mal_reads_books's review
Right now I’ve got a lot on my plate and have other books that I need to prioritize over this one. I don’t expect to revisit this book.
Graphic: Body horror, Violence, Murder, and Death
Moderate: Blood and Injury/Injury detail
darquedreamer'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
4.75
I was captivated from the beginning! The world was beautiful and so colorfully crafted. The characters were profound and loveable and fierce, and I became attached to every one of them!
I adored the story line. I loved the magic system. The pacing was perfect, and there was plenty of action!
I admired Amora and her morality and courage. I fell for our charming, caring pirate, Bastian. I cared for sweet, kind Ferrick, and I loved our stunning, fierce mermaid, Vataea!
This one was so good! It was breathtaking! It had some predictability to it, but it was well written and I will definitely be devouring book 2!
Moderate: Death, Blood, Death of parent, and Body horror
Minor: Animal cruelty
julie_claudette's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Graphic: Death of parent, Violence, Blood, and Body horror
midnacine'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
4.5
I had a hard time getting into this at first, which was really surprising to me cuz pirates are like... my thing. Around 80 pages, while I loved the characters introduced, I found myself just not clicking with the book as much as I wanted to. It could very well just be me taking time to warm to a new series, because I consider myself notorious on that front. It could have also just been that I was trying desperately to not pick up a new book as soon as it released (I've been avoiding spoilers like the plague). But I think the main culprit is just there's a ton of exposition that's not extremely necessary to the plot of the book- maybe it could have been saved for later, even for book two. But once we were introduced to Vataea, that something clicked.
I'm not sure if I just sensed the missing dynamic when Vataea wasn't there or what, because it wasn't her character itself that made the book hard to put down, just the fact that she kind of pulled everything together. All of the sudden, I could actually read 20-40 pages at a time without even realizing it. And the little bit of romance between Amora and Bastian coming to fruition didn't hurt, either.
To me, the best part about this book were the last 150 pages. Riding the emotional journey of discovering the Montara family's secret with Amora was incredibly satisfying, as well were all of the battle scenes we get to experience from her perspective. And the internal struggle she faces in the final act? It was the nail in the coffin that got me to connect with Amora on a deeper level.
Overall, I really enjoy Adalyn Grace's writing style and I look forward to reading the second! Maybe I'll even add Belladonna to my TBR soon!
Graphic: Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Blood, Body horror, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, and Violence
Moderate: Gore, Alcohol, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Trafficking, and War
Minor: Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexism, and Rape
kshertz's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
Moderate: Alcohol, Body horror, Murder, Violence, Death, and Injury/Injury detail
lizzye33's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Blood, Hate crime, Death, Domestic abuse, Grief, Body horror, Suicide, and Murder
Moderate: Death of parent, Domestic abuse, and War
Minor: Animal cruelty and Fire/Fire injury
sauvageloup's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
(spoilers throughout this review)
Pros:
- it was the plot that most kept me going with this one, since I just wanted to know what'd happen next and how it'd finish! I thought for a minute near the end that we weren't gonna see Kaven dead in this book, but we did, so I'm interested to see if there'll be a new villain in the sequel or if it'll just be Amora struggling against the curse.
- though fairly simple, the different islands with their different magics was a lot of fun, as was the magical history and lore that went with it.
- I liked how surprisingly dark it was, with Amora being all stabby and having her gory magic. despite the younger YA way it was written, there was still plenty of guts and glory! especially when Amora randomly severs Ferrick's limbs at will.
- the side characters were fun, and I especially liked the mermaid, Vataea, and her and Amora's friendship. Amora is lacking in female friends but she and Vataea worked well in their little scenes
- there's also a fairly strong feminist message throughout this. Amora and Vataea are the strongest members of the crew, Amora's ability to run the country as a woman is never questioned, she's passionate, driven and powerful and Ferrick never tries to limit or control her. she might have faults, but Amora is definitely confident and that's good to see
- Amora also randomly gets her period in the middle and isn't embarrassed much at all about this, brushing off the boys being flustered and just sorts it out. it's not treated as a big deal at all, which was cool
- the plot twist with Sira's generational curse was cool, I hadn't anticipated that at all and I'm interested to see how Amora will break it. We also got to see a very different side to Amora without her magic
cons:
- it did feel like a young YA book overall, by which I mean it read too simplistically, without much flair to the writing or much depth of ideas or message to the book. it was exactly as it said on the surface. so while it was fun, it didn't really get my emotions involved at all or make me think much
- the love triangle, though not handled very badly, was a bit trite. Grace mentions Twilight in the acknowledgements and well... that says a lot
- Amora does have issues as a character that didn't feel like they were addressed, like how Ferrick gives up limbs for her and she doesn't even thank him, or be honest with him about how she doesn't love him. I guess she definitely seems like an entitled royal, but it would've been nice to see her change or realise this.
- she has a bit of a crisis over her use of her soul magic on prisoners, but I'm not sure it was fully explored
- I got a bit confused a couple of times. at the start, I thought Amora had never practiced soul magic before her performance, but that wasn't it at all, so that wasn't clear. I'm not entirely sure how Vataea got them onto Zuzoh in the end, and surely the sea monster should've sunk the minute it was frozen? I liked the creativity of Grace's use of her worldbuilding and magic, but it did get a bit far fetched or confusing at times
so overall, I don't think the writing was anything special, but it was a fun read and did keep me reading
Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Blood, Violence, Body horror, Murder, Torture, and Animal death
pretty gory descriptions of repeated amputationsangstifies'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
Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Violence, Death, and Gore
Moderate: Suicide and Death of parent
Minor: Misogyny, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Alcohol, and Confinement
arthomas's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Colonisation, Death, War, Murder, Death of parent, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Animal death, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, and Violence
eve_o's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Graphic: Body horror, Blood, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, and War
Moderate: Death of parent and Grief
Minor: Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Confinement, and Child death