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anna4's review against another edition
fast-paced
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.5
This book started off so good: great atmosphere and vibes, interesting characters, promising plot. And then, after the first 50 pages, it went gradually downhill. Why.
The author tried to balance the murder mystery plot and character development and, in my opinion, failed at it.
At some point, the characters and their relationship with each other (MMF romance) took over the book more and more until the plot was abandoned until like the last 30%. And I could be forgiving of that, if the characters had any chemistry. Which they didn't.
The more the book progressed, the less recognisable the main characters were compared to how they were introduced. And this was not due actual character development. They weren't really fleshed out and felt like changed personality every other chapter.
It's like they suddenly did a 180.
The author also constantly tried to sell me Shan as this scheming mastermind. The LeClaire heir, who has this great big revenge plan that she has been plotting for years. When in fact, she was anything but. Especially, because it was a lot of "tell" and "no show". At all.
The pacing was absolutely wild.
The writing got more confusing and somewhat exhausting the more the book progressed.
I cannot tell you how many times I read the words "blood and steel", but it was about 50 times too many.
Around the 50% mark, I made the unfortunate mistake of not touching the book for about two days and when I finally picked it up again, I couldn't remember anything that had happened.
I have a book I haven't touched since March and I still know what happened yet here ????
I guess my second mistake was not to DNF at this point or at any point during the second half. I just pushed through and I don't think I would have missed anything if I would have DNFed.
I have absolutely no idea what happened in the last 50 pages.
And 400 pages later, I still don't know what a Blood Worker is and what they do.
Needless to say that I won't be continuing this series.
I tried. I really did. But nope.
The Illuminate edition is very pretty though.
The author tried to balance the murder mystery plot and character development and, in my opinion, failed at it.
At some point, the characters and their relationship with each other (MMF romance) took over the book more and more until the plot was abandoned until like the last 30%. And I could be forgiving of that, if the characters had any chemistry. Which they didn't.
The more the book progressed, the less recognisable the main characters were compared to how they were introduced. And this was not due actual character development. They weren't really fleshed out and felt like changed personality every other chapter.
It's like they suddenly did a 180.
The author also constantly tried to sell me Shan as this scheming mastermind. The LeClaire heir, who has this great big revenge plan that she has been plotting for years. When in fact, she was anything but. Especially, because it was a lot of "tell" and "no show". At all.
The pacing was absolutely wild.
The writing got more confusing and somewhat exhausting the more the book progressed.
I cannot tell you how many times I read the words "blood and steel", but it was about 50 times too many.
Around the 50% mark, I made the unfortunate mistake of not touching the book for about two days and when I finally picked it up again, I couldn't remember anything that had happened.
I have a book I haven't touched since March and I still know what happened yet here ????
I guess my second mistake was not to DNF at this point or at any point during the second half. I just pushed through and I don't think I would have missed anything if I would have DNFed.
I have absolutely no idea what happened in the last 50 pages.
And 400 pages later, I still don't know what a Blood Worker is and what they do.
Needless to say that I won't be continuing this series.
I tried. I really did. But nope.
The Illuminate edition is very pretty though.
roman_elise's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
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? It's complicated
4.0
vix_b's review against another edition
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
flowerroyalnat's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
helloval's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
sunnyblue's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0
saradrijvers's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- 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? No
4.0
marmles's review against another edition
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
1221cass's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
shmadsie's review
2.0
This was well-written but it was so many things that I personally do not enjoy. I appreciated that the love triangle was a triangle and not a tripod but I still don't like love triangles. Also it wasn't particularly well done? The other person just disappeared whenever two of them were together, no matter which two. The relationship building is clearly on its way towards polyamory, which I am all for, but that's not how people's brains work. You don't just completely forget an entire human because it makes the writing easier, especially with people's penchant for comparison. It made a complicated situation unbelievably (in the literal sense) uncomplicated and that's cheating, friendo. Also, every character was overpowered, which got more boring and lame the more it was used and for how many people it was used on. Also, I don't like supernatural/artificial bonds so the blood bridges were also not fun for me.
Very on the fence if I'll read the sequel. If that last chapter with Isaac hadn't happened, I could veto it from my future reading list easy-peasy but it did so.... very much on the fence. I do know it will be a library book if I do. This is very much a YMMV book though, if those are your things you're gonna frickin' love it because the writing is genuinely very solid.
Very on the fence if I'll read the sequel. If that last chapter with Isaac hadn't happened, I could veto it from my future reading list easy-peasy but it did so.... very much on the fence. I do know it will be a library book if I do. This is very much a YMMV book though, if those are your things you're gonna frickin' love it because the writing is genuinely very solid.