Reviews

Fortuna Sworn by K.J. Sutton

sarahnwojo's review against another edition

adventurous fast-paced

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

3.0

bellareadsfantasy's review against another edition

2.0

I almost didn’t finish this in the last 50 pages. The amount of plot holes was confusing, major parts of those plots had started and finished within a page. What I’m assuming was supposed to be emotional wasn’t, I found myself skimming a lot.

Laurie.. loved that at the end but I wished that was mentioned throughout the book, so we knew something was up. Because he couldn’t be seen I thought he was Oliver (hope he still is bc that would be cool).

I think I’ll only get the second one because of Oliver and Laurie. I hope the series gets better. Ugh.

playstail's review against another edition

I was reading it with my bestie and she lost interest in reading as soon I got interested in the book.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual content, Slavery, Torture, and Kidnapping

Minor: Violence and Stalking

bookishjenn's review against another edition

1.0

So messy.

-Characters that I didn't care about at all
-Hints of romance, but basically nothing
-Didn't care about the "plot twist"
-No world building other than faeries living underground, couldn't picture it at all
-There's a scene very similar to ACOTAR??

I'm really sad bc this was a 5 star prediction.

readwithnikki13's review against another edition

4.0

Spoiler free review:

Thank you Netgalley and Dreamscape Media for providing me with this audiobook!

I can tell already the rest of the books in the series will be excellent. This book set the stage for what I hope to be an amazing adventure. The mythical creatures alone were enough to draw me in. I love the main character and there wasn’t a dull moment. If you liked ACOTAR, you’ll love this book!

hannahsbookshelves's review against another edition

4.0

4.5 ⭐️

After a break from fantasy this was perfect to come back to. There was so much packed into this book it was crazy.

There were tons of creatures, a mystical setting, and an insanely cool main character. I liked the setting change from the human to the fae world too.

I think there was a good drive to the story too, even if it possibly got a little muddled? It was all very entertaining.

_elisabeth_'s review against another edition

fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.75

Not great. Not exactly unique. But too fast. But somehow was also took too long 

_s00z's review against another edition

4.0

Good BUT

I couldn’t put my finger on it, but there was something missing. I found myself unable to connect to any of the characters and a lot of scenes felt rushed :/ BUT it peeked my interest enough to make me buy the second book! Hoping to connect more in the second one.

ehova's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense 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

4.25

oakwald's review against another edition

3.0

i was planning on giving this book four stars after initially finishing it, but after some reflection im bumping it down to a 3.75.

i feel like there was SOOO MUCH wasted potential in this book. sutton had so many opportunities to go a little more in depth with the characters but she kept all of them pretty surface level. i rly wish she actually expanded the relationships between the characters and included more convos/banter. i felt like all of the characters had the potential to be likable, but they all lacked depth, which really stripped them of their likability.

i've also seen a lot of reviews talking about this, and normally i'm very cautious of accusing books of plagiarism, but this book DEFINITELY held some very apparent plot similarities to "A Court of Thorns and Roses" that i don't really consider to be common tropes. like questionably similar. i wanna go a little more in depth on this below, but read at your own caution, because it will include in depth spoilers for both this book and ACOTAR.

Spoiler

i just wanna start off by saying that reading the preface of this book gave me déjà vu, because it was giving me first chapter of ACOMAF vibes. i didn't really think too much of it when i first read it though. when i got towards the end of the book, the similarities were very apparent. the protagonist had to undergo and pass three life-altering trials to win. the first trial involved a test of strength (fighting an animal. here it was a dragon, ACOTAR it was a wyrm), a test of cunning (here it was finding a door, ACOTAR it was choosing a lever), and then a test of loyalty (both books involved having to kill someone you believed to be a loved one, only for it to end up being a trick). like. bruh. three trials down to the same order.

i was so shocked that the book was able to get away with so many apparent similarities that i actually looked into whether these trials were a common reference to some faerie mythology i didn't know about. but i found nothing. so i'm assuming it's just flat out copying. i really don't think having such a monumental plot line in your book be so eerily similar to another book is coincidental. but that's just my take.

regardless, i did still enjoy this book. there was definitely room for improvement, but i'm intrigued enough to continue on with the series.