betweentheshelves's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
fast-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? Yes
2.0
This book has quite the polarized reviews on Goodreads, and really, sparked a lot of controversy on TikTok. So, I figured I'd give it a chance and see what all the talk was about. Let me just say, if you read a lot of YA fantasy, and know a lot of the popular YA fantasy from the early 2000s and 2010s, you will notice quite a few similarities in this one. Like, so many scenes taken almost directly from other books. So many.
Let's start with the world building. Someone, there's a lot of info dumping, and yet nothing really makes sense? There was a Hunger Games-esque promise with this, but that's not really an accurate comparison for this book. The best comparison is honestly A Court of Thorns and Roses, maybe a little Throne of Glass, and a tiny bit of The Selection. But mostly, Sarah J. Maas. We've got a lot of Sarah J. Maas influence in this book.
But I digress! I finished the entire book, and I still can't explain what exactly the competition was that happened in this book. There were some trials, and at some point they were allowed to kill each other, but to what end? It wasn't exactly clear what they were fighting for, or why they were really having the trials at all. Additionally, there are a lot of random rules for each of these different kingdoms, but again, it is not clear how or why all of these parameters exist. The realm where they only live until they're 25? How is that even sustainable? But you also have realms where they live until they're 500? Having both of these exist in the same world just didn't make sense to me.
I will tell you right now, Grim is basically Rhysand from ACOTAR, and you can't convince me of that otherwise. I actually would go as far as to say that this book is pretty much ACOTAR fanfiction, as there are an astounding amount of similarities. Other books I recognized scenes from are: Divergent, Harry Potter, and The Selection.
I did listen to the audiobook, so I can't speak to some of the writing and spelling errors that were mentioned in some of the other reviews. But if anything, this book could have used a developmental editor for sure. There were sections that needed to be fleshed out, and other sections that took way too much time.
I'm sure there's more I could say about this book, but it really just baffles me overall. I can see why some people are drawn to it, it just needed some overall better editing. In all aspects.
Let's start with the world building. Someone, there's a lot of info dumping, and yet nothing really makes sense? There was a Hunger Games-esque promise with this, but that's not really an accurate comparison for this book. The best comparison is honestly A Court of Thorns and Roses, maybe a little Throne of Glass, and a tiny bit of The Selection. But mostly, Sarah J. Maas. We've got a lot of Sarah J. Maas influence in this book.
But I digress! I finished the entire book, and I still can't explain what exactly the competition was that happened in this book. There were some trials, and at some point they were allowed to kill each other, but to what end? It wasn't exactly clear what they were fighting for, or why they were really having the trials at all. Additionally, there are a lot of random rules for each of these different kingdoms, but again, it is not clear how or why all of these parameters exist. The realm where they only live until they're 25? How is that even sustainable? But you also have realms where they live until they're 500? Having both of these exist in the same world just didn't make sense to me.
I will tell you right now, Grim is basically Rhysand from ACOTAR, and you can't convince me of that otherwise. I actually would go as far as to say that this book is pretty much ACOTAR fanfiction, as there are an astounding amount of similarities. Other books I recognized scenes from are: Divergent, Harry Potter, and The Selection.
I did listen to the audiobook, so I can't speak to some of the writing and spelling errors that were mentioned in some of the other reviews. But if anything, this book could have used a developmental editor for sure. There were sections that needed to be fleshed out, and other sections that took way too much time.
I'm sure there's more I could say about this book, but it really just baffles me overall. I can see why some people are drawn to it, it just needed some overall better editing. In all aspects.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Violence, and Murder
Moderate: Death, Death of parent, and Sexual content
Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Vomit, and Genocide
aiplusyou's review against another edition
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.5
i probably should have read a different book as my first book of the year
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Physical abuse, and Child abuse
Moderate: Toxic relationship and Self harm
Minor: Vomit
_ohheyisabella_'s review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Entertainment-wise the book is good but the descriptions and names of places/objects as well as other things are almost painful. It is almost twilight-esque with the relationship between some characters and the main character gives-off Bella Swan vibes. It took a minute for me to get absorbed into it but it got better a little further towards the end. Overall it was entertaining and I will be purchasing the next book.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Violence, and Murder
Minor: Genocide, Vomit, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual content, Cannibalism, and Medical content
Spoiler
love-trianglecdoubet's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Death, Gore, Cursing, Gaslighting, Murder, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, War, Mental illness, Misogyny, Emotional abuse, Grief, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Death of parent, Medical content, Fire/Fire injury, Vomit, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, and Violence
Moderate: Sexual content
Minor: Alcohol
ladymickbeth's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
2.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Violence, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual content, and Cannibalism
Moderate: Death, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Toxic relationship, and War
Minor: Death of parent and Vomit
I’ll be honest, I didn’t see a fair amount of the plot twists coming. Other than that, there is nothing good about this book. World didn’t feel fleshed out, writing was terrible with its sentence fragments not used very artfully, and the exposition was just dropped in, sometimes very loosely related to what’s going on at the moment and long-winded.sarahfr1end's review against another edition
adventurous
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Death, Vomit, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Violence, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Sexual content
kaetheluise_nckl's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Toxic friendship, Violence, Vomit, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Death, Sexual content, and Child abuse
Minor: Genocide, Death of parent, and War
humanmessofaperson's review against another edition
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
0.5
This book made me want to never see a question mark again.
All tell, no show.
Constant explanation of what was being implied instead of just letting the reader understand the implications/piece things together themselves. Poor character depth and very rushed connections between characters. A confused pacing with the characters spending most of their time looking for a particular object in far too many different locations: searches that wielded nothing for the plot or character development, only there to add in tired worldbuilding/lore and fill more pages with words.
A complete over use of clichés and tired tropes, and while this could be true of most books, the author doesn't succeed in making them interesting or fun, meerly laughable.
I have never read a book that felt more like it was in its second or third draft. Characters had no depth, the story felt bored of itself, and things were either not explained enough or completely over-explained. (I couldn't tell you want anyone or anyplace looked like apart from vague, broad descriptors.)
Isla was a character that could do no wrong and was oh so special in the most grating of ways. Boring and plain. The same can be said for her love interests - Oro and Grim - who felt more like vague ideas of a character and less like actual people.
As frustrating, sometimes baffleing, and terribly written as this book is there certainly was a glimmer of something that could potentially be good, but considering this book went through multiple edits and this is the final product, I don't think Aster is the one capable of making it work. At least not without a serious marked improvement in her writing skills.
The half star is for the occasional gasp I had towards a plot twist (admittedly often followed by a laugh) and the memes me and my friend got to make because of this book, we had fun.
All tell, no show.
Constant explanation of what was being implied instead of just letting the reader understand the implications/piece things together themselves. Poor character depth and very rushed connections between characters. A confused pacing with the characters spending most of their time looking for a particular object in far too many different locations: searches that wielded nothing for the plot or character development, only there to add in tired worldbuilding/lore and fill more pages with words.
A complete over use of clichés and tired tropes, and while this could be true of most books, the author doesn't succeed in making them interesting or fun, meerly laughable.
I have never read a book that felt more like it was in its second or third draft. Characters had no depth, the story felt bored of itself, and things were either not explained enough or completely over-explained. (I couldn't tell you want anyone or anyplace looked like apart from vague, broad descriptors.)
Isla was a character that could do no wrong and was oh so special in the most grating of ways. Boring and plain. The same can be said for her love interests - Oro and Grim - who felt more like vague ideas of a character and less like actual people.
As frustrating, sometimes baffleing, and terribly written as this book is there certainly was a glimmer of something that could potentially be good, but considering this book went through multiple edits and this is the final product, I don't think Aster is the one capable of making it work. At least not without a serious marked improvement in her writing skills.
The half star is for the occasional gasp I had towards a plot twist (admittedly often followed by a laugh) and the memes me and my friend got to make because of this book, we had fun.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder
Moderate: Alcohol
Minor: Death of parent and Vomit
nearlywriting's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
This story needed to be more thoroughly developed and edited. Descriptions were often weird or nonsensical (someone drank spoiled water?), the world building was incomplete, and the magic system was kind of a mess. I felt like I needed a map for all the different kinds of powers each faction held because they all had so many. And on top of that, some characters had additional special secret powers unique to them. I actually couldn’t keep up with all the different powers each character had, so I gave up and kind of submitted to a feeling of deus ex machina every time each character exhibited a new useful power just in the nick of time.
The romance confounded me.
The villain’s big reveal at the end actually made me laugh because there were so many inane plot twists shoved into one lengthy monologue. At least 7 and I’m deciding to stop counting there.
I finished the book, so that’s something.
The romance confounded me.
Spoiler
Right out of the gate, Grim was gunning for Isla but the only interactions they ever had seemed to involve him making comments about her body and insinuations about what he wanted to do with her. We find out later that they have been lovers and he just erased her memory so she wouldn’t remember him BUT THAT’S a whole other set of issues. For the vast majority of the book, I couldn’t understand what he saw in her or what she saw in him—because there were literally no interactions of substance. They never talked about anything remotely interesting. And he is 500+ years old while she’s somewhere south of 25 and had been completely sheltered/cut off from the world her entire life. Anytime she asked him if he’d do something for her, which happened quite a few times, he always immediately said “anything” even though he couldn’t follow through once or twice. I was happy when she ended up with someone else, but he is also 500+ years old. So I ended up being a little less repulsed because she actually got to know the other guy and he didn’t spend every breath hitting on her, but I am still confused as to how the other guy was interested in her.The villain’s big reveal at the end actually made me laugh because there were so many inane plot twists shoved into one lengthy monologue. At least 7 and I’m deciding to stop counting there.
I finished the book, so that’s something.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Blood and Sexual content
Minor: Violence and Vomit
mypatronusisajedi's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Cursing, Vomit, and Violence
Minor: Sexual content