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I miss martial arts and I'm out for an injury, and I am sad reading about people doing martial arts so I have to put this down
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
A great addition to the NPU universe! I love how it's a different era, and I adored Josephine and Otto. I really like how Kelly writes shifters and were's. My one qualm is that I would have loved to see what a shifter vs a were looks like, and she's a great artist, so that would have been a great addition. Otherwise beautiful work, mwah
Content Warnings
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Medical trauma
Moderate: Misogyny, War
The abuse is between the FMC and her parents and her father's assistant, and is not sexual.
Idk man, I'm just not feeling contemporary romance atm
fast-paced
A fun and short book, nothing more and nothing less. Some grammar issues but otherwise a good sexy fun time.
adventurous
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This was a fun Sci-Fi book, but still left quite a bit to be desired in terms of world building.
The Good
The Good
- The prose was really good, and I personally enjoyed how it was written.
- I also, generally, liked the characters, including the ships (more on that one a second). Except Freyja. I really liked Hinata and Skyla.
- The author's take on AI is quite interesting and I personally found it refreshing from the "AI Evil grr", and turning it into a useful tool, the ships. Pele was neat.
- This WAS slow burn! We got nothing more than heavy kissing, and when it happened I will admit, I was not above kicking my feet and giggling.
- The sci-fi world was really unique, I found. Most Sci-Fi books I read feel like rip offs of Star Wars, Star Trek, or Halo. This book didn't feel like it was ripping off of those.
The not-as-Good
- I didn't love how the name for all the tribes is literally just "Star" in the native language. And we didn't get all the tribes names until the end of the book.
- The pacing is a bit odd with the fights, but I can forgive that. I enjoyed the politics and navigation of those.
- While this is slow burn, the attraction between Hinata and Skyla is pretty instant.
- Freyja is... Awful? She cannot understand why Skyla is mad at her the whole time, and even when she explains "oh, yeah, I tried to kill you when we were in school, but ACTUALLY not!" I would still be mad. Also... You couldn't have explained this sooner? Freyja still chose to follow the Empress way longer than she needed to. So no. I wouldn't trust her.
- The plot with Skylar trying to find her dad feels a tad shoe horned in at the end.
- This was, I am sure, in now way malicious- but there were some racisl stereotypes in this book. Example: Hinata, the Asian character, is exiled for failing a test. The one Hispanic guy runs the Cartel (IN SPACE) and is rapey. The one black woman in this book got ahead by cheating and not by earning it. It's ten thousand years in the future and it feels like we don't have to follow these things.
- Also it's odd that the tribes in space continued to diversify instead of bond together into one amalgamation. I would have liked to know more about that, or get some background at least.
- Triple POV switches get VERY tiresome honestly.
Anyways, not a fantastic book, but a fun and unique Sci-Fi that may be worth your time.
adventurous
emotional
fast-paced
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
THE CLIFFHANGER ENDING IM UNWELL
I'll have to dwell on this before I write a full review! But it was very good and cute!
Not as good as the first IMO, but I loved Anya and Diaos. The "bird in cage" metaphor was repeating over and over and got tiring, and I think the book could have been a tad shorter.
dark
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
N/A
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
TLDR; Reading this during pride month was a hate crime against the Gay Community and I sincerely apologize for my actions.
Fuck it, it's 10PM and there's a tornado watch so I am hunched over on my bathroom floor with sirens blaring. This is the worst, longest, most dragged on, least character developed, poorly written book I have ever read in the 26 years I have the misery to call "life". This book is actually so bad that I had to pull out my laptop to write an even more scathing review of it. Just a couple points:
Fuck it, it's 10PM and there's a tornado watch so I am hunched over on my bathroom floor with sirens blaring. This is the worst, longest, most dragged on, least character developed, poorly written book I have ever read in the 26 years I have the misery to call "life". This book is actually so bad that I had to pull out my laptop to write an even more scathing review of it. Just a couple points:
- This book starts off with NO trigger warning (in the KU version at least). There is just a note from the author saying this book will ChAnGE UR LyFe!!! and to say GOODBYE to the person you were before you read it! Man. I do miss the Caps from before this book. So sweet. So innocent. Anyways this book has MULTIPLE content warnings that the author gleefully skipped over, including sexual assault, harassment, attempted rape, sexism, murder, fantasy racism and mentions of genocide. Whee! Changed for sure!
- The characters are so weak if I blinked they would blow over from the breeze of my thin white girl eyelashes. We have SO MANY instances of Tempura (Temperance is a DUMBASS name) saying I AM BRAVE AND NOT WEAK and then being weak. She pouts when Carpet is mean to her, or lies, and then she mopes to Leo, who comforts her and flirts with her (and she flirts BACK?!?) and then she goes back to Cambry. The snake boy is also dumb as hell and he isn't even the ACTUAL Snake King. that's his dad. Who she bangs in front of Corbin and his whole family. Anyways Calender is SO GOOD AT SEX OH MAH GAWD and he has banged many women relentlessly but then he LOOKS at this twenty year old and gives her a claw buttplug telepathic dildo because just seeing her changed his life. Also Tailgate decided she loves them both and proceeds to flirt with both men, get engaged to them both, and lead them on without, you know, telling them. Coriander also knowingly is teaching Torrence to be good at sex for the prince and then gets pissy when she, you know, does it. Oh. And she has FRECKLES U GUISE. No one else does! Wow! So original!
- Leo and Temperature's mother did not deserve this bullshit.
- Okay so the stereotypes are horrible. She has a Hispanic coded gay best friend who is mean and sassy and slutty, and the village favorite and resident bully, Vera (who everyone hates but apparently is the "village favorite"?) is plus size and the only bully. And there are ACTUAL villains in this book and Tem is like "WAAAH this Regina George wannabe is worse than them". Strong and independent, my ass.
- There's this bad guy. Rowe. Right? He's mean and evil and yadda yadda. Anyways Torque can't figure out with her dumb dumb girl brain why he hates Cupid. Turns out. Central "crested" Rowe's dad (which is where the snakes give someone such a powerful orgasm they TAKE OVER THEIR MIND?? Unless I misread that??) and thus. Rowe hates him. And Tem by extension. His dick gets ripped off.
- The world building sucks. Example:
- Everyone worships the goddess of fertility, and all pray to her, and have the same depiction of her... across species over entire centuries? The one goddess?
- Men are expected to be good at sex and women are too but women are shamed and harassed and called whores. Which like, isn't inaccurate from real life, but in a society built on sex...?
- Also, in a society that fears basilisk, where Roosters are the number one way of scaring them off and everyone is buying roosters and chickens from Tailspin and her mom... Why are they frowned upon? They're called "Chicken Shit" (and Tem is told her v@gina thus, tastes like Chicken Shit by Vera), they're looked down on for being farmers... They should be rolling in the dough if everyone is trying to buy roosters from them.
- Little tangent on the previous: the king hates Tummy and even says, in front of Leo, "ew, chicken girl, you don't want her because she's a working class bitch" (that's paraphrasing). But he's... fine with just all the OTHER village working class girls? And like yeah, he dated her mom, but why do they not call the kingdom next door and work out a political marriage? This would strengthen them against the basilisk.
- Okay, let's talk about the basilisks then. Their "form" isn't a snake. Just hot people who are naked with big pwenises and bewbs, and they get... shadowy and have scales. And they lost the war to humans centuries ago and the king at the time told them... to teach village girls how to BONE?? That's IT? Not enslave them? Not sell them to other kingdoms for higher up marriages? Not try to incorporate them into society as sworkers and warriors, which they are formidable as? When they get Hornee they also HISS?? Miss ma'am. Have you MET a snake?? Ugh. Also oh tem is so hot she makes ALL the snakes horny.
- The sex was awful. Every time is OH SO SPECIAL and OH THE BEST O SHE HAS EVER HAD and OH ALL THE DIQUES ARE SO LONG and OH THIS MOMENT IS SO IMPORTANT my guy it is mediocre at best. also. she has so much sex at the snake orgy (or as I have dubbed, "snorgy") that her vagina starts to bleed and her pelvis breaks. Good. Fucking. God. This is the most booktok sex I have ever seen and I mean that in the most derogatory way possible.
Anyways if I keep going, I'll just have more to say. Do yourself a favor and do not read this book unless you are high, you are dead, or both. This is 600 pages of bullshittery with no trigger warnings and this book made me go to the exotic meat store, buy snake, fry it, and eat it because that is all this book made me want to do. Eat snakes. And not in the sexy way.
Also before yall say anything yes, I love romantasy, I love romance, I love fantasy. This book has no grounds to be even half as long as it is and has a lack of romance and fantasy. World building is shite and the relationships and characters are shite.
Also before yall say anything yes, I love romantasy, I love romance, I love fantasy. This book has no grounds to be even half as long as it is and has a lack of romance and fantasy. World building is shite and the relationships and characters are shite.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Classism
Moderate: Bullying, Racism
It's fanatsy racism, against the snake people. But don't worry!! They're all white so it's not THAT serious!
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
A GREAT fantasy book and a GREAT murder mystery. Also I want to be Ana when I'm old.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror