hann_cant_read's reviews
426 reviews

The prose is so hard to get through. Every single paragraph is trying to end with a dramatic punch, eventually the effect is diminished and nothing actually makes an impact.
The world building is so clunky and for attempting to be political intrigue, each nugget we learn feels like an after thought. Nothing happened the entire first chapter except our main character just listing examples of why Colonizing Empire = Bad. We got it. The info-dumping monologues (both internal and via speech!) were killing me. Worse than being morally gray is just being annoying. 

I have a lot of mixed feelings about this one. It definitely felt like the middle book in a trilogy. More like a bridge connecting two stories than an actual story in and of itself.
The first half really dragged. The author kept teasing a reveal that seemed so obvious, that it was just annoying that it took the entire first half of the book for Lore to realize it (or come to terms with it, really).

I think the goal of the first half was really for Bastian's descention arc, but it just wasn't very smooth. (Bastian hating but eating cantaloupe could have been such a good clue if both of those things hadn't been told to us at the exact same time.)

There were some weird interactions that didn't quite make sense. Lore as a whole was just kind of a blank slate for whatever the plot needed in that exact moment. 

Lore told Gabe that something was off with Bastian, but he said she was wrong. But later, when Lore is talking to Alie, Alie mentions that Gabe noticed Bastian was different, and instead of being pissed that Gabe brushed her off when he clearly agreed, she's nervous that Gabe is noticing?

It also doesn't make sense to me why Lore withholds the random information that she does, other than to make the plot seem more mysterious.

These people are on your side! Plus her requesting the group to tell Bastian things when she KNOWS telling him is as good as telling Apollius so why is she even asking?

Also, Lore was extremely boring in this one. While she didn't have a lot of agency in the last one, she at least understood that and was making the small decisions she could to try and make the best of the situation. (She knew her limitations!) But in this one she's just sad and confused and the story is playing out around her. Even as she has this insane power she's just kind of...there. I know part of it is to draw parallels between her dynamic and Nyxara's, but because it went on for so long with nothing happening it just felt like slugging through the story.
That being said, the second half went a LOT quicker, and while the God lore was a liiiitle bit info dumpy I found myself really interested in that background history.
My last point of contention is the dialogue sometimes felt weirdly modern but only randomly. It wasn't a huge deal but it just felt a little jarring at times.
I do think, because of the pacing of the last half that I'll end up reading the third one when it comes out. I'm curious to see where the story goes.

Thanks to netgalley for the e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

I heard some rough reviews before giving it a shot so I was a little apprehensive going in, but I ended up enjoying it.
There are some issues - the world building is kind of shallow and a lot of the world building we got was a little info dumpy. I know parts of Lore's past were kept intentionally vague for a while but even her life / the culture of living outside the citadel was boiled down to drug running and illegal fighting rings. 
The magic is still a little confusing to the point that there were instances where I knew the characters realized something but I was struggling to see what their conclusions were.
Also, Lore has to be the worst spy I've ever heard of. I understand that being under the thumb of the actual King / Fantasy Pope is a little more nerve wracking than her normal spy work, but

apparently even the guy she was spying on before that knew what she was doing.

The character arcs were another minor issue for me.

They seemed to stay relatively flat until the end. Gabe was always being pushed out of his comfort zone, so his betrayal was of no surprise, but he did come out of nowhere at the end to switch sides back and fight Anton. Bastian's was interesting although less severe. He was always looking to crack especially when it came to his father and uncle. Lore's just stayed flat the entire time. And tbh her at the end saying she was selfish was honestly just not true. The story started with her risking capture to save a fellow crew member. So idk where that came from

That being said, once I was about 40% in things really started picking up. I'm really curious about the character arcs for Bastian and Gabe alongside Lore.

This reads like a middle grade fantasy.
I think if it was marketed that way I would have come into it with a different mindset, but as it is, I'm very thrown off by the fact that they're supposed to be 18 years old. 14 would have made way more sense, and the cringey dialogue / actions (a dude trips her? in college?) would have felt more realistic.
Wren is so small. And has a double bird name. and is so short. and pours soap in a fountain for her birthday. and has pink in her hair. She's so quirky. and small. I also must have missed how everyone was supposed to keep this secret about moon magic but she still knows. If her parent's told her why did they make her uncle promise not to talk to her about it? How did she find out about Lee and Sam?
Lee is. sigh. Fine. His unrequited crush again feels a little juvenile. But I just can't bring myself to care about either of them or their romance.

The entire frame of this story revolves around Freya "wanting". Wanting glory in battle, wanting her family to not suck, wanting to bone Bjorn. But she refuses to do anything about it, preferring instead to let others "control her fate" and then alternating between rage from being used as a tool, and guilt over the decisions she let others make.
If it's not clear, I think Freya is pretty dumb. 
1. The entire story kind of revolves around her flipping back and forth in her bad decisions until

ultimately Bjorn just makes one for her.

2. She has no battle experience, (except like, for playing with her brother as a child? I don't know in what world that counts but okay) But still somehow the fact that other people have ACTUAL experience and might know what they're talking about better than her somehow never occurs to her.
3.

There is literally no reason for Freya to think that Ylva is the "traitor" except that Freya doesn't like her. All the observations of her seeing specifically a woman felt like she made it up to justify her train of thought. It was just so obviously a red herring that it wasn't even believable.

4. She would stop thinking people were lying to her if she would ACTUALLY listen to the things they're (

Bjorn

) trying to tell her without giving away their secrets to every single person around.
5. Her "subconsciously" being against using the healing salve is so stupid. It was an easy ploy by the author to give Bjorn an excuse to have to touch her, but the random psychoanalyzing of her guilt by a stranger and then the salve never being mentioned again was also weird. 

How, after all the nicknames Bjorn gives her, do we end up sticking with "Freya Born-in-Fire" the least roll-off-the-tongue name anyone has ever tried to say.
Which brings me to the dialogue. It was so cringe. First of all, it's a lie. There is no slow burn it is absolutely insta-lust. And somehow it turns to love despite the only thing them ever talking about is how big his ween is in various forms of innuendos. Alternatively, they keep alternating between dialogue that sounds ancient/mythological and then really modern sounding. 

Lastly, wtf was going on with her family? There just isn't any consistency.
Her dad wanted to hide her destiny to protect her I think? He literally said "If anyone ever learns, your life will never be your own!" but then also ignores her begging and forces her to marry an abusive man. 
Her mom

apologizes for choosing her brother over her but then immediately starts berating and calling her a whore before ultimately betraying her to save herself

 
Her brother

in the beginning at least had some sort of loyalty to her even if he was spineless, but the aggressiveness which he came at her toward the end was out of nowhere.

 Idk man I was just so bored. There seemingly should be a lot to be invested in. Dani's mysterious backstory and issues with her mom. The heist gone wrong. The band of misfits that used to be her family. I loved the dog, but everyone else was just kind of meh. I kept finding myself having to push to finish a chapter and life's too short. It's not badly written, I just could NOT get invested. 

I really wanted to love it, but some things fell a little flat for me.
To start, I really did love the prose and the vibes. It was beautifully written, and the descriptions were poetic. It felt like the setting itself was another character.
It was pieces of the plot that I had more trouble with. Not even plot holes, just like "oh, that's it?" moments.
Reid really did a great job setting up for a fantastic story. I think the initial plot line of 

the widow being the true author

was predictable just from the theme of

men exploiting women

that was established very early on. I genuinely don't think a predictable plot is a bad one though, and I had thought that Reid had created enough going on alongside this plot-line to really create a captivating story.
But then, nothing else really happened. There were some super interesting side plot setups:

Effy having some other worldly beauty to the point that even a random boy at the college was annoyed with her until he saw her face then promptly asked her out. Sirens and selkies were even mentioned throughout the story alongside with Effy being a changeling child, but nothing ever came of it.

The war was mentioned quite a bit, but always in passing, like it didn't actually affect anyone we knew. It seemed like the only purpose was for the Sleeper Museum to have a function, and/or for Effy to make vaguely racist comments to Preston when she was mad, but it felt very underdeveloped.

I did like that for awhile we're really not sure if Effy is crazy like everyone thinks or if the Fairy King is real, because even she isn't sure.
Some questions I do still have that people might be able to answer for me:
1.

Why didn't the widow talk to them at all? Why/How did she escape the hall without making a sound if she wasn't a ghost?

2.

The random sex scene felt out of place. It felt less intimate and more like the precursor to a 3rd act breakup

3.

Why was the estate guy so cagey? He was helping Preston one minute, but suspicious of them the next.

 This book was so freaking funny. I legitimately laughed out loud at people's quips multiple times. The banter really was something else. That's probably why I loved Emily so much but man, she was streeeessing me out. She really was her own worst enemy.

The LGBTQ+ rep was very endearing, and didn't make me feel lectured or condescended to, it just was and the characters were navigating it.
 
If you're looking for an accurate portrayal of the regency period you are very much barking up the wrong tree, it's more "inspired by" the regency period I think,

The audio was narrated by Ell Potter, and she really nailed everyone's different cadences and comedic timing. I absolutely would listen to a book she narrated again.