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632 reviews by:
takarakeireads
adventurous
informative
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I'm not super familiar with Norse mythology in general so I picked this up to learn a bit more about it. The storytelling definitely was interesting and kept my attention for the most part. Neil's narration of the audiobook was very well done!! Selfishly I wanted at least 1 story about the Valkyries, and this focused more on the 'major players' in Norse mythology (Odin, Thor, Loki). From what I understand this is a more updated and accessible version of these myths, so worth a read if you're interested in this subject.
Totally did reinforce that Loki is my favorite tho ...
Totally did reinforce that Loki is my favorite tho ...
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Torture, Violence
Moderate: Animal death, Gore, Blood
Minor: Animal cruelty, Sexual content, Murder
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I was quite literally sobbing and shaking after finishing this book. A MILLION STARS.
This is the best romance I've ever read and I honestly think it will be near impossible to top. Olivie Blake's writing is STUNNING. This book is supremely real. I honestly cannot form more words.
This is the best romance I've ever read and I honestly think it will be near impossible to top. Olivie Blake's writing is STUNNING. This book is supremely real. I honestly cannot form more words.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness, Sexual content
Moderate: Addiction, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship
Minor: Suicidal thoughts
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Minus 1/4 star for the very slow start, I honestly think they could have seriously condensed down the first ~150 pages to half of that. I literally read the first 25-30% and it was so slow that I put it down and didn't pick it back up for over another month.
But then I read the rest in like 2 days - and honestly as the rest of this story unfolds I was in awe at the intricacy of the storytelling. This third and final book is definitely the one where all the little pieces of the puzzle come together so masterfully to tie everything together. You know when you get to that point in a series where everything just starts clicking, and things are being revealed that are just blowing your mind? I was screaming and squealing and just having such a good time. I also just absolutely adore El - I think she is honestly one of my favorite main characters ever. I love this series so much!
I am kinda mad Ophelia is just like... still there??? but otherwise, I loved the ending.
3/5 🌶️
But then I read the rest in like 2 days - and honestly as the rest of this story unfolds I was in awe at the intricacy of the storytelling. This third and final book is definitely the one where all the little pieces of the puzzle come together so masterfully to tie everything together. You know when you get to that point in a series where everything just starts clicking, and things are being revealed that are just blowing your mind? I was screaming and squealing and just having such a good time. I also just absolutely adore El - I think she is honestly one of my favorite main characters ever. I love this series so much!
3/5 🌶️
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Torture
Moderate: Child abuse, Violence, War, Classism
Minor: Child death, Sexual content, Death of parent
Torture in the sense of how Maw Mouths *work* IYKYK
Child abuse - Orion's parents are literally the worst!
emotional
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
It was very well narrated. I loved the theme of art being therapeutic and a way for people to express and connect. This was my first novel in verse, but I think especially on audiobook it reads very much like a novel and I would’ve liked more poetry to the prose.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, Violence
Moderate: Police brutality
Minor: Bullying
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
When I first started this series I really knew nothing going in except kung-fu inspired jade magic and mafioso type families (based on a talk I saw Fonda at). About halfway through this second book in the series I realized that (at least so far) these books are really a mastery of political intrigue and strategy. Honestly, now I am marveling at how much Fonda must have researched and understood about the way power-struggles often work in relation to a global chess board. The continued character development (especially of Hilo) throughout the course of this book is fantastically done. I am SO intrigued (and a bit scared for my own well being) to see how the final third book will pan out.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Racism, Violence, Murder
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Drug use, Misogyny, Sexual content, Torture, Xenophobia, Grief, Abortion, Pregnancy, War, Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Pedophilia, Rape, Slavery, Police brutality
Rape (off page, in non descriptive detail)
Animal cruelty - like book 1 a lot of derogatory language involving animals, cock-fighting (not extremely explicit) and 'testing' magic on mice.
emotional
funny
hopeful
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Cannot recommend the audiobook for this enough! The narrator was so fantastic and I looked up their other books because I was so impressed with the voices, tonal inflections etc
I’ve heard people say this book is too long and I think if you’re reading a physical copy I could see that - I didn’t quite feel that way with the audiobook (except for a few parts where I felt things dragged a touch). Overall this was a beautiful poignant historical love story between two people growing together in unlearning what the gender binary tells them they are each supposed to be/do/feel/ etc. There are some absolutely beautiful sweeping dialogue passages. This book and mainly it’s side characters are also supremely hilarious which I enjoyed immensely.
3.5/5 🌶️
I’ve heard people say this book is too long and I think if you’re reading a physical copy I could see that - I didn’t quite feel that way with the audiobook (except for a few parts where I felt things dragged a touch). Overall this was a beautiful poignant historical love story between two people growing together in unlearning what the gender binary tells them they are each supposed to be/do/feel/ etc. There are some absolutely beautiful sweeping dialogue passages. This book and mainly it’s side characters are also supremely hilarious which I enjoyed immensely.
3.5/5 🌶️
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Sexual content
Moderate: Bullying, Drug use, Mental illness, Sexism, Violence, Alcohol
Minor: Deadnaming, War
As the author states misgendering of Viola happens in relation to talking about her past
Gracewood suffers from severe PTSD from the war and is recovering from using drugs to cope with it
adventurous
emotional
funny
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I’ll be honest I probably zoned out for about 25-30% of this book. I find the over descriptions of literally every detail to be exhausting sometimes. The plot was interesting but this was way too long and drawn out. Classic cliffhanger ending as is par for the course in this series.
2.5/5 🌶️
2.5/5 🌶️
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence
Moderate: Sexual content, Blood, Grief, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Confinement
Imprisonment
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I didn't love this as much as I was hoping which is a shame. The magic in this book is really amazing, and there were some truly fascinating parts to read. Also a few 'gasp' moments that surprised me (in a good way). However, there were far too many background characters and their roles were not adequately described, so even though I took notes I was still confused. For example, there are these magical 'councils' that oversee the different types of magic and there are people on these councils who are mentioned ex: 'so-and-so is priestess of etc' but there's no explanation of what that means? So I felt the world-building could have been fleshed out more.
3/5 🌶️ - there is one explicit sex scene
3/5 🌶️ -
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Homophobia, Racism, Sexual content, Violence, Car accident
Moderate: Bullying, Hate crime, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Gaslighting
Minor: Addiction, Slavery, Alcohol
SA/rape: Main character Cris finds out her boyfriend used a love spell on her and their whole relationship is a farce - they had fooled around, but not 'gone all the way' yet...
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
- Robin Hood inspired
- court politics
- herbal medicine
- angsty romance
- revolution rumblings
- brotherhood
Protect my poor baby Corrick! I love him so much. I was just getting back into my YA Fantasy era when I first read this a year ago, and coming back to it made me love it even more!
1/5 🌶️
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, Death of parent, Pandemic/Epidemic
Moderate: Child death, Torture, Blood, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, Classism
Minor: Rape
Very brief mention of rape (off page no details)
informative
slow-paced
THIS SHOULD BE REQUIRED READING FOR ANYONE WITH A UTERUS! Seriously why do they not teach BASIC knowledge about health and our bodies. Even if you are not trying to get pregnant (I am not) I learned so much about my own body that I didn't know and the fact I didn't know honestly made me mad.