A review by thevietvegan
The Crown of Gilded Bones by Jennifer L. Armentrout
adventurous
dark
emotional
informative
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Ok I’m invested in the plot and the characters but a lot of this seemed REALLY forced. A lot of really random sex scenes full of “shattering” and “shuddering” which was exciting and hyperbolic during the first two books but it’s getting repetitive.
The writing style is a bit jarring sometimes, it’s very modern in dialogue but set in a period where running water and electricity exists but only in this magical kingdom of equality. It’s sometimes weird to hear like, Gossip Girl vocabulary level flirting and banter set in hard fantasy.
Everyone keeps dunking on Poppy for having questions after living an extremely sheltered life. And teased for naturally reacting with self-defense and a need for control after being kept in a gilded cage. LET HER BE MAN. SHE’S COPING. Also Casteel needs to chill the F out with his peen anytime Poppy does something cool. The arousal and resulting makeouts with clashing teeth from her being powerful is confusing, weird, and distracting from her badassery. I dunno about other people but I prefer kissing with minimal teeth breaking and bashing tyvm. Sounds expensive and painful.
Also the freaking hubris, lack of open communication and straight up LIES from so many people are so frustrating in the book. I understand how she feels but Eleona. GIRL. You literally started a cold war over a god who was truly not worth it and then continued to destroy your family and had a ton of people murdered because you were embarrassed. Like damn. Also Poppy keeps getting gaslit and I’m super over it.
Maybe the first two also had a lot of these stylistic issues but I was so enthralled with the world and characters that I didn’t really care as much. But I definitely noticed during this book. 2 stars.
The writing style is a bit jarring sometimes, it’s very modern in dialogue but set in a period where running water and electricity exists but only in this magical kingdom of equality. It’s sometimes weird to hear like, Gossip Girl vocabulary level flirting and banter set in hard fantasy.
Everyone keeps dunking on Poppy for having questions after living an extremely sheltered life. And teased for naturally reacting with self-defense and a need for control after being kept in a gilded cage. LET HER BE MAN. SHE’S COPING. Also Casteel needs to chill the F out with his peen anytime Poppy does something cool. The arousal and resulting makeouts with clashing teeth from her being powerful is confusing, weird, and distracting from her badassery. I dunno about other people but I prefer kissing with minimal teeth breaking and bashing tyvm. Sounds expensive and painful.
Spoiler
The plot twists towards the end kind of come from out of left field and are kiiiind of alluded to but not really. There is a lot of setup for the 4th book and now I have to wait until next year for it to come out to resolve everything. I am impatient lol.Also the freaking hubris, lack of open communication and straight up LIES from so many people are so frustrating in the book. I understand how she feels but Eleona. GIRL. You literally started a cold war over a god who was truly not worth it and then continued to destroy your family and had a ton of people murdered because you were embarrassed. Like damn. Also Poppy keeps getting gaslit and I’m super over it.
Maybe the first two also had a lot of these stylistic issues but I was so enthralled with the world and characters that I didn’t really care as much. But I definitely noticed during this book. 2 stars.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Violence, Animal death, Death, Murder, and Kidnapping