bzliz's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Tahir’s female characters in particular show incredible growth and weave together strength with emotion. Laia’s story embodies the value of empathy and the final scene with Keris is utterly heartbreaking and shows that we as people can suffer greatly and it is our response to that suffering that shapes our future. Helene’s journey is my favorite. She began the series as the token girl having to fight twice as hard as the guys to command respect while nursing feelings for the main male character and being taught those feelings make her weak. She makes mistakes and does horrible things (and has horrible things happen to her) but she learns and grows as she unlearns the awful values passed on by previous generations of the Empire.
There are some heartbreaking character deaths that make sense because of the brutal nature of this world and the Nightbringer’s plan, though that doesn’t make them hurt less. Without them, the story would have felt unbalanced and our main characters need that grief to become the people they’re meant to be.
I cannot recommend this series highly enough! But mind the content warnings if you are sensitive to specific topics.
Content warnings:
Blood, body horror, death, gore, injury, murder, violence, war (on page):
Spoiler
this is a story of war between human factions plus humans against magical beings. I don’t recommend this if you cannot stomach violence because it is graphic and prevalent.Death of parent (on page, flashback):
Spoiler
Laia learns her mother is still alive and sees how her father and sister really died.Domestic abuse, physical abuse, emotional abuse (on page):
Spoiler
Marcus abuses his wife including while she is pregnant in order to emotionally manipulate Helene who is forced to endure her sister’s torment.Fire/fire injury (on page):
Spoiler
The Jinn burn down a library containing information Laia needs and she is nearly trapped inside.Classism (on page):
Spoiler
The aristocrats of the Empire actively look down on and rebel against Marcus because he is of a lower class than them.Medical content, pregnancy (on page):
Spoiler
Medical content in the form of healing from battlefield injuries & pregnancy content. Livia is pregnant with Marcus’ heir and she experiences some complications including attempts at forcing a miscarriage. Laia delivers her baby during a battle.Slavery (on page):
Spoiler
Scholars have long been enslaved by the Martials. Keris keeps slaves as she attempts her coup. Livia as Empress Regent frees the Scholars.Sexism (on page):
Spoiler
Enemies actively look down on Helene for being a woman. Martial aristocrats do the same before being put in their places.Sexual content (on page):
Spoiler
Consensual encounters between Helene & Avitas and between Laia & Elias. Generally non-graphic and centered on the emotional connection rather than the act itself.Graphic: Grief, Blood, Murder, Violence, War, Body horror, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, and Classism
Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Death of parent, Physical abuse, Domestic abuse, and Emotional abuse
Minor: Sexism, Medical content, Classism, Pregnancy, Sexual content, and Slavery
esconce's review
- 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
Graphic: Genocide, Child death, Bullying, Blood, Death, War, Pregnancy, Panic attacks/disorders, Gore, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, Dementia, Death of parent, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Abandonment, Sexism, Grief, Violence, Slavery, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
rinku's review against another edition
- 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
3.0
Spoiler
Our heroes decide that they want to fight Keris and the Nightbringer in the land of the jinns. Laia is able to kill the reaper, but he becomes part of the evil river (idk how it’s called in English lmao) that threatens to destroy the whole world. Laia then just talks to the Nightbringer and is able to stop him in this way which was just so unsatisfying.Graphic: Blood, Death, Murder, Violence, and War
Moderate: Sexual content
Minor: Death of parent and Pregnancy
angstifies's review
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
in book 3 i noticed that Elias’ chapters were so useless to the story so i literally skipped all his chapters, this won’t effect your knowledge of the book at all because he’s that unneeded. Laia was as annoying as ever, she just got even more special and kept being stupid. and a Helene, the only character i somewhat liked in this series, didn’t feel much like Helene. i saw a review of someone saying that they could not tell if they were reading a chapter from Laila or Helene’s POV and that’s exactly how i felt.
many things here didn’t make much sense,
Spoiler
it bugs me how unnecessary it was to kill Harper and Livia, it’s almost like the author does it only to be quirky and say “killing your faves lol” as some kind of millennial-author-humor but it just looks like lazy writing and it was clearly pointless. Helene could’ve perfectly become Empress even if Livia and Harper were still alive so… why? the way Keris died and the last battle was pretty bad, not gonna go deep into that because i don’t want to.Helene and Laia absolutely loving each other and Laia turning in this super skilled Mary Sue was so irritating, rolled my eyes a lot.
i knew how this book was gonna end before even starting it because it was THAT predictable but the kind of “happy” ending will surely satisfy someone who loved this series. i, however, did not.
Graphic: Death, Blood, and Murder
Moderate: Slavery, Grief, and Sexual content
Minor: Sexism, Misogyny, and Pregnancy