I can’t with this series anymore. I just can’t. Book two and three should have been one book. It was so needlessly long. So much repetitive bullshit that amounts to nothing. 

Oh and don’t even get me started on Kaldris! He’s always “if you are ever uncomfortable tell me and I’ll stop” but then when Astrea specifically tells him to stop because she is uncomfortable he literally tells her “well you’re going to have to get used to it”. 

Also Rape is a CONSTANT theme in this. The mc is constantly being threatened with it. We find out Kaldris has been raped on and off for centuries. It’s not handled tastefully at all, just thrown in for shock value.

I’ll give her a LITTLE grace for actually killing Kaldris’s rapist. That at least had a satisfying conclusion

You know I could get behind the “girl power, reclaiming your sexuality as a woman” movement this book has going on if the MC didn’t make the same preachy speech to herself everytime she gets. Like we GET IT! You like sex, have a voyerisum kink that you’re ashamed of, and like to kill people now. We have all accepted that. We have all moved on, can you please focus on the PLOT?!? can you maybe make ONE actual plan for how you are going to fix things?  

The torture scenes were rather intense and surprisingly well written. That is apparently where all of the editing budget went.

That scene where asters has a strip of her skin slowly flayed off her back was so graphic! Like where did THAT come from? That was some grade A body horror! You had THAT in you the whole time
? Where has that quality been the entire series. We get scenes like THIS and then it’s right back to shock value deaths that have no emotional impact. Like the bit where she kill some of the human mates for force someone to swear loyalty to her and then that has zero impact on the plot and because we don’t know any of the people involved it just bushed over like “oh, that’s unfortunate”.

 

This book has the most random mythology sprinkled in it. Like it’s Greek, but also kinda Christian and Roman, with hints of Norse and first people folklore. But they aren’t likely well done representations of the myths. Like why is the Minotaur here and why is this bit just the plot of the Labyrinth? 

I might give the next book a try if I’m bored after it comes out but I really had to force myself to finish this one (I only did cause I got it from the library and they have to pay for every download of their ebooks, and I’d feel bad for wasting that). Who knows.

I’ll probably give it a chance, only because the main couple is going to be separated for (hopefully) a significant amount of time so the author will be forced to focus on the plot rather than copy and paste another repetitive dub con smut scene

Edit: yall I genuinely keep forgetting that Mauve has an actual daughter. Like that plot line was so underused after so much time worrying about it in bk2. I genuinely forget she exists. Gun to my head is you asked me her name I’m dead. She is such a superfluous character at this point. 

The writing was beautiful. Amazing prose. But I was just bored for most of it. 

What the FUCK was that? I never believed the “it’s written by AI” allegations but that has converted me. Listen I liked Powerless fine, I went in knowing it was going to be the Disney Channel version of the Hunger Games so I made sure to keep my expectations low so I could still enjoy it. My expectations had never been lower than when I started this and it still managed to disappoint me! 

This books was literally so bad. The dialogue was awkward. The motivations of the characters were as strong as tissue paper. Nothing happens in this book. It’s entirely redundant and has no effect on the story at large. If homeboy doesn’t come back in the next book and actually DO something then I am going to be FURIOUS! This is genuinely the worst book I’ve read all year! Maybe EVER! 

There is not fucking way they literally had a moment where they told this man “hey I know that your cousin who you loved like a sister died because you were too busy thinking this random girl was hot, but that was a WEEK ago! Aren’t you over it yet!” And there is NO way that he said “you know what? You’re right, I do need to move on”

 

I can’t believe that they spent all this time being like “he has the same powers as Kai! Isn’t that so crazy?” Just for him to be literally USELESS!! I kept expecting him to jump into the arena during the chaos, steal a healing ability and save her at the very last second. Normally I hate fake out deaths like that but at least he would have DONE something? He literally sat there and WATCHED! Biggest let down I’ve ever read

Why yall were hyping this up I’ll never understand! 

Every time the author makes a “have faith” joke it drops my rating a half a star. It’s so corny and had not been funny once. 

Same pacing issue that make the first part of the book a slough to get through. 

That said! SHE FINALLY GREW SOME TEETH!!! That has been my main issue with the series is that there was no bite to it. I’ve never been worried during any action scene cause I knew she didn’t have the guts to kill off someone ACTUALLY important. And she finally did it!! 

When they broke the mating bond for Nick and Tauria I was genuinely gagged! Like THAT is a sacrifice! It BETTER have a pay off to match it casue they JUST GOT THAT!

The series is still woefully predictable and the things I didn’t get came out of fucking nowhere

Marlow and Iziah joining the other side WHY? like Marlow I can get, she 100% saw a vision and is doing what she needs to and this betrayal will get moved on from WAY too quickly casue “she had a reason” but IZIAH!?!? Where in hell did that even come from?

 

The main romance was fine, I guess. Not sure why we needed to manufacture forced  forbidden romance when it had no real effect on the plot. Like REALLY? The King, who spent all of the last book and before being like “you’re basically a son to me” suddenly not being okay with Raylen being with his daughter? And you’re telling me the RIGHT HAND MAN OF THE KING who is literally BELOVED by the entire country isn’t not a “good enough match” for a princess? Do they just have a “sneaking around” kink? If they do you can just SAY that and spare us all the annoyance of this unnecessary and useless plot point.

On that note WHY did they even have Faye fake her death when it literally proved to be useless!?!? Just go home!

The side romances however? This new love triangle we have going on? Mavrik get out of here! I literally never liked you

I actually wanted Ziana to be a lesbian and be in love with the darkling girl she saved from the last book but since THATS clearly not happening

make way for my tortured sad boy who is so much more interesting and good for her!

Also she is definitely the evil king dude’s kid. We don’t need to drag this out. We know.

And then Narida and Tarly?!? I’m obsessed with them! Their side novel WHEN? I want them to be the main characters immediately! 

Over all I liked it. I did think this was the last book, and the next one doesn’t come out for much too long for my liking. 

If you are interested in this book for the “plot” more than the actual plot I bet you could enjoy it. In reality this book was just so many gratuitous, unnecessary, and repetitive smut scenes one after another in an attempt to move the story along. 

Don’t get me wrong, I love my spice but once you’ve read one of them you’ve read all of them. If I’d had the physical book I would have just read the dialogue for those scenes and moved on. 

If you took out all of these repetitive scenes this book honestly would have been a novella. All they do is

retract their steps back the same way they came

. That was it! This book could have been an email. 

Also, these people are so fucking annoying. I only like ONE of the new characters that were introduced, cause he’s the only one that has any sense and the only one the story takes the time to give an actual personality. The main couples issues are so circular and I just stopped caring after they started arguing over the same talking point for the thousandth time

which the always resolve by fucking every single time, did I mention that it was boring and repetitive yet?

, the dual pov did NOTHING to give us better insight into the character minds. And there were times the Writing got down right preachy. It’s like it was trying to be camp and fun, but also took itself way too seriously. When we transition from one scene to another it is so jarring that I often had to rewind to see WHEN or IF the transition took place. If I didn’t already have the next book downloaded I would not continue, but I have a long drive tomorrow so they are getting that long to hook me into the story before I hang my hat on it.

Which is possible, now that they are actually in the fae realm I’m holding out hope for an actual plot!!

The beginning was pretty slow but does pick up close to the end. They pay off is nice and I do enjoy seeing how the stories and myths of individual towns change with time.

im not sure I can forgive the author for having a “she’s my girlfriend you intolerant shit” moment while we are worried that a 16 year old boy might have burned to dead in a fear tactic arson strike by a gas company…. Or for having Opal fantasize about “stomping on each of [arthur’] fingers” while they are getting hot and heavy. Genuinely what the fuck was that? That came so far out of left field it hit the umpire in the back of the head

Great gothic vibes! The magic was real and not just a metaphor for changing times which was refreshing as I’ve been bamboozled by too many books like that of late. 

We end

on a very hopeful note

and overall it was a very nice read! 

The plot was so circular. It needed to be edited down by at least 2k words. We wouldn’t need a second book if all the fluff had been cut out. 

Is so frustrating, the characters have to go through the same “characters building” situations a hundered times before they even START to develop. It’s the same issue with no real resolution. 

I’m really sad because the world is so fun! The plot has so much potential but then it was so boring in practice. I can’t stand a “travel” book, particularly when all they are doing it wandering, and that’s all this is. 

Also if you are going to kill off a character (like we see them die!! There was a body! He was confirmed dead) then have the guts to actually leave them dead! Don’t pull up with this cowardly resurrection. If the death wasn’t real you have to give me a reasonable reason to believe that! Otherwise I just feel cheated out and lied to

Listen I am a simple woman. You give me a sad man who is so unbelievably in love with a woman and I will fold every time.

That said, don’t go into this expecting a romance. It’s a mystery through and through. 

It did start off really slow, but picked up eventually. 

The mystery was done well. I managed to guess the killer but in a way that made me feel accomplished for figuring it out. Not in a “oh this was so predictable” kinda way.

Handles delicate situations like death, social injustice, and the ramifications of war (including but not limited to PTSD) with grace. 

This implication that Damian is on the aroace spectrum (Demi) was so nice to see!

Very good! I enjoyed it! 

Very fun. Could have used some more explanation in some places and told a sum more than it showed.

I do love the Count of Monte Cristo and this was a fun retelling that managed to not feel derivative. 

Dialogue could use so work. 

Not looking forward to the 
inevitable love triangle of the best book, particularly when we got the barest hint that Cayo might lean aroace. That would be a nice way to settle the love triangle I guess. Also, Roth came out of nowhere. There was no satisfying build up to that he was just suddenly THERE with all the answers. 

Lost half a star for the use of the nickname

Little one

for the love interest. Such an ick particularly when

he literally had another nickname for her!!! “My star”? Amazing! Just use that instead of infantilizing her

The plot has potential, I’ll try out book two and see if there is any pay off. The plot twist in this was laughably obvious. Like it was actually painful y’all. 

Lots of shock value deaths that did nothing to the plot. “Oh no my brother died HORRIBLY let me be upset about that for six seconds and then move on to how good this rando I met in a barn looks naked” like, girl!

Furthermore why is EVERYONE so weird and possessive? about the fmc’s body, her knowledge, everything. Everybody wants to keep this girl in a cage!

The mmc (I listened to this book so I don’t know how to spell their names, deal with it) goes on and on about how he gave her choice like that is such a gracious thing to do…. We’ll forget that the entire time they were traveling he was all “I’ll wait until you’re begging for it, but it’s totally inevitable that you’ll come to me. And also I won’t let you be with anyone else if you don’t pick me” yeah, total freedom there pal thanks

Was this great? Nah. Was it entertaining enough? Yeah. 

Had nice line writing, and had the possibility for some fun world building if it goes that direction.