire it just put it over the edge for me and I couldn’t do it. There are plenty of better books of this same category and vibe.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Mental illness and Death of parent
sydapel's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
While in a lot of ways this stratched the ACOTAR itch I've had for a couple years, it doesn't really have anything particularly special or interesting going for it. There's a lot of info dumping and it was difficult to keep all of the deities and lore straight, paired with a narrator who feels a little bland at the end of the day. It is decently entertaining, and the synopsis for the next installment has me intrigued enough to continue.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Torture, Violence, and Murder
Moderate: Toxic relationship, Grief, Death of parent, and Abandonment
koistyfishy's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
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
5.0
This book to me was absolutely stunning, brilliant, fantastic, and magical all rolled into one!
I was a little confused going into the book based on the info from the blurb as I wasn’t sure how Romeria (Romy), a girl who is a thief for a New York Crime boss and a magical world with warring kingdoms and elves were going to come together…but I think ultimately this confusion is pretty quickly wrapped up in a nice bow… basically Romy meets a mysterious woman called Sophie, and after a couple of circumstances, she makes a deal with her that takes her to a different universe. There Romy wakes up in the body of “dead” princess Romeria of Ybaris. The girl that has just killed the newly appointed King Zander’s parents. Zander also happens to be her fiancée.
The writing in this is excellent. It is easy to read but incredibly vivid. I can see why some people would get bored though, because the story does move very slowly in terms of plot, and because Romy is dumped into this world, and doesn’t understand the history, a lot of it is explained as “history lessons” instead of naturally being found out. However, I personally didn’t mind this as the political intrigue, the complex characters, excellent storytelling and amazing world and world building kept me captivated. I also in general love books that take place in parallel worlds as it gives the excuse for contemporary writing and language to infiltrate fantasy in an easy and natural way that makes it not feel out of place.
As said before the world building is captivating and in general is something to be commended. It has all the elements of what makes a good fantasy, great. It has lore, a unique magic system, supernatural races, Gods or Fates and is complex but easy to grasp a handle on.
Romeria is everything I love in a MC. She is compassionate, caring, strong willed, determined, independent and has a very powerful willingness to survive in any situation. My only irritation is we never really get to see her skills as a thief, it’s only ever mentions that she is good at stealing, but we are never shown this…and in two cases is caught trying to pilfer something….
Zander is broody, serious and extremely loyal to his kingdom and his responsibility to it’s inhabitants. He is also suspicious but strong willed and, given the circumstances, slow to trust but he has an innate need to do the right thing for his people.
The slow burn enemies to lovers romance between the two is angsty, full of tension and banter, and entirely full of chemistry.
I would definitely recommend this to anyone who loves slow burn, forced proximity with a fake relationship. It just ticks all the boxes that need to be ticked including the only one horse and omg that bathtub…..
I am so glad the second book is already released because I would be dying right now if it wasn’t….
I was a little confused going into the book based on the info from the blurb as I wasn’t sure how Romeria (Romy), a girl who is a thief for a New York Crime boss and a magical world with warring kingdoms and elves were going to come together…but I think ultimately this confusion is pretty quickly wrapped up in a nice bow… basically Romy meets a mysterious woman called Sophie, and after a couple of circumstances, she makes a deal with her that takes her to a different universe. There Romy wakes up in the body of “dead” princess Romeria of Ybaris. The girl that has just killed the newly appointed King Zander’s parents. Zander also happens to be her fiancée.
The writing in this is excellent. It is easy to read but incredibly vivid. I can see why some people would get bored though, because the story does move very slowly in terms of plot, and because Romy is dumped into this world, and doesn’t understand the history, a lot of it is explained as “history lessons” instead of naturally being found out. However, I personally didn’t mind this as the political intrigue, the complex characters, excellent storytelling and amazing world and world building kept me captivated. I also in general love books that take place in parallel worlds as it gives the excuse for contemporary writing and language to infiltrate fantasy in an easy and natural way that makes it not feel out of place.
As said before the world building is captivating and in general is something to be commended. It has all the elements of what makes a good fantasy, great. It has lore, a unique magic system, supernatural races, Gods or Fates and is complex but easy to grasp a handle on.
Romeria is everything I love in a MC. She is compassionate, caring, strong willed, determined, independent and has a very powerful willingness to survive in any situation. My only irritation is we never really get to see her skills as a thief, it’s only ever mentions that she is good at stealing, but we are never shown this…and in two cases is caught trying to pilfer something….
Zander is broody, serious and extremely loyal to his kingdom and his responsibility to it’s inhabitants. He is also suspicious but strong willed and, given the circumstances, slow to trust but he has an innate need to do the right thing for his people.
The slow burn enemies to lovers romance between the two is angsty, full of tension and banter, and entirely full of chemistry.
I would definitely recommend this to anyone who loves slow burn, forced proximity with a fake relationship. It just ticks all the boxes that need to be ticked including the only one horse and omg that bathtub…..
I am so glad the second book is already released because I would be dying right now if it wasn’t….
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Moderate: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Fire/Fire injury, and Abandonment