lizziaha's review against another edition
3.75
Every fantasy book I read, I try to find the little detail or saying that implies a small little tear in the worldbuilding, a earth thing that has slipped through the cracks. In this book, the existence of parrots is canonical 🦜 It’s not necessarily impossible that parrots exist in this world but I do still think it’s funny. On the topic of worldbuilding though, I thought that Violet simply reciting facts about the world felt like a cop out. I also felt like the tone of the book didn’t always match the stakes. Even the stakes in the enemies to lovers romance felt low. Like I think that they should’ve tried very hard to kill each other at least one time! It would’ve built the tension! But I think that was part of the problem. This book has a telling, not showing kind of narrative voice. Like we’re told that Violet has strong connections with all these people but I don’t SEE it. Even when it comes to the dragons. The rider bond is supposed to be the most sacred bond, but I never really felt that. We’re also told like a million times that Violet is the most intelligent girl that ever lived or whatever, but she was occasionally giving idiot to me so idk what to do with that. Overall the book was fun to read but I had a few hang ups. Hopefully the next book will allow for a deeper exploration of these traits and relationships.
Graphic: Murder, Sexual content, Ableism, Animal death, Fire/Fire injury, Trafficking, Toxic friendship, Blood, Bullying, Genocide, Gore, Chronic illness, Injury/Injury detail, Slavery, Death, Death of parent, Violence, and War
Moderate: Grief
crinkledmochi's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
mysterious
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
4.5
THE ENDING?!?!!
Yeah Xaden got endless amounts of explaining to do, but this amazing!! Also Dain is the dumbest character to ever exist.
Yeah Xaden got endless amounts of explaining to do, but this amazing!! Also Dain is the dumbest character to ever exist.
Graphic: Gore, Medical content, Misogyny, Gaslighting, Sexual content, Slavery, Body horror, Death of parent, Grief, Torture, Toxic relationship, Animal cruelty, Classism, Toxic friendship, Body shaming, Child abuse, Kidnapping, and Animal death
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