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relin's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Violence, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Ableism, Gore, Blood, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Outing, Toxic friendship, and Abandonment
pbuzzard'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
Graphic: Ableism, Bullying, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail
sugar_fox's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
And yet, I found this book positively entertaining and brilliant, wonderfully so. The idea felt fresh despite being a trope I’m sure has been used many times before. I adore the characters within this.
Violet was a strong female character, but not to the level of being a Mary Sue. She’s the perfect level of strength, but having vulnerabilities (and not being fucking emotionless) and imperfections. She has to earn her skill, she doesn’t come into the academy knowing it all.
Xaden was introduced to us as the cold but cool love interest, and from the get-go I was all for that. From his first meeting with Violet in the woods, we see a man fatally loyal to others like him, that actually cares about things (again, not fucking emotionless) and has imperfections and faults of his own. I was expecting the classic ‘bad boy’ trope with Xaden and was pleasantly impressed that the author didn’t go down that route.
As for their relationship, I loved it. I was already biased given I love the romance trope, but this book made me believe in their chemistry. Not through defining the trope, and telling me, but showing me. It seemed like a natural progression from enemies to lovers, and the things they’d argue over wasn’t foolish or fickle unlike other books tend to make arguments between the main couple feel. They had their own grievances and character arcs outside of each other and I loved that.
Now for Dain. I fucking hate dain. I’m not talking about any other side characters (and I mean that as an insult towards dain), but I just had to mention my absolute loathing of this character. And I do not mean this in fault of the author, no, she wrote this exactly as she meant to to evoke these feelings. His character was almost too real. The overprotective smothering ‘friend’ who totally doesn’t want anything more than friendship. The way at every turn, he’d try to prove Violet incapable of making decisions. I almost wanted Violet to
I loved the way the background characters were written as well. They each had their own little arc and moments throughout the story, making them feel more realistic and like actual people would behave. They weren’t just chess pieces to move around in a game, they were the chess masters each with their own agenda and goals in mind. There was no clear 2 sides that people chose, it was a free-for-all.
As for the writing. This book is not complexly written. It does not take the mental mind of Albert Einstein to decode what the authors conveying. despite that, the scenes can be imagined clearly, and the events make excellent sense. I really do like the writing, as can be seen from the time period in which I finished the book (less than 2 days lol). The dialogue was golden and humour was used appropriately. These actually sounded like 20 year old kids in a perilous situation, but still having fun.
Overall, I’d recommend this to anyone thinking about picking it up. And whilst you begin reading this masterpiece, I’ll start hoping that I can buy the next book for myself by Christmas.
Graphic: Cursing, Death, Sexual content, Violence, Xenophobia, Grief, and Murder
Moderate: Blood, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Abandonment
kimveach'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? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Ableism, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Colonisation, Dysphoria, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
prairieraven's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.25
Moderate: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Genocide, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Police brutality, Medical content, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, and Classism
wickedgrumpy's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.25
I could not read the word badass without cringing. The world building was positively wild. It's in a more historical fantasy setting where they write with quills, use weapons, crossbows were a big deal, people who wield magic have access to smaller abilities like locking/unlocking doors, making mage light, etc. There lots of wooden shit, but that also translated to having wooden exercise equipment to essential get swole in a modern fashion, rather than bodyweight exercises. There's a brief mention right at the beginning about shoe sizes which means they have standardized them? And the whole riders quadrant can get married before everyone else when the graduate.... At age 23? That's early for this society? And the focus of sexual relations was just pervasive. The talk of raging hormones... The convenience of fertility suppressants getting a brief mention before boning down. Oh and gods are worshipped, but not by dragons.
There was some disability rep that I think was decent considering that it was a fantastical setting with healers, and the character didn't want to "look weak" and would refuse treatment to speed the healing process. There was some LGBT+ rep as well, but mostly on a surface level for side characters.
Honestly, it was fine but the romance had me putting the book down regularly and made finishing this book difficult.
Minor: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual content, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
cdoubet'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? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail
torturedreadersdept'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? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Ableism, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Misogyny, Sexual content, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Dysphoria, War, and Injury/Injury detail
lakinglaze'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
5.0
Moderate: Animal death, Body shaming, Bullying, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, War, and Injury/Injury detail
ka_ke's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
First of all, an adult spicy how to train your dragon? Sold.
Fully developed, well-rounded characters? Absolutely.
Semi-predictable plot but still worth reading? Definitely.
Graphic: Ableism, Body horror, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Moderate: Child abuse, Genocide, Death of parent, and Abandonment
Minor: Animal death, Body shaming, and Bullying