Reviews with content warning for Grief - Shadow Princess

No book has ever made me as angry as this one, I wanted to punch the screen multiple times. I grew to hate all of the main characters because of their stupidity and refusal to learn from mistakes we've seen them make over and over throughout the series, and I'm still not convinced it was worth finishing it. I persevered this far based on reviews saying the series improved in books four and five but this was the most infuriating one yet. Rather than having character development they actually got worse; for a bunch of characters who are meant to be at least 18 they were unbelievably immature and really haven't had much real character development. Perhaps that is down to the bizarre pacing of this series because while we have slogged through four increasingly, unnecessarily long books, only about one semester has passed in the plot, with most of the books being filled out with constant repetitive bullying. Not to mention this book was filled with my two least favourite lazy tropes: miscommunication and the dreaded betraying body trope. I wanted to shake the characters and scream at them so many times. Take tory for example,

rejecting Darius and becoming star crossed

was the most sensible decision she made when it came to him.
I'm torn over whether or not I want to continue reading this series. I'm a sucker for magical academy settings and I'm desperate to see the Vega's grow into their powers and earn their place on the throne but it feels like these authors refuse to let them catch a break. Any time there is hope for them the Heirs or Lionel do something even more horrific to them (and then no doubt a vega will "get back at them" by immediately screwing them *cough* toxic Torius *cough* and make me want to throw my phone at a wall), so I don't know if I could put up with more of the inevitable bullying and abuse.

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crinkledmochi's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.5

Chile….

I’m over it like I really tried to figure why I’m still reading this series like yes they are a mess and slightly entertaining but these books are truly bad (and problematic). Especially after having read this one in particular I can not keep going I just can not.

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psydneigh's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Holy shit. This book hurts.

I hope there is a way to reverse being star crossed because wtf

I don’t understand Tory’s anger. I get that she is angry but to that degree it just feels unreasonable. I hope the next book gets happier, damn.

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jaymrtn's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

All I want to say is that if I saw Tory on the street or anywhere. I would try to kidnap her. Take her to the Grand Canyon just so I could throw her off a cliff. Then bash what was left of her stupid body.

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lotte5322's review against another edition

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4.5

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