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chiaravg's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
Graphic: Death, Rape, Blood, Suicide attempt, and Murder
Moderate: Ableism, Animal death, Cursing, Hate crime, Homophobia, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Transphobia, Violence, Vomit, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Infidelity, Misogyny, Toxic relationship, and Dysphoria
eagle0515's review against another edition
- 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
4.5
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Death, Gore, Homophobia, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail
tragicgloom's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
Graphic: Animal death, Death, Homophobia, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Grief, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Confinement, Sexism, and Xenophobia
Minor: Infidelity, Vomit, Medical content, and Fire/Fire injury
pixelateddragon's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
I loved the contrast of the queer-normative country with the more typically "medieval European"-esque one and how this was expressed and talked about in the text. (Loved the nonbinary representation btw!)
I knocked off a few points for how graphic the sexual assault was, I won't say it's existence wasn't important to further the conflict of the story but I felt it was in more detail than it needed to be to get the point across. Mind the trigger warnings!!!
And the plot was relatively interesting but a bit predictable, I guessed the twist pretty much as soon as the first attack happened & the MC was introduced to
I loved the relationships between characters especially the platonic & familial ones, they were dynamic and felt so real.
I ended up skipping the sex scenes so I can't really comment on them, because they always ended up playing when I was trying to eat in public (and I didn't bother to go back to them because I'm not terribly fond of having sex narrated to me in general 😅).
But overall the book was pretty enjoyable with a dynamic and rich world and characters with beautiful prose & audio narration but, it was a bit heavy handed and more explicit than needed with a few of the more 'traumatic' parts of the story (& the relationship was a bit rushed, but it's a romance book and that is typical of the genre so I can't complain too much on that), and the mystery was a bit predictable.
Graphic: Confinement, Death, Homophobia, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Outing, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Animal death, Cursing, Infidelity, Sexism, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Xenophobia, Religious bigotry, Murder, and Alcohol
Minor: Torture
anderska1011's review against another edition
4.5
Graphic: Death, Homophobia, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Suicide attempt, and Outing
Moderate: Ableism, Animal death, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Stalking, and Fire/Fire injury
seashel's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Outing, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Confinement, Hate crime, Sexism, Medical content, Stalking, and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Cursing, Domestic abuse, Torture, Transphobia, Abandonment, and Classism
cristina_margarita's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
Additionally, Foz’s writing is beautiful. Both points of view felt unique & didn’t blend together; partially due to Vel’s part being in first person & Cae’s in third. All of the characters (that are meant to be) are lovable! I loved Cae & Vel but was also very fond of Markel & Liran. There were two characters mentioned who never showed up & that felt odd to me: Cae’s mother & Riya’s wife. I didn’t expect either of them to be significant to the story but it was still weird.
As for the story itself, I found the political intrigue to be gripping. The stakes were just right & the husbands’ involvement felt plausible. The pacing was also excellent, fast while also giving the reader enough time to digest information. I will be interested to see what the next book holds because as much as I loved the characters, the story was self concluding, it doesn’t require or even really ask for a sequel. I
I struggled greatly with the first part. What Velasin goes through is so raw & felt so realistic to me that it made it difficult to keep reading. (I was warned about & prepared for the rape, which didn’t make it any less upsetting or jarring, but was unprepared for the suicide attempts.) Having said that, I am immensely glad I pushed through. As the trigger warning states, this is a story about healing & I am very interested to see Vel continue to heal in the next book.
Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, Blood, and Suicide attempt
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Homophobia, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Vomit
ollie_again's review against another edition
3.0
Graphic: Animal death, Rape, Sexual assault, Violence, Blood, and Murder
Moderate: Homophobia, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Ableism, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Medical content, and Stalking
silly_little_clown's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
I’ll be honest, half way through the book I was fully convinced that
I have to admit that I constantly mix up the names for places and countries. Not that it hindered my reading too much, because all I had to do is to check the world map again. I think it’s the Qs and Xs in the beginning of words that are messing with my brain.
Absolutely loved the development of the relationship between Velasin and Caethari. I wish it would’ve burned more slowly but it was very sweet once they open up to each other so I can’t complain. I honestly love all the other side characters too. They (the important ones) were all pretty fleshed out and interesting to read about. Even the villains.
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail
bea_reads_books's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Animal death, Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Blood, Grief, Suicide attempt, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Homophobia, Transphobia, Violence, and Death of parent
Minor: Fire/Fire injury