My track record with Ciccarelli’s books has been a bit hit or miss lately, as I loved the Last Namsara trilogy, but didn’t enjoy Edgewood at all. The Crimson Moth or Heartless Hunter didn’t seem like it would lean one way or the other since the premise was extremely different from her previous works. In the end, I went in with lots of hope and excitement, especially after seeing some positive reviews online!

Overall, I liked aspects of this book but I don’t think I loved it. It had some strong features, especially in some characters and how attached I became to them. I liked Rune and her motivations, how loyal she was to her cause, and how her actions in the past seemed to drive her heavily. I also really liked Gideon, and the nuance he and his story seemed to add to the main struggle in the book. His brother was also a great character, and I enjoyed his friendship with Rune immensely.

However, for most of the book, the plot, and setting felt a bit generic, and like something I’d read quite a few times before in YA fantasy. There wasn’t a lot to make it stand out at first. This changed with the ending, and I do like where the story was left off because of everything that happened! I also had trouble with the romance for most of the book, not due to any lack of chemistry or passion between Rune and Gideon, but for other plot reasons that I won’t explain fully due to spoilers. I do think this latter issue won’t really trouble me in the sequel though, so hopefully I’ll be able to enjoy the romance more then!

In the end, I did enjoy my time with this story and I do like where the series seems to be heading, so I’ll anxiously be awaiting the sequel until it releases!

 

 

It’s honestly been a while since I last enjoyed a romance this much! This was just so much fun, and even though I’d gone into this with high expectations because of some of my friends’ reviews, it still ended up exceeding all of them. 

I’ve read books, and even romance books, about musicians before, but I think this is just one of the best examples of using music within a story to its full potential. It felt like it paralleled and mirrored the romance itself so beautifully, and it added this whole extra dimension to the story as a whole. There was so much passion in how both MCs interacted with and felt about music, and it ended up bleeding into their passion for each other as well. The tension was already fantastic, but whenever music was added to the scenes, it was somehow even further heightened! 

My only small issue with this book was the pacing near the end, as I always get frustrated when the third-act break-up occurs very close to the end and it feels like there isn’t a proper amount of time for a full resolution. This often negatively affects my lasting memories of the book, though this wasn’t the case at all this time! It’s been a bit since I’ve finished now, and I’ve honestly only remembered the good parts.

Overall, this book was so much fun and I cannot wait to try more from this author!

 

 

The Foxglove King left us with a world and story that seemed cracked open, with the potential for almost anything to emerge. This left The Hemlock Queen with some big choices to make, as it would shape where the series would end up going and what came out of that intense first book. I was quite surprised (but extremely pleased!) by the way the plot ended up moving, and I’m excited to see how this story concludes in book 3! 

The Foxglove King left us with plenty of questions, and luckily The Hemlock Queen started giving us some answers pretty quickly, though it is not entirely always clear where those answers are coming from and how much they can be trusted. In a way, this book starts working closely with themes of fate and pattern as both the history of the world is revealed and relationships between our main characters are further developed. It starts an interesting discussion on the role and effect of fate and pre-determination and looks at how freedom of choice does or does not exist in moments of cyclic repetition (and if this even matters in the end, as even if a moment or feeling is fated, it does still happen and it is still felt). I enjoyed how closely these parts of the story were interwoven together, and it made both the world-building/plot and the character relationships feel richer as a result.  

I also enjoyed how the magic system was shaped and altered by this shift in plot and struggle as well. The first book was more classically magical, with physical manifestations of magic on the page and an exploration of the effects of this magic in a physical sense. The Hemlock Queen ends up being much more of an internal story, and the shift to more mental magic and conflict within this more mental space fits that story better. We did already see glimpses of this back in The Foxglove King too, so the shift also felt like a natural one. 

Overall, I enjoyed this sequel immensely, and it cemented this series as a favorite, beyond something that I just had fun with to something that I can see sticking with me for longer! I am absolutely terrified of the final book, though, as there are just so many ways it can go.