I really thought this was going to be a 4 star read minimum from how easily I devoured this book but the ending really did itself in. The genesis story of these beings was extremely confusing at first and to be honest I still feel like I don't quite understand it.

During the first half I couldn't really understand what people meant about this book needing a better editor. By the end I got what they meant. There were a lot of repititions in the dialogue that a good editor would have advised the author cut. In general, if better editors and beta readers got their hands on this book before publication, I'm confident this book would have had a much better, more satisfying ending to lead into a series.

Ultimately, a series starter should make me excited to continue with the series and make me want more from this world. Personally, not only will the ending will keep me from rereading this, but it also leaves me with no desire to continue on with the characters and plot.

However, I do have to hand it to the author for creating a compelling and believable romance between Aydra and Draven. That's the one thing she had going for her.

I loved this book so much! I actually saw a friend on goodreads that had it marked "Want to Read" so I clicked on it and I am so happy I followed it. It is such a great Dark, HIGH fantasy, New Adult read.

The world building is so good and detailed. It is a lot keep track of when starting but it gets better as you go along. Speaking of the journey, The characters are amazing. I love their growth and development as we learn about the world with them.

I love Aydra as the FMC. She is confident and a total badass. She doesn't care what others think of her, she doesn't wait for someone to pull out a chair for her at the table she just makes one. She is one of the female characters that paves the way for others behind her so that they too can be confident and know their worth.

Draven....he is amazing. His witty banter, swaggery confidence, fierce loyalties, and of course being morally grey just make him the perfect MMC and swoon worthy.

The ending shocked me honestly. I thought no way is what they say is going to happen be what actually happens, but man it is bittersweet. There are so many possibilities with what’s going to happen next. I feel like this was one epic prologue, world building, set up for the rest of the series and I am here for it!

Okay I absolutely loved this book! Jack Whitney has created my favorite new fantasy world. Haerland’s lore and history was well thought out even if a bit confusing at first. The prologue was handy to refer back to throughout the story. The characters were well developed and the chemistry and friendships felt genuine off the page. While there are many explicit spicy scenes, there is the perfect balance of plot to the smut. Without spoilers, the ending left me shaken and eager for the sequel.

From a critical lense, this text definitely needs an editor. There are several grammar errors, redundant phrases, duplicated words, and misspellings. It’s a large novel and all authors become blind to these types of mistakes after working on something so diligently. I know this book is self published so the errors are understandable. I devoured this book for the plot and world building in spite of the errors. Hopefully she gets picked up by a publisher or does enough sales to employ her own editor in the future.

(The author does not exaggerate when calling this book a “dark high fantasy”. Typical high fantasy elements are present eg multiple races to follow and complex world building. TW for violence, murder, SA, domestic abuse.)

I really wanted to enjoy this book but unfortunately I ended up DNF'ing it around 70%. First, the grammar was atrocious. The book needed to go through at least one or two more editing processes. Secondly, the character development was pretty lacking. Aydra is your typical badass girl who wants to "stick it to the man" but there's not much more to her than that. Draven seems to have a little more depth to him, but he still might as well be a cardboard cut out. The world building is confusing, even more than halfway through the book I wasn't sure what was happening. There's a handful of "spicy" scenes that are just straight-up awkward. There's a lot of fluid love in this book and I don't think I would've picked it up had I known it was going to be so frequent (nothing against it, it's just not my thing). It was around one of these awkward sex scenes that I decided I was officially done trying to like this book. There also needs to be TW of rape. I had the "surprise ending" spoiled for me so maybe that is why I wasn't as committed to finishing the book.

I hope the author continues to write because she has so much potential but this book just fell SO flat for me.

This book was definitely not what I expected, at all. It was BETTER than I could ever imagine it to be! After scrolling through my Tik Tok feed, I ended up on Jack's page and almost immediately fell in love with some of the lines in the book and knew I needed to get my hands on a copy as soon as possible. I flew through this book (at an alarming rate) because I could not put it down! Every twist and turn fits perfectly with this narrative and world that is being built for the reader to understand and get a grasp on. It was not hard to fall in love with the main characters, especially Aydra and Draven. The power these two hold over me is unreal and I'm in utter love with them. This tale is filled with lots of steaminess, betrayal, love and everything in between. For all the fantasy, adventure, romance junkies like me, pick this book up! It's so worth the read!

The book needed quite a bit of editing, there were several places where it impacted the story.
Overall a really great tale that broke my heart a little bit. Dark. I liked the book, but not enough to want to buy the next ones in the series when they come out.