heartbrekker's Reviews (797)

My favorite part of this book is the dynamic between the main characters and gods. I was so bored for about 50% of this book, but the gods actual entrance into the story made everything worth it. Lore, Bastien, and Gabe are in for a world of hurt because of their tie to gods. I loved that their fates are intertwined and that Hannah Whitten seems to have fully leaned into the trio. Honestly, the chapters in Nyxara’s POV are my favorite scenes out of this entire book because of the enhancement to world building.

Ever since I was a kid, I’ve been scared of stories where the leads lose their autonomy, typically mind control. It’s terrifying to me, but when done right, I’m okay with it. I had zero idea that this plot point would happen in this trilogy, and it completely changed my perception of the dynamics and plot. The horror, the angst, the impending doom—I felt it all for these characters. You want to help them, but they’re in a prison of their own making.

While the second half saved my enjoyment of this book, I can’t NOT talk about my issues with the first half. There’s a lot of talking, not doing. Lore is pretty much following all of what Bastien wants her to do. Readers start to realize something is amiss with Bastien early on into this book, but it’s still annoying to see Lore not fight back until she can’t ignore any longer. I think a couple chapters could’ve been removed so that we have the confrontation between Lore and “Bastien” sooner than nearly 60%. Lore is also isolated, both by her own choice and then “Bastien’s” planning, for a huge chunk of the first half. Her relationship with Alie (Gabe too but their bad relationship makes more sense) especially is nowhere near what it was and that felt very sudden and not in character. I wish miscommunication and mistrust hadn’t been the plot choice.

Overall, I’m VERY excited for this finale. Hannah Whitten does not miss when it comes to her endings, so I’m thinking the next book will be my favorite of the trilogy. Also, I’ll have my in-depth spoiler thoughts on review sites within the next few days.

Thank you to @orbitbooks_us for the ARC copy!

DNF @ 50%

I’m not wasting any more of my time reading about theorizing rather than characters taking action.

I was FINALLY able to finish this book after accidentally leaving it behind at my childhood home in January. WHOOPS.

Luckily, the anticipation to get back to it actually helped this story in the long haul. I was not engrossed at all within the story when I read those first three chapters. Upon returning to my childhood home, I began reading where I left off because I remembered most of the chapters. I did reread the prologue, and it immediately snagged my attention, especially after knowing what happens in those first few chapters. I ended up marathoning the rest of the book over two days. The only reason I put it down the first day was because of an early morning for work the next day. A switch was turned in my head, and I could not get enough of this book.

Now is this perfect? No—just look at my rating. It's a wonderful debut though, and I cannot wait to see Georgia Summers write more novels in the future. Her writing is pure magic when it comes to descriptions and weaving together a sentence. The comp titles I think of (writing and plot both) are The Starless Sea, Pandora, and The Binding, so those writing styles compare well to The City of Stardust. If you're a big fan of flawed character driven stories with a loose world building, then this is the book for you. I was able to turn off my big fantasy brain while reading this, and because of my slumpiness, it was much more enjoyable because I could just experience the plot and vibe.

The world building is incredibly fascinating—albeit could use some more explanation and details. There's the regular human world and then one called Fidelis. Fidelis is only reachable by magical keys made of reveurite (god's metal), which create doorways anywhere you've been between earth and Fidelis. There used to be more worlds besides Fidelis, but an old fairytale speaks of a craftsman breaking those doors in the pursuit of keeping his life and stopping an astral (angel-like gods) from returning. Readers just have to accept the fact that reveurite is magical metal/rock and that the gods brought it from their world to ours. That's the most explanation we get. Personally, I was fine with it. I don't always have to have incredibly detailed magical systems. Sometimes it is not explainable because the individuals themselves don't even understand it.

The part of the magic system where I get confused rests with the scholars. The craftsman I mentioned before is allegedly the first human to work with reveurite (at least that we know of). He is given this knowledge supposedly form the astral he makes a bargain with, which is why he should lose his life but ultimately postpones said bargain by breaking the doors and all that. My question lies for the scholar society and astrals as a whole. Where did their abilities come from? We are forced to assume that Astriade, the astral tricked in the bargain, taught all of these "talented" (the word used to describe humans with the ability to manipulate reveurite) humans to be scholars. For a fact she built the society of Fidelis. She tries to destroy is even at the end of this book. Did the opening of worlds first give humans this ability? Erriel and Tamriel (two other astrals locked away in scholar society) never explain their own reasons for being on earth and not going back. Tamriel has a somewhat Lucifer vibe to him with the "he fell from grace" inferences. I'm just confused overall with their connection to this world. I need more knowledge about the astrals and their influences on humans besides the tyranny of Astriade. Since our two leads are humans, we never get answers, and I just wish Georgia could have thrown us a bone via more world building to the magic system and gods. The final few chapters take place in a wholly new setting, and I wish readers got more information about it. We were left in the dark, and it took away from the immense intrigue of that plot twist.

Shifting to the characters, Violet Everly is massively flawed. Plenty of reviewers cannot stand her, but I found her to be extremely... human. She is painfully naïve for about 50% of this book, and while you'll want to bang your head against a wall at her decision making in those moments, I remind myself that she is blinded by her feelings and idealizations. She's been sheltered her whole life, so of course, she would not have street smarts about betrayal. Speaking of betrayal, our other lead is Aleksander. Where Violet is boisterous and outgoing, Aleksander is reserved and perceptive. Both leads have one thing in common—a passion for magic and knowledge. It's what draws me to them so much. They show their passion in completely different ways because of their background.

They both also have extremely complex futures ahead of them. Aleksander wants to become a scholar in Fidelis; he works for Penelope, the top scholar, but he is not accepted in Fidelis society. He's not from an influencing family, rather he was an orphan in the human world that Penelope stole one fateful night. He could either lose everything or become everything he's ever dreamed of. Violet is very opposite. She met Aleksander and Penelope when she was very young due to a debt her mother/family owes Penelope. Besides seeing Aleksander work reveurite once, she knows nothing. Ultimately, she finds out that her life is in danger because she must give it over to Penelope due to this lineage curse tha't lasted centuries. Violet is also incredibly talented and could've been a masterful scholar. It's the fact that her uncles/mom hid her away that led to her being outed from Fidelis. Overall, I loved this dichotomy between the two leads because both characters are outsiders in totally different ways and also not. It's the underlying tone of each character in their unique circumstances throughout the book.

Did I see the end coming? Yes, but also no. I believed the certain character may be alive, so it was not a plot twist since the character's possible history was mentioned many times throughout the course of the story. I also saw the hints to the true identity of certain characters, but this did not take away from any of my enjoyment. It only made me more intrigued because I wanted to learn more about Ever Everly (I know for a fact some readers will despise this name tho bahaha) and Astriade. They're honestly the most interesting aspects of this story, so I just wish we could've collected as much lore as possible. In the way this ended, it feels almost like a first book. I want to learn more about those possible doorways that were destroyed or the world of Elandriel (the stronghold of reveurite workers once) in general. [Aleksander is trying to fix these broken doors in the end and has even left Violet to pursue this interest. It isn't until the epilogue that he returns to Violet in their cafe, but we are left wondering what he came to say since it ends without them talking. 

The last thing I want to mention is Marianne Everly, Violet's mother. She leaves Violet behind with her brothers to set off and find answers about this Everly curse. We learn that she sacrificed her hand to Erriel at Prague to step through a doorway to another world. Erriel also told Violet that she could never return back through this doorway because it is only one-way. This leads Violet, her uncles, and readers to believe Marianne intentionally left them behind to deal with Penelope. Where my confusion comes in is the second to last chapter where Georgia Summers gives us a snippet POV of Marianne in another world and listening to a whisper on the wind. This moment feels just out of left field. I'm curious if this is to show readers that she intended to come back, or maybe she's finally realized that the threat is gone. The Everly family is angry at Marianne for leaving them and taking the essentially cowardly exit. I want to know why this scene was left in, what does it mean. Will Georgia write a sequel? Who knows. I wouldn't be opposed to one. The scene just felt out of place.

Thank you to Orbit Books for the review copy. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

For starters, I want to preface this review by saying Silver Under Nightfall was an incredible book. Just because I have more complicated feelings for the finale does not take away from how much I adored the first.

If you’re going into this book for the main couple, then I’d recommend you read this sequel. For everything else, I’d l recommend not to continue because it’s disappointing.

There’s a lot of sudden character personality shifts, and they seem to be more of a convenient change rather than actual character development, Remy’s dad being the biggest example. He is honestly a completely different parent in this sequel than SUN; it’s jarring. You could even say this for the main couple occasionally, but I love them so much that I choose to personally ignore that critique cause I did want to enjoy this finale as much as I could. They are the reason this rating is as high as it is, but I may lower it in the future as I mull over the ending.

I wish this duology was a trilogy because too much happened in this book in a short period of time. I didn’t even realize this was the finale until those final 40ish pages when all of the plots were coming together. I don’t think readers have enough time with the Night Empress’ backstory nor the world building (vampire world) as a whole. I felt like I was given crumbs when all I wanted was the whole cake.

Overall, the story feels rushed in a multitude of ways, so I was disappointed. The best part of this duology (besides the trio 🤭) was realizing I’m a BIG fan of Rin’s writing; I can’t wait to finally read my copy of The Bone Witch and read the rest of their backlog!

Thank you to Saga Press for the gifted copies via this series!

This book is not for plot-driven readers—say it again in the back! Not for plot readers!!

Now I’ve seen conflicting opinions about this book, and it all focuses on the plot. Did much happen in this book plot-wise? Honestly, not really. If it weren’t for my love of the characters (Lettle and Rayan = my awkward cuties & Yeeran = intrusive thought chaos) and world building, I probably wouldn’t be rating it this high. The characters are passive when it comes to the action of the book. They converse with other characters and explore, but the driving force of the plot is weak because it boils down to one thing: escape. If you’re a plot reader, I’m hesitant to recommend Faebound.

Here's a brief summary of the plot in the first 25%:

Yeeran (of the Waning tribe) is banished after ignoring orders and leading her army into a deadly battle with the Crescent tribe. Her sister Lettle follows her into the wild, followed closely by Yeeran's former captain Rayan who also feels responsible for the error in battle. All three are elves. Yeeran is hunting for an obeah (magical feline-like creature with horns) whose skin is used to cover drums to create magic called drumfire. When the three reunite, they eventually track down and kill an obeah. Immediately, the three are attacked and captured by fae (believed to be extinct along with humans) and taken underground to the fae kingdom. They do this because to kill an obeah (with black fur) is to also kill a corresponding fae due to the magical bonding of the two in their culture. Yeeran had the unfortunate circumstance to not only kill an obeah-fae pairing... But specifically the elder Crown Prince of the fae.

Now obviously, Yeeran is not executed for her crimes like the fae initially plan to do. She gets out of it by accidentally bonding with an obeah, something that should ~allegedly~ only happen between fae and obeah. The crew is forced to stay in the fae kingdom, so the main plot becomes escape. They spend the next 80% of the book learning the customs of the fae and interacting with various members of the court and society to aid their escape. Besides a death here or there, that's pretty much the gist of the plot.

I understand why people are upset with the plot, but I’ve come to realize that Saara likes to setup her series a ton in the first book. There’s a lot of slow buildup in the middle 80% of the book, but once, the end hits, she throws everything at us. When I read The Battle Drum, I got to see the fruits of her first book’s labor via setup. I’m expecting the same to happen with Faebound sequel.

Now you may be wondering why my review is so high if the plot is lacking. Well, the characters and world building were phenomenal! I'm a sucker for complicated, sassy, even annoying (at times) leads, and we certainly got a variety of personalities. Even though Rayan does not have a POV, I loved his dialogue where he voiced his concerns or thoughts to Lettle. Rayan and Yeeran are definitely solider types in their thinking, very cutesy jock-like honestly, but then, we have the divination/ intellectual Lettle to counteract their thick skulls. I'm hoping Rayan is added as a POV in the sequel because we now know his biggest secret, and Saara had to hide us from it due to the plot twist.

I loved the elf and fae interactions. Surprisingly enough I have not read that many elf stories, so it was refreshing to read about the leads because I don’t have that much experience with their species. Fae on the other hand are wildly over-consumed in my reading. I liked that I got to see them in this new depiction, but it wasn’t as a leading character. Thereby, I have this separation from them because my allegiance is to the elves. Both the elves and fae have a great culture when it comes to gender and sexuality, so I loved that while the species are very different from each other, their form of gender expression and love were one of the same.

The last thing I want to bring up is the romantic fantasy elements of the book. This is not romantasy because the romance is technically a subplot, but the romance is very apparent. There are a couple explicit scenes, but it is 2-3 scenes max. Arguably, only one scene is truly explicit in my opinion.

Lettle and Rayan are the first two pairings readers root for. I loved them from their first awkward moment together as they stumbled around to find Yeeran. I'm a big sucker for the quiet man, opinionated woman trope, and they follow that to a T! I see my own relationship in theirs a lot, so it was very easy to sway me to love them haha. Their miscommunication will definitely drive a few of you wild—definitely did for me at times—but their shared moments ultimately overpowered any annoyance I felt about that trope.

Then Yeeran... she's a bit more complicated. Readers see her first with her Waning Chieftan Salawa. They're lovers, but pretty quickly, I got this weird feeling about Salawa. She does not fight hard enough to save Yeeran from her bainshment, and I heavily noticed the toxicity in their unequal power dynamics, ruler and general. Lettle immediately makes many comments to Teeran that she's imprisoned within that relationship. Yeeran consistently thinks of Salawa throughout the course of the book because it is the foundation for why she kills the obeah after her banishment. Salawa becomes this goal of Yeeran's in her desire to escape. Thus, the power imbalance only worsens, and then, the second love interest arrives.

This spoiler section involves the second love interest![Oh, Furi. You had no chance of hating Yeeran because she never intended to kill your older brother. She'd never touch an obeah if she knew they were attached to a fae. Yeeran's actions were one of ignorance, and she is upfront about that. I think that's the moment where Furi's walls began to loosen. They're definitely an enemies to reluctant acquaintances to lovers trope haha. I'm REALLY excited to see where their relationship goes, especially now that Yeeran has left the kingdom to inform the world of the obeah and their link to fae. She wants to stop the war between Waning and Crescent, but we find out Furi and the fae rulers have been working alongside Crescent in a mutually beneficial relationship to try to break their curse. Honestly, I loved that complexity to their relationship because it shows both have done harm to the other in ignorant ways, but now they have decided to work together and choose one another. Salawa is the biggest question mark for me by the end because how will she react to Yeeran's return, especially since Yeeran is no longer romantically loyal to her? The manipulation via romance is gone now, so I;m curious to see what tensions go down between Salawa, Yeeran, and even Furi

Thank you to Del Rey for the eARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own.