Scan barcode
oreosandcreme's review against another edition
dark
emotional
hopeful
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Audiobook: 4
Story: 3
Cons:
Magic system / war conflicts are a little too complicated and not fleshed out.With multiple wars, freeing Max/fixing his memory, Aeffe's trauma, there is no need for another plot point regarding magical items to find and use. There's just too much going on, so it's hard to get fully invested in the stakes and understand what is happening to these characters and their respective countries. (Ie Nura wasn't entirely necessary for this story. I don't think her presence added much)
Pros
The characters are still just so stinkin loveable though. I can't help but root for them and empathize with each of their respective POVs, even though they're actively against each other. Aeffe especially is a great character. Whiny, insecure, and overly reactive, her POV can get annoying, but she makes sense - her emotions, her reactions, her insecurities all contribute to a character you can't help rooting for.
Story: 3
Cons:
Magic system / war conflicts are a little too complicated and not fleshed out.
Pros
The characters are still just so stinkin loveable though. I can't help but root for them and empathize with each of their respective POVs, even though they're actively against each other. Aeffe especially is a great character. Whiny, insecure, and overly reactive, her POV can get annoying, but she makes sense - her emotions, her reactions, her insecurities all contribute to a character you can't help rooting for.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gore, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Grief, Murder, and War
dkgreads's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
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
4.75
So. Many. Feels. As predicted, this one was a doozy! It’s definitely a good ending for this series though.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Death, Gore, Sexual content, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Injury/Injury detail
dwinn5's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
I’m not even sure where to start. This is kind of more of a review of the whole series than just this book, but I could really write an essay about it.
I love the way that the author portrays war in this series. It’s horrible, gritty, traumatic, and tragic and craps all over the idea that there is some kind of glory in war. That whole message comes mostly from Max’s personal development, I think, which leads me to my next point, which is that Max is one of my favorite fantasy men ever, and maybe even one of my favorite characters ever.
My Max rant:
I think too often, male fantasy characters-especially if they are warriors/soldiers, like Max- are thrust into the same stoic, serious archetype that prevents them from feeling like a full person. And even when they experience emotion, it feels stilted and shallow. It was refreshing to see a male character who experienced the full breadth of emotions, who had tried so hard to be “tough” and militant the way he knew he was supposed to be, but ultimately failed because he had always had a soft heart. But at the same time, it didn’t make him any less of a powerful character or undercut his powers- only his motivations/willingness to do things. On the flip side, a lot of the male fantasy characters with the sort of unshakable morals that Max possesses come off as condescending or holier-than-thou, and even when Max did wield some sort of moral superiority, he did it with enough humor and willingness to admit when he’s wrong that it never came across that way to me.
He’s a flawed, feeling, human character that I just loved. Also he was hilarious- definitely the funniest lead fantasy man I’ve ever read.
A couple miscellaneous things I really enjoyed about the series:
-I LOVE when the “villains” don’t really seem to fit the title. This has some true moral greyness to it, and even when I vehemently disagreed with character’s methods, I always understood exactly why they did it.
-Carissa does a great job of setting up the stakes of the story in a way that is believable and increases the intensity of the story to keep you invested. The stakes never felt manufactured or overblown to me- which I think had a lot to do with her willingness to absolutely decimate her characters, lol.
Anyway, long story short- I think a lot more people should be reading this series.
I love the way that the author portrays war in this series. It’s horrible, gritty, traumatic, and tragic and craps all over the idea that there is some kind of glory in war. That whole message comes mostly from Max’s personal development, I think, which leads me to my next point, which is that Max is one of my favorite fantasy men ever, and maybe even one of my favorite characters ever.
My Max rant:
I think too often, male fantasy characters-especially if they are warriors/soldiers, like Max- are thrust into the same stoic, serious archetype that prevents them from feeling like a full person. And even when they experience emotion, it feels stilted and shallow. It was refreshing to see a male character who experienced the full breadth of emotions, who had tried so hard to be “tough” and militant the way he knew he was supposed to be, but ultimately failed because he had always had a soft heart. But at the same time, it didn’t make him any less of a powerful character or undercut his powers- only his motivations/willingness to do things. On the flip side, a lot of the male fantasy characters with the sort of unshakable morals that Max possesses come off as condescending or holier-than-thou, and even when Max did wield some sort of moral superiority, he did it with enough humor and willingness to admit when he’s wrong that it never came across that way to me.
He’s a flawed, feeling, human character that I just loved. Also he was hilarious- definitely the funniest lead fantasy man I’ve ever read.
A couple miscellaneous things I really enjoyed about the series:
-I LOVE when the “villains” don’t really seem to fit the title. This has some true moral greyness to it, and even when I vehemently disagreed with character’s methods, I always understood exactly why they did it.
-Carissa does a great job of setting up the stakes of the story in a way that is believable and increases the intensity of the story to keep you invested. The stakes never felt manufactured or overblown to me- which I think had a lot to do with her willingness to absolutely decimate her characters, lol.
Anyway, long story short- I think a lot more people should be reading this series.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Death, Gore, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail
leenkelly's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Cursing, Death, Genocide, Gore, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Trafficking, Grief, Toxic friendship, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
andrea4's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Slavery, Violence, Blood, War, and Injury/Injury detail
matthewslaura's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
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
5.0
There aren’t many books that make me read hundreds of pages within a few days, but I absolutely devoured the final book in this trilogy. There was just a lot of great stuff - complex characters/world-building, intense emotions, surprisingly funny moments. I especially loved the epilogue. I’m going to miss this story and have no clue what I’ll read next to fill the void.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Genocide, Gore, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and War
katvou's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
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? It's complicated
3.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gore, Sexual content, Slavery, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Child death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, and War
Minor: Alcohol
aklovekorn's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Genocide, Gore, Sexual content, Slavery, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Colonisation, Dysphoria, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
emilymax21's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
sad
tense
medium-paced
- 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? Yes
4.0
I love this book and this series. I think that maybe this book and book 2 could’ve been split into 3-4 books to make it more digestible, but I think using the audiobook is a good alternative if the length is intimidating I wish she would’ve explained more about the prison & what happened to the other prisoners after it “died”. I love the sense of mystery behind it but were there no other prisoners in there? Did I just miss it when listening to the audiobook? I also would’ve loved to learn more about the school & the guild but I suppose that would’ve made it too long.
Overall fantastic. As far as the audiobook goes, sometimes the woman narrator was almost reading too much into the emotion that it could be jarring, and the man was a little breathy, but I still thoroughly enjoyed their interpretations of the characters!
Overall fantastic. As far as the audiobook goes, sometimes the woman narrator was almost reading too much into the emotion that it could be jarring, and the man was a little breathy, but I still thoroughly enjoyed their interpretations of the characters!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Murder, and War
Moderate: Vomit
ashley30sawatzky's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
fast-paced
5.0
This was a heartachingly, beautiful, epic conclusion to the War of Lost Hearts.
I never could decide which side of the conflict I actually stood on. Everyone was so morally grey. No one in this book was free from sin or mistakes, but everyone wanted to accomplish something important and worthwhile. I sympathized and understood both sides. There was no obvious "villian" and that made it so much more.
I cried so often, my heart feeling like it was constantly breaking. There was so much pain, raw and real.
I don't want to spoil anything for anyone but if you've read Daughter of No Worlds and Children of Fallen Gods then this end is EVERYTHING.
And if you are finding this book and wondering if this series is worth a try, it absolutely is!
Max, Tisaanah and Aefe have a special place in my heart. This book was absolutely amazing!
I never could decide which side of the conflict I actually stood on. Everyone was so morally grey. No one in this book was free from sin or mistakes, but everyone wanted to accomplish something important and worthwhile. I sympathized and understood both sides. There was no obvious "villian" and that made it so much more.
I cried so often, my heart feeling like it was constantly breaking. There was so much pain, raw and real.
I don't want to spoil anything for anyone but if you've read Daughter of No Worlds and Children of Fallen Gods then this end is EVERYTHING.
And if you are finding this book and wondering if this series is worth a try, it absolutely is!
Max, Tisaanah and Aefe have a special place in my heart. This book was absolutely amazing!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Genocide, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, and War