gxuosi's Reviews (390)

I mean as far as fantasy books where the penultimate battle and resolution take place, it was fair enough. There was one very off turn threat made by a secondary character that soured me and the rest of the book suffered for it. Still it kept me busy for the day.

i need hoka carnally.

id have preferred to give it a 2.5 if possible. but rounded down due to dubcon somnopholia and it being shorter than i expected. more novella than novel.

the romance takes a back seat significantly to the cultural narrative as well as the daring espionage and heists. the cultures represented are meant to be just 2 nations, but the author seemingly homogenizes several pacific islander culture into one entity. lydia as a protagonist is well fleshed out but the rest of the cast are cardboard cut outs, though some are still lovable. the pov changes frequently without notice and we’re giving unspoken insight to the emotional status and thoughts of other characters.

i would have given it a modest 3 stars until the self gratifying absolution of an epilogue. it felt like a slap in the face after spending so long establishing the cruelty of the crown and colonizers to absolve so many colonizers with an extremely fictitious uprising. it reeked of white guilt and absolution; though i admit i don’t know much about the author. it was an extremely tone deaf note to end on.

ends on a severe cliffhanger but also flashback and honestly i don’t give a fuck what happened in her past. i want the now. i love unpacking her paranoia, trauma, neglect, and abandonment in real time as she grapples with not one but TWO MEN in her life accusing her of neglecting her life and overreacting. i don’t care if they’re good guys in the end they are both so cruel and manipulative towards her it’s WILD.

who the fuck is amber white

could have been 100 pages shorter if the author didn’t bootlick a thesaurus and wax poetic trying to describe scenery and inner turmoil. not every moment needs to be your magnum opus babes. wildly fatphobic rhetoric used that didn’t in any capacity add to raymond’s character or villainy. i just know the author watched the whale and cried calling it peak cinema.

truly refreshing point of view from a lord’s daughter who reigned as lord interim until her brothers returned home. she’s a warlord in her own right and that shit was mad sexy.

this was quite literally all exposition plot though. nothing happened that was not expositional. they rutted fully clothed at most. felt like book 1 was split in half and book 2 is likely where the rest of it wound up…

mae got so much more tolerable when she decided she like fucking ✨

hey siri play “tear you apart” by she wants revenge

plot plot plot!

very narrative focused, plot heavy. which is something i’m used to in high fantasy. smut was fine. bro is built like a rabbit vibrator… works like one too. was definitely more about self liberation and finding your inner power than about wild alien cock.