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mysimas's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
If the lines ‘Luke, I am your father.’ and ‘You’re a wizard, Harry.’ ever banged and had a child, it would be this book. 90% of the plot and twists are revelations of this kind except with little to no build up, it’s honestly so over the top it could be satire.
Another thing that irked me was the total absence of mystery. Everything was revealed straight away. Oh, so this person actually isn’t this guy’s mom? Huh, who could the real mom be — oh, the author tells us on the next page, okay. Ohh, and this person might actually be someone completely different? I wonder who — oh okay, I see. And so on and so forth.
Awarding stars for some good scenes (loved the kraken fight) and also the strange and addictive readability. I never like flashbacks… But here, literally 80% of the book was flashbacks (more if you count the asterisk notes), and for some reason it was ok.
Another thing that irked me was the total absence of mystery. Everything was revealed straight away. Oh, so this person actually isn’t this guy’s mom? Huh, who could the real mom be — oh, the author tells us on the next page, okay. Ohh, and this person might actually be someone completely different? I wonder who — oh okay, I see. And so on and so forth.
Awarding stars for some good scenes (loved the kraken fight) and also the strange and addictive readability. I never like flashbacks… But here, literally 80% of the book was flashbacks (more if you count the asterisk notes), and for some reason it was ok.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Slavery, Violence, Trafficking, and Death of parent
adragoninspace's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-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? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Moderate: Body horror, Death, Gore, Homophobia, Incest, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Blood, Vomit, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
anne_98's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
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? Yes
4.0
I thoroughly enjoyed this book and have already ordered book 2, but damn if I'm not also very overwhelmed and confused by it.
It immediately throws you in the deep end, because a lot of things are talked about (places, people, things), but never explained until you start figuring (some) things out by context clues later. I also think I got whiplash from the amount of things happening in part 2. Everything happened so quick I felt like I barely got the chance to process any part of it before the next big thing happened. Which, while probably realistic for the situation, does take away some of the emotional impact for me.
Kihrin dying, being in the realm of the demons(or something? Everything that happened there was super confusing), remembering all his past lives, being alive again, going to stop Dead man, killing him, the whole geashes being gone, immediately leaving, leaving Tereath and other person behind, I'm still kinda confused why he had to leave, not to mention all the other perspectives in between. I'm also sad about Galen's dead, especially because he died thinking Kihrin didn't care for him, but who knows maybe he'll come back. I also don't quite get where his shift in character came from or why he thinks Kihrin just left him).
I quite liked the characters, all of them were very interesting. I especially liked Kihrin and Tereath, I really liked their interactions, would have loved more scenes with them together
also totally shipping them .
The pacing was a bit off for me, I thought the way the story was told in part one, with the switching perspectives and timelines was nice, both were intriguing and while I was sometimes annoyed with the switch, the other storyline usually pulled me in again quickly enough. But overall the pacing was a bit too fast for my liking, I would have liked some more moments to sit with the characters, get their thoughts on current events, before the next big thing swept them away. I hope this changes in the rest of the series, but it didn't hinder my enjoyment too much.
Overall I very much enjoyed reading this book and am looking forward to reading the next one soon!
It immediately throws you in the deep end, because a lot of things are talked about (places, people, things), but never explained until you start figuring (some) things out by context clues later. I also think I got whiplash from the amount of things happening in part 2. Everything happened so quick I felt like I barely got the chance to process any part of it before the next big thing happened. Which, while probably realistic for the situation, does take away some of the emotional impact for me.
I quite liked the characters, all of them were very interesting. I especially liked Kihrin and Tereath, I really liked their interactions, would have loved more scenes with them together
The pacing was a bit off for me, I thought the way the story was told in part one, with the switching perspectives and timelines was nice, both were intriguing and while I was sometimes annoyed with the switch, the other storyline usually pulled me in again quickly enough. But overall the pacing was a bit too fast for my liking, I would have liked some more moments to sit with the characters, get their thoughts on current events, before the next big thing swept them away. I hope this changes in the rest of the series, but it didn't hinder my enjoyment too much.
Overall I very much enjoyed reading this book and am looking forward to reading the next one soon!
Content Warnings
Minor: Rape
marleens's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
First of all: this book had some really great writing, there were so many sentences I highlighted as impactful quotes. The tension was high, there was much adventure and action, and I enjoyed the humour and snarkiness, both in the main story and in the footnotes. Also loved many of the side characters, and the worldbuilding was definitely impressive. Why I can’t rate it higher at this moment is mostly the confusion. The way the story was told was definitely inventive, Kihrin’s past being told in two timelines alternating chapters. But the more recent timeline, told by Kihrin himself was often so confusing to me because it would mention people or events that we hadn’t met/experienced yet in the older timeline. Despite being intrigued I found it often hard to keep track of who was who, what was happening, and what Kihrin knew or didn’t know about in each of the timelines. it was a slow and confusing, but nevertheless enjoyable read for me. I can see this getting a higher rating on reread when things are less muddled.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Slavery, and Violence
Moderate: Incest and Rape
jakegray's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Physical abuse, Rape, Slavery, and Death of parent
anni_swanilda's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
funny
mysterious
tense
slow-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? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Slavery, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Moderate: Body horror, Incest, Blood, Kidnapping, and Alcohol
Minor: Rape
flowerpaladin's review against another edition
I really wanted to finish this book, as I've been DNFing a lot lately. But I checked it out as an ebook from the library, and it's due tomorrow, and I just... don't have that burning urge to check it out again. That's a sign that it's time to move on and try something else. Sigh.
This book's biggest problems (for me) were 1. the story structure and 2. the gruesome content. The story is told from multiple points-of-view from different time periods, but all about the same character. On top of that, the world-building is extremely confusing. I had to pause and re-read entire pages sometimes, which isn't something I ever really have to do. And so far as I can tell, this POV-shifting is completely unnecessary. I would've enjoyed the story a lot more if it had just stuck with Khirin's POV.
As for the second issue, slavery is a topic that is a personal squick for me, and I usually try to avoid it. It was pretty prominent right at the beginning of this book, but since the book is queer, I tried to persevere, thinking maybe it wouldn't be a major plot point. But it is. It doesn't seem like it ever really moves away from this concept of characters being owned, abused, raped, and murdered by other characters. That is just too dark and too horrific for me to stomach.
It's my hope that we'll start to see more and more queer high fantasy stories that center hope and love instead of wading through dark topics like rape and murder and slavery. I'm not condemning books like that. I just really wish I could find the ones that were more like what I'm looking for... what I really need in my life right now.
This book's biggest problems (for me) were 1. the story structure and 2. the gruesome content. The story is told from multiple points-of-view from different time periods, but all about the same character. On top of that, the world-building is extremely confusing. I had to pause and re-read entire pages sometimes, which isn't something I ever really have to do. And so far as I can tell, this POV-shifting is completely unnecessary. I would've enjoyed the story a lot more if it had just stuck with Khirin's POV.
As for the second issue, slavery is a topic that is a personal squick for me, and I usually try to avoid it. It was pretty prominent right at the beginning of this book, but since the book is queer, I tried to persevere, thinking maybe it wouldn't be a major plot point. But it is. It doesn't seem like it ever really moves away from this concept of characters being owned, abused, raped, and murdered by other characters. That is just too dark and too horrific for me to stomach.
It's my hope that we'll start to see more and more queer high fantasy stories that center hope and love instead of wading through dark topics like rape and murder and slavery. I'm not condemning books like that. I just really wish I could find the ones that were more like what I'm looking for... what I really need in my life right now.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Rape, Slavery, Torture, and Violence
l_m_the_bookwrym's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-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? No
3.75
The plot, characters and world building in this book is 5 star. However the way the book is structured takes it down two points. There are two alternating points of few which start at different points along the timeline and don't converge until the end. This means you come across events and characters being talked about before you actually meet them in the other timeline. When that's added with a rather complex history of this world it makes a large portion of the book a very confusing read. I'll read the next one in the series but I'm hoping it has a more straightforward writing style.
Content Warnings
Minor: Rape
bookaquarius's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Slavery, and Violence
Moderate: Rape
szuum's review against another edition
dark
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? No
1.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Biphobia, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Incest, Infidelity, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Slavery, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Death of parent, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Classism
Moderate: Gore and Sexual content