The design and UX isn't done, Rob and Abbie, okkurrrr! 😌
swarley's review
adventurous
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
abbypaige3's review against another edition
5.0
This book is just amazing, the detail to detail and how different this book is to regular romantic fantasy books is astonishing. The authors words make almost the pages come alive and that I could visualize every scene that I read. I would highly recommend this book.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
pixie_'s review against another edition
4.0
3.5/5 ⭐️
(Rounded up because I loved the ending, this would've easily been 4 stars if the tournament had more detail)
Thank you to the author for this ARC! I received a copy in exchange for an honest review.
I was super excited to read this book.. the hunger games and the prison healer.. what's not to love?! I really liked the premise of the story but it did start off slow. I think some parts could have been left out and it wouldn't have affected the plot, whereas I felt there wasn't enough detail in other places.
I do think it needed more of an explanation on the background of the Blood Tournament.. why is it really necessary? What counts as winning? How many winners are there? What happens afterwards? I'm still not entirely sure, but I'm hoping this will all be clarified as the series progresses.
I thought the class system was very interesting - the portrayal of relationships between Carmen, Magda and the others at the theatre compared to the Elites.. such an important symbol of money and power corruption. I also loved the development of the relationship between Carmen and Antonio; slow-burn for sure, but their subtle changes in how they speak to each other had me hooked.
I don't speak Spanish - half of it I could just about gather what was said, but I did translate quite a few lines (especially in later conversations between Carmen and Antonio). I do appreciate the authenticity of it but it did affect the pace for me having to look up words/phrases.
I did guess the twist and there is a cliffhanger, but it's not bad one! I neeeeed to know the deal with the ritual stone and the arch at the end.. it can't be a coincidence!! Very excited for book 2!
(Rounded up because I loved the ending, this would've easily been 4 stars if the tournament had more detail)
Thank you to the author for this ARC! I received a copy in exchange for an honest review.
I was super excited to read this book.. the hunger games and the prison healer.. what's not to love?! I really liked the premise of the story but it did start off slow. I think some parts could have been left out and it wouldn't have affected the plot, whereas I felt there wasn't enough detail in other places.
I do think it needed more of an explanation on the background of the Blood Tournament.. why is it really necessary? What counts as winning? How many winners are there? What happens afterwards? I'm still not entirely sure, but I'm hoping this will all be clarified as the series progresses.
I thought the class system was very interesting - the portrayal of relationships between Carmen, Magda and the others at the theatre compared to the Elites.. such an important symbol of money and power corruption. I also loved the development of the relationship between Carmen and Antonio; slow-burn for sure, but their subtle changes in how they speak to each other had me hooked.
I don't speak Spanish - half of it I could just about gather what was said, but I did translate quite a few lines (especially in later conversations between Carmen and Antonio). I do appreciate the authenticity of it but it did affect the pace for me having to look up words/phrases.
I did guess the twist and there is a cliffhanger, but it's not bad one! I neeeeed to know the deal with the ritual stone and the arch at the end.. it can't be a coincidence!! Very excited for book 2!
mbrookeg92's review against another edition
2.0
San Volcan!
This is a very slow burn, which is not my jam. BUT the latter portion gained so much intrigue that I can not wait to devour the next book!
This is a very slow burn, which is not my jam. BUT the latter portion gained so much intrigue that I can not wait to devour the next book!
xolove24xo's review against another edition
5.0
4.5 Stars rounded up to 5.
I wanted to start off and say, thank you to Daniela and her team for providing me with an ARC for me to read and review. The thoughts and opinions I have mentioned here are 100% honest and my own. I have also excluded quotes from this review, like I have provided in previous reviews of books, as it is not released yet and I don't want to spoil anything for readers by accident.
First, this has been one of the best ARC books that I have read by far. The author uses complex dialogue that is very realistic and creates a great conversation. The world building is also beautifully done and she knows how to keep the reader "in the loop" so to speak. While, I do have a background in Spanish as I studied it in high school and my best friends spoke the language, some readers might have a hard time understanding if they have little to no experience with the language; however, I did not find it too difficult to understand the mixed in Spanish. For those that may be unfamiliar with the language, I believe the author does a good job at providing context clues throughout - and even has a glossary in the back with the phrase - to help the reader along.
Second, personally, I will say this was a little slow for me. I really enjoy a fast to medium paced book however this is just my personal preference. The slower parts were still described in great detail and was very easy to imagine how the pieces all came together. Once we moved past the seemingly slow part, it was all business from there which I greatly appreciated.
Carmen is absolutely gold (I mean literally). She was born to a life that is vastly different than her MMC counterpart. She exhibits pride, strength and perseverance as she navigates this unknown world and it brought me a lot of joy - and second hand embarrassment - seeing this play out. However, there is a darkness that is looming ahead, which is the blood tournaments, and our FMC has great difficulty finding her place in this foreign world. Forced to learn how to survive, Carmen struggles to determine who her friends are, what her future holds, and where her magic comes from.
Antonio, the MMC, is complex and mysterious which I absolutely love. He was born to an Elite class (essentially royalty) that is filled with manipulators and liars. This creates some internal conflict which softened my heart. I have found in other ARC books that a lot of the time, authors try to make the MMC complex but it falls flat, however, this is not the case here. I spent the entire time trying to figure out why he did what he did and it left me truly biting my nails with anxiety at every turn.
I loved the banter between the characters and their relationship throughout, however, I could slap Carmen a time or maybe two for some of her thoughts and behavior but that's something personal with me lol. OMG! Can I also mention that that cliffhanger, took me out! I had a sneaky suspicion that something was going to happen but it did not play out at all like I thought it would and I am dying to find out how Antonio and Carmen move past this, if they even can?! (is that even possible?!)
All in all, great book, lovely characters, and I am SOO excited to read the next book in this series when it releases.
I wanted to start off and say, thank you to Daniela and her team for providing me with an ARC for me to read and review. The thoughts and opinions I have mentioned here are 100% honest and my own. I have also excluded quotes from this review, like I have provided in previous reviews of books, as it is not released yet and I don't want to spoil anything for readers by accident.
First, this has been one of the best ARC books that I have read by far. The author uses complex dialogue that is very realistic and creates a great conversation. The world building is also beautifully done and she knows how to keep the reader "in the loop" so to speak. While, I do have a background in Spanish as I studied it in high school and my best friends spoke the language, some readers might have a hard time understanding if they have little to no experience with the language; however, I did not find it too difficult to understand the mixed in Spanish. For those that may be unfamiliar with the language, I believe the author does a good job at providing context clues throughout - and even has a glossary in the back with the phrase - to help the reader along.
Second, personally, I will say this was a little slow for me. I really enjoy a fast to medium paced book however this is just my personal preference. The slower parts were still described in great detail and was very easy to imagine how the pieces all came together. Once we moved past the seemingly slow part, it was all business from there which I greatly appreciated.
Carmen is absolutely gold (I mean literally). She was born to a life that is vastly different than her MMC counterpart. She exhibits pride, strength and perseverance as she navigates this unknown world and it brought me a lot of joy - and second hand embarrassment - seeing this play out. However, there is a darkness that is looming ahead, which is the blood tournaments, and our FMC has great difficulty finding her place in this foreign world. Forced to learn how to survive, Carmen struggles to determine who her friends are, what her future holds, and where her magic comes from.
Antonio, the MMC, is complex and mysterious which I absolutely love. He was born to an Elite class (essentially royalty) that is filled with manipulators and liars. This creates some internal conflict which softened my heart. I have found in other ARC books that a lot of the time, authors try to make the MMC complex but it falls flat, however, this is not the case here. I spent the entire time trying to figure out why he did what he did and it left me truly biting my nails with anxiety at every turn.
I loved the banter between the characters and their relationship throughout, however, I could slap Carmen a time or maybe two for some of her thoughts and behavior but that's something personal with me lol. OMG! Can I also mention that that cliffhanger, took me out! I had a sneaky suspicion that something was going to happen but it did not play out at all like I thought it would and I am dying to find out how Antonio and Carmen move past this, if they even can?! (is that even possible?!)
All in all, great book, lovely characters, and I am SOO excited to read the next book in this series when it releases.
elizabethstrachan's review
adventurous
challenging
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- 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
I loved the main characters, for the most part. I wanted to strangle Antonio and Isaac sometimes, though. They need to figure out how they feel about Carmen. I think the backstory is a great premise for a dystopian series, and I've been a dystopian girlie forever. I'm excited to read the next book.
notkaylalostinpages's review
2.0
I received an arc of this book for free in exchange for an honest review. I’m hoping the author will appreciate my honesty and a little constructive criticism for improvements in the future. I’m thankful for the opportunity to have an ARC copy. I heard of the book/author from a Facebook group and signed up to receive an arc copy.
The concept/idea of the book is cool, the plot line sounded interesting and I was really excited to discover a new fantasy author and jump into a new world. The world itself did not seem as fleshed out as I am used to with these types of fantasy books. I personally enjoy a lot of world building when I read fantasies.
The main issue I had was the amount of grammatical errors from past/present tense, incorrect forms of verbs, spelling errors, missing words, etc. The overall sentence structure and flow is awkward in general through out. This was extremely distracting and took away from my ability to fully enjoy the story. With a good thorough editing I would love to give this author/book another chance but as it stands I really struggled with it.
Another thing that makes it a little harder to read is various dialogue in Spanish without translations, I actually understand Spanish from taking it in school and working in an environment where I’m exposed to the language frequently. But for someone who doesn’t understand Spanish and the fact that the majority of the book is in English I feel like the author needs to take into account that a lot of people aren’t going to want to have to use Google translate in between reading.
Some direct quotes for an idea of the grammar errors throughout, these are just a couple examples.
“My stomach continue to roiled while I followed her through a doorway that led to the bathing area.”
“When the servant tried pushed in my seat back in, he grunted.”
“I was so hungry that my small bites felt like sprinkling water empty cavern and expecting the droplets to fill an entire oblivion.”
The concept/idea of the book is cool, the plot line sounded interesting and I was really excited to discover a new fantasy author and jump into a new world. The world itself did not seem as fleshed out as I am used to with these types of fantasy books. I personally enjoy a lot of world building when I read fantasies.
The main issue I had was the amount of grammatical errors from past/present tense, incorrect forms of verbs, spelling errors, missing words, etc. The overall sentence structure and flow is awkward in general through out. This was extremely distracting and took away from my ability to fully enjoy the story. With a good thorough editing I would love to give this author/book another chance but as it stands I really struggled with it.
Another thing that makes it a little harder to read is various dialogue in Spanish without translations, I actually understand Spanish from taking it in school and working in an environment where I’m exposed to the language frequently. But for someone who doesn’t understand Spanish and the fact that the majority of the book is in English I feel like the author needs to take into account that a lot of people aren’t going to want to have to use Google translate in between reading.
Some direct quotes for an idea of the grammar errors throughout, these are just a couple examples.
“My stomach continue to roiled while I followed her through a doorway that led to the bathing area.”
“When the servant tried pushed in my seat back in, he grunted.”
“I was so hungry that my small bites felt like sprinkling water empty cavern and expecting the droplets to fill an entire oblivion.”
justbookvibes's review
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
4.0
I forgot how much I liked dystopian type novels and this gave me exactly what I was missing while also bringing something new to the genre.
I think the author did a good job with trying to create the world the characters are in without being too confusing. We get introduced to one part of the world in the beginning and then the second part about half way through. It isn't as detailed as other books, but that did not bother me.
I really liked the FMC. It seems like she is a relatable character who has real reactions to events in the book. Also, the tension between her and Antonio is delightful and I can't wait to see where it goes!
That ending! I did not see that coming. I can tell that the next book is going to be just as good!
There are times where there are sentences in Spanish. The only issue with this is that I was not able to quickly get the translation that is provided in the book. But, that is a personal issue and not anything that has to do with the writing of the book.
I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
I think the author did a good job with trying to create the world the characters are in without being too confusing. We get introduced to one part of the world in the beginning and then the second part about half way through. It isn't as detailed as other books, but that did not bother me.
I really liked the FMC. It seems like she is a relatable character who has real reactions to events in the book. Also, the tension between her and Antonio is delightful and I can't wait to see where it goes!
That ending! I did not see that coming. I can tell that the next book is going to be just as good!
There are times where there are sentences in Spanish. The only issue with this is that I was not able to quickly get the translation that is provided in the book. But, that is a personal issue and not anything that has to do with the writing of the book.
I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.