ellenareads's Reviews (564)

I really didn't think I would care about this story as much as I did. Is it the best thing I've ever read? No. Do I wish it had been adult? Yes. But I still found some scenes to be really disturbing and kinda surprised by how dark they were for a YA novel. I loved the main couple in the story but I just wish it had a bit more scenes with them.
Also, the plot got kinda rushed at the end IMO, so it brought my rating down but I really enjoyed this book and it's probably gonna end up on my top 10 reads of the year.

Probably the best so far in the series. I still feel like it feels a bit too long but really good character dynamics as well as character development.

I really struggled with all of the changing POVs. The fact that all of them cross paths as one point made me question everyone like 'has this person already been introduced or not?' and it made it so challenging to keep track of their current locations as well.

Corban was probably the only character I cared deeply about. Some other POVs grew on me, but others like Veradis felt like it was just telling me the story of Nathair through Vradis' POV since he literally had no agency in any of his actions past the first few chapters.

I liked the direction of where the story is heading enough to pick up the next book.

I will preface this review with that I didn't read the novella before picking this book up.
I didn't really get why Tristan was suddenly so interested. I just didn't feel like all of the scenes after the first one in the club, when he was so offput by it, got me to believe that he will get to a point when he is begging Mark for it.
I also needed more development in the second half of the book with Tristan's and Isolde's relationship.  It felt just like when you pick up a book that is advertised as hate-to-love but the hate is only there for the first 10 pages. I just needed more angst and development from it than what was there on the page.

As someone who read this Wattpad story many years ago, at night, under my blanket to hide the light(probably the reason why I wear prescription lenses now), I'm really happy to see this story published.

But, my taste has changed a bit since then. I found the dialog very cheesy and so different in tone from the rest of the story. The whole situation with her best friend frustrated me to no end. I really hated that part. I found that I had a bit of a hard time separating Death from David and as a result when Faith and Death started getting a bit heated at the end, I felt like it was very sudden since we spent the whole first part of the book setting up a romance with another character that behaved totally different to Death. I really liked the worldbuilding but I just felt like a lot of the plot points felt very sudden instead of having any buildup to them.
I'll probably still try the next book hoping to see some improvements in writing.

This was really bad. 

When they say Abercrombie wrote these books without a strong plot, they really mean it.
I love all of the characters in this series despite how frustrating it was to read from their POVs. I just really need a stronger plot for it to be a full 5 star. I felt like the book went on a bit too long after the biggest climax. Yes, there were still reveals but I could not say that all of them were satisfying. There are some loose threads left for other books in the series I presume.  Also, the whole magic system is so minuscule and underexplained, and as a reader that loves having it all laid out, it left me frustrated in some moments. 
All in all, I was engaged the whole time enjoying the ride but it just didn't quite hit all of the marks for my taste.

I can't say that I loved it as much as the Riyria Revelations series. The biggest difference was that it took me so much time to get connected to the characters in this one. Maybe it's the fact that the other series started with just 2 main characters and expanded from there. I felt like there was a bit too much focus on too many characters from the start and it took a while for me to care about all of them.
But the worldbuilding and plot are definitely an upgrade on Revelations IMO. I really love the way his endings come together. 
Sullivan has become such a comfort author for me. I might not give his books 5 stars, but the enjoyment and comfort factor I get from his books really works for me.

The main problem I had with this book is that considering that it's in YA. I felt like all of the themes and character development were very shallowly done. I really liked the world and the whole polyamory relationship and how it developed but I found the dialogue very cheesy and the themes very on the nose and shoved in your face.
I would describe this book as angry feminism to the point that every chapter describes how men are oppressing women in this world or how FMC was angry that a male can do some things that she wants but can't do. While I did enjoy how unapologetic this book was in its messaging, it definitely wore on me as the book went on so it just became annoying by the end.