aelis_'s review against another edition
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Violence, Lesbophobia, Homophobia, Death, War, and Death of parent
tofugal'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
5.0
Moderate: Death of parent, Violence, and Death
Minor: Homophobia and Vomit
caseythereader'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
4.25
Graphic: Medical content, Murder, Vomit, Cursing, Grief, Blood, Alcohol, Death, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, and Violence
Moderate: Homophobia
ana_avidreader's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
-gay. good. dense. first 100 pages hard to get through. i feel like this is one of the books where the sequel HAS to be better cus this entire story was a big set up. unnecessary gory detailed injuries.
Graphic: Death of parent, Violence, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Homophobia, Vomit, Child abuse, and Misogyny
ezwolf'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
Gwen was incredibly relatable for me and her and Bridget's relationship was my favorite in the book, but I enjoyed Arthur point of view and his relationship with Gabriel too. Gwen and Gabriel's sibling relationship was also great, I liked how much they were there for each other.
This is the third or fourth book I've read this year that's included periods and it's such a little thing but I can't really remember reading any books growing up that normalized periods in any regard, let alone in a historical (fantasy-ish?) kind of book.
Thank you to NetGalley for making this available in exchange for an honest review!
Graphic: Alcohol, Blood, Death, Alcoholism, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Vomit, Death of parent, Grief, and Murder
Moderate: War, Misogyny, and Outing
Minor: Misogyny, Child abuse, and Physical abuse
sammy_nor's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Death, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Homophobia
shelbbooks'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
4.25
Moderate: Blood, War, and Vomit
Minor: Homophobia
bubbles_ishere'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
3.75
I would have preferred further introspection from the characters before acting, but for people who like to read books where things "happen", this is a good choice.
The book very much feels like a romance that decides half way through that other plot events are more relevant and then decides to change genre.
Spoiler for how plot/character focused the book was during certain events:
Spoiler
At first it felt like the book would focus further on the interpersonal relationships of the characters. In the beginning, a lot of time was spent on the characters panicking over being in situations. The first kisses of the couples got portrayed, after which the characters had to face various challenges to come to terms with their feelings. However, when it came to actually getting into a relationship or showing the conversations needed for that to happen the author skipped forward and just told the audience that the couples were now in functioning relationships, caused by a major plot event.Personally, I would've preferred to see how the characters got to where they are, instead of being told that the threat of death made them realise their priorities and then see them kiss.
I really liked how the characters developed and got more loveable to the reader; their actions seemed to make sense in the context of their character, and the development of their actions made sense.
The romance itself felt a bit rushed to me, but it is still enjoyable, if somewhat frustrating because it doesn't go very in-depth and fails to resolve or address certain topics.
The book mentions a few tidbits that fans of Arthurian legends will recognise, which I thought was very nice.
All in all an enjoyable read, in my opinion this book would've been 5/5 stars had it been 200 pages longer and actually explored the relationships and worldbuilding further. But then again I really like high-fantasy and worldbuilding.
Graphic: Homophobia, Alcoholism, Death, Violence, Death of parent, and Lesbophobia
Moderate: Outing, Sexism, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Classism, Drug use, and Emotional abuse
Minor: Kidnapping, Suicidal thoughts, and Religious bigotry
shaipanda'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
Spoiler
The only issue I had with this book is that there were a few details that were mentioned (especially regarding Merlin and Morgana which were never explained or really brought into the story. With the way they were being written about, I thought they were going to end up being shapeshifters or some significant part of the story but then that never really came to fruition.Graphic: War, Violence, and Death of parent
Moderate: Child abuse, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Homophobia, Blood, and Sexism
Minor: Vomit, Suicidal thoughts, and Grief
refrejarator'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: Blood, Biphobia, Child abuse, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Gore, Grief, Homophobia, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Lesbophobia, Medical content, Mental illness, Misogyny, Murder, Outing, Violence, and War