cunningempress's Reviews (526)

I like how this series ended. I cried a little too.

I think the second book remains the best one in the series. I enjoyed this book, but it wasn't as memorable as the two previous ones. There wasn't any new character and the old ones didn't really reveal new sides of themselves.

Spoiler

It just sucks that Adelina didn't really get to be herself because she went mad.

It's been a while since I read the Throne of Glass books and I really missed Celaena Sardothien. And now I feel like rereading the whole series.

This was a perfect read to satisfy my missing for Celeana Sardothien.

The main character is part of king's guard but not just any kind of king's guard. These guards are pretty much demons and they basically work as swords for hire except the king is only one bold enough to hire them.

I like that there were two very different love interest. Honestly I'm not sure if one of them could even be considered as a love interest, he seemed more like a toxic work friend who just won't stop harassing you and reading the scenes where he was present always made me sick. But the relationship between the two really brought some depth to her story.

I have started to appreciate these kinds of retellings of old fairytales. This one is clearly about Little Red Riding Hood but also it kind of reminds me of some aspects of Hansel and Gretel. Also the author was inspired by the story of The Girl Without Hands but I have never heard of it before.

I finished this yesterday and it's the only thing I've been able to think about even though I just got to my mom's and my favorite dog is here.

I should have stayed home so I could properly think about this book and the ending. Please give me a copy of Hunt Athalar and bring a copy of the next book as well. I'm not okay.

Sarah J. Maas is going to be the death of me.

This series is overhyped.

It's a nice fantasy series and it seems like it would make for a great TV show or movie adaptation but there's nothing great about it.

I also find it kind of very frustrating teenagers become head figures and leaders without any previous leadership experience. And she barely has any experience from the army either. I don't understand why she would even want to lead the Second Army other than just selfishness, she didn't even seem too interested in beating the evil when she demanded to get the leadership position. I don't really like Alina at all. She makes no sense.

The whole Alina x Mal relationship just doesn't seem like it's gonna work at all and I don't really ship her with any of the characters.

I don't get the Saint situation either. Aren't most saints only declared saints AFTER their death? And the people hate Grishas but have no trouble making a saints out of them?

Nikolai is easily best part of this book.

90% of this book was super slow paced and felt like an info dump. But the ending made it worth it. And I've read more boring books, if you can handle long paragraphs about magic systems you'll make it through this.

Admittedly this took me a lot longer to finish than books that I have been excited about.

I really hope the sequel will pick up the pace.

Oh, and the author has been claimed to be racist because the main character who has an affinity for death and destruction is half Indian (maybe??? please don't take my word for it, I only remember the mention of Mumbai). But it's explained in the book that your affinity isn't something you choose, rather something that just is, like brown hair or green eyes, and El is not a bad person, in fact she tries her best to steer away from death and destruction so I'll just let you make your own deductions from that.

OOOH! SO PRETTY, SO AMAZING! GIVE ME ANOTHER!

This review does NOT contain spoilers.

This book is a retelling of Romeo and Juliet. It's set in 1920's Shanghai and Juliette and Roma are both heirs to gangs. This book is amazing and fantastic!

First, I love the enemies to lovers trope and here it felt genuine. Roma and Juliette truly hate each other. And they don't just hate each other because they're supposed to, but because they hold personal grudges against each other. And they don't just magically turn into lovers overnight. The whole book is full of angst and hate.

Second, there are so many FEELS! Do you remember the good old days when we used to say "I can't even" or "I ship them so hard"? Or is that just me? Does that still happen? Anyway, both of those apply to this too. I don't remember the last time I was actually screaming at a book or curling on the floor in agony, afraid of what's going to happen next.

Third, there's queers too. There's a hint of gay romance. And then there's a trans character.

Fourth, there are multiple POVs to the story. In some cases I don't really like that because it often means that some of the characters have the most boring storylines ever but in this case it fits. Here the different POVs bring more depth to the story. It's mostly Roma's or Juliette's POV but every now and then the story centers around a different side character.

Fifth, I love how much I learned. I haven't read a single book about Shanghai or even China so I learned tons of things from this book. I have a vague idea about how Shanghai came to be the city it is today, but I have never actually looked into it. This book was obviously written to a Western audience without much knowledge of Chinese/Shanghainese tradition or history. I happen to have an interest for politics and history so all the politics of this book was just a cherry on top. Love it.

Who would I recommend this to?
- Anyone who loves a good enemies to lovers trope
- Anyone who wants something fast paced
- Anyone who wants diversity (LGBTQ+, POC)
- Anyone who wants a book with a strong female lead
- Anyone who wants to read a book NOT set in English-speaking country
- Anyone who doesn't mind feeling dumb when they realise how little they know about different countries