smiley_ari's review against another edition
Incest is a pretty big dealbreaker for me….
Content Warnings
Moderate: Incest
beepbeeprichie's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: War, Murder, Rape, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Blood, Death, Death of parent, Incest, Toxic relationship, and Violence
Moderate: Child abuse and Kidnapping
rebelbooks101's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
I’ve picked this book up multiple times and have struggled to get through it but I finally sat down and read this whole thing in a day and I loved it! I’m not someone who reads a lot of high fantasy because I usually struggle to understand what’s going on but I really enjoyed this book and it was something I could understand well more as I got into it.
In this book we follow a multitude of characters. We have Cleo who is a privileged princess who is forced into an arranged marriage with a man that she hates. Then we have Jonas who is out for revenge against the royal family after Cleo’s betrothed killed his brother. We also follow Magnus and Lucia who are apart of another royal family. Lucia is learning more about herself while Magnus is harbouring some un-brotherly feelings for his sister if you know what I’m saying.
This book isn’t groundbreaking by any means, but if you’re someone like me who doesn’t read a lot of fantasy (especially not high fantasy), then this might be for you. I really enjoyed how this book was set up as it really helped me understand the world and the characters. It sets up the story really nicely in a way that I knew what was going on which is very important to me in fantasy stories. This is a very character driven story which I really enjoyed.
This book would catch me off guard. I’d expect it to go one way and all of the sudden it was going in a completely direction which I really enjoyed.
My only complaint would be that this book felt more like a set up for the next one and while I feel like that was necessary for this series as it’s a long one, it just felt like a book that was leading you to the next book. While I do complain about it, at the same time, it really does help introduce you to the characters and the world really well.
I’m going to address the elephant in the room which was the incest. While the siblings are not technically blood related, I’d still consider it incest because the two of them grew up together believing that they were blood related which is enough for me. However, if that’s the reason you are turned off from this book, I’ll let you know that the feelings are one sided (at least at this point because I haven’t read the other books in the series yet. I mean I have been spoiled for some of the ships in this book so we should be good from my knowledge).
Overall, this book was a great fantasy, especially if you are looking for an introduction to high fantasy, then this is a great one to start with. This book kept me gripped until the last page and I need to pick up the sequel as soon as possible.
In this book we follow a multitude of characters. We have Cleo who is a privileged princess who is forced into an arranged marriage with a man that she hates. Then we have Jonas who is out for revenge against the royal family after Cleo’s betrothed killed his brother. We also follow Magnus and Lucia who are apart of another royal family. Lucia is learning more about herself while Magnus is harbouring some un-brotherly feelings for his sister if you know what I’m saying.
This book isn’t groundbreaking by any means, but if you’re someone like me who doesn’t read a lot of fantasy (especially not high fantasy), then this might be for you. I really enjoyed how this book was set up as it really helped me understand the world and the characters. It sets up the story really nicely in a way that I knew what was going on which is very important to me in fantasy stories. This is a very character driven story which I really enjoyed.
This book would catch me off guard. I’d expect it to go one way and all of the sudden it was going in a completely direction which I really enjoyed.
My only complaint would be that this book felt more like a set up for the next one and while I feel like that was necessary for this series as it’s a long one, it just felt like a book that was leading you to the next book. While I do complain about it, at the same time, it really does help introduce you to the characters and the world really well.
I’m going to address the elephant in the room which was the incest. While the siblings are not technically blood related, I’d still consider it incest because the two of them grew up together believing that they were blood related which is enough for me. However, if that’s the reason you are turned off from this book, I’ll let you know that the feelings are one sided (at least at this point because I haven’t read the other books in the series yet. I mean I have been spoiled for some of the ships in this book so we should be good from my knowledge).
Overall, this book was a great fantasy, especially if you are looking for an introduction to high fantasy, then this is a great one to start with. This book kept me gripped until the last page and I need to pick up the sequel as soon as possible.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Incest
bookcaptivated's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Death, Emotional abuse, Grief, Misogyny, Physical abuse, and Violence
Moderate: Torture and Confinement
Minor: Alcoholism, Incest, Infidelity, Kidnapping, and Terminal illness
elizabeth_lepore's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Incest
justalittlejess's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Content Warnings
Moderate: Incest, Blood, and Death
colleenw19's review against another edition
This boy wants to get with his sister, granted it’s kinda obvious she’ll turn out to be adopted, but HE DOESN’T KNOW THAT
Content Warnings
Moderate: Incest
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