jae_28's reviews
150 reviews

 First off, the narrator for the book was excellent! 100/10 He really made this experience more immersive for me. There were times he got me shuddering and cringing just by changing the tone of his voice. Seth is a voice actor through and through. I expected this book to be gory and horrific but I still wasn’t ready. 

The details, imagery, and language were amazing; it was so vivid, I was watching a film in my head. I adored Charlie as a character. Usually, main characters make the most senseless decisions so the plot can unfold but this was the exact opposite. The fact that he was normal and chill made him so much more real to me. He remained loyal and respectful when it mattered and the way he cared for people was natural and easy. He was genuinely a good kid. Even when he started saying he wasn’t and despite some messed up stuff he did in the past. The plot was woven in so expertly, that the things he did didn’t come off as unrealistic or forced. His character was dimensional and I liked being in his head.

 About halfway through, the pacing took me out of the story, unfortunately. The first half was beautiful. I loved how the relationship between Charlie, Mr. Bowditch, and Radar grew. After that, the story felt like it was dragging for a little while. A good chunk of it could’ve been cut. I didn’t quite understand why Mr. Bowditch waited until AFTER to tell Charlie about the Well. That’s the only thing that felt a bit disconnected to me. I can assume it was to save the dog but why wait so long when he could’ve just explained everything in person…. I also wasn’t a fan of all the references to the fairy tales. As in, I wish some of it was more subtly woven in there instead of Charlie always explaining every single reference. 

Overall, this was a good introduction to S.K. for me. I expected a retelling, but I didn’t expect to see so many of them knitted together and I enjoyed it. This felt like the original tales with the gore, tragedy, and monstrous things. Plus added elements that elevated the story and stayed true to what the author is known for. 

 This has been my favorite set of volumes so far. I knew the drama would multiply the second they officially started dating, and they got a thousand times cuter (even though Misaki got under my skin all throughout both volumes lol). I devoured these! There aren’t enough volumes left in this series. 

 This is the kind of story you devour in a day, or go to after reading emotionally heavy books. This was chill, cute, fluffy, and just a feel-good read. Even the drama wasn’t too heavy; it was enough to have you sitting up and leaning in. I was enjoying the easygoing nature of it until we got to the climax. 

The dreaded miscommunication trope. I honestly don’t even know if it’s even considered that, but it simply didn’t fit the story or the character. For the entire story, Nic was the more solid person in the relationship when it came to knowing exactly what he wanted out of the arrangement. He never said anything sus or constantly reminded himself that it wasn’t real. So when he started saying all that nasty stuff, it didn’t make sense plot-wise. Even if he was angry, that’s not enough to make it believable. I’m tired of having to sit through couples breaking up for no valid reason for there to be conflict or a threat to the relationship. If we’re gonna do this, please align it with the actions and thoughts of the characters over the course of the story. 

Other than that, I liked the story and characters. I knew a couple of pages in that I could finish it in three days max if I didn't deliberately drag it out. I plan on reading the second book about Malakai and I already have other books by the author lined up. Looking forward to it. 

 So that feeling I had while reading the first book wasn’t in the second but it came back halfway through this one. That’s not to say the book was ever bad. I’m saying my skin started buzzing, I was shaking, and I couldn’t breathe once it picked back up. So much happens, I can’t begin to even articulate it or say much because anything can be a spoiler. I feel like I’ve lived a dozen lives and the characters aged a decade while reading this series and there’s one more book left. 

The complexity of the characters and plot have been nothing but superb. The pacing is great, but you do get to some points that are just exhausting or a bit of a drag because so much goes on. This book is very thorough when it comes to details. It all feels necessary and worth it even though there might be things the reader doesn’t care to read or sit through. I, for one, still didn’t give a damn about Helene’s POV up until the 60 or 70% mark. 

But just read the book. Taking a deep breath as I dive into the finale. 

 I fell into a nasty slump around the time after I started this book and it took me a while to get back into it but I finally wrapped it up and I'm so happy I did. Just like the first book, I had to take breaks to breathe and give myself and the characters a break. It did not let up! I can't even begin to think what the next book will cover. This was brutal and unpredictable. I love the multiple POVs. I'm not gonna lie, for most of this, I didn't care for Helene's POV and she was another reason why I'd simply stop reading. However, I locked in and she grew on me to an extent because I came to find the importance of her voice. Also, compared to the first book, this book was a little easier. Someone compared it to ‘a long walk’ and I can’t say that’s not true lol. There were so many characters, but somehow I was able to follow the majority. That says a lot about the characterization and dynamic of them. I adore Tahir's storytelling. There's never a stagnant moment, shit just keeps happening. It's almost hypnotic and definitely addictive. I'm about to crack open the third book and I am equal parts terrified and ecstatic. 

 

I feel like I keep saying this, but these keep getting better! This was so epic! I didn’t breathe for half of this book, these devils stress me OUT. I love seeing all the characters (especially the Black Bulls) grow as people and with their powers. You never know when they reach their limit but I’m pretty sure that the whole point is that they don’t have any. I adore them all. Also, YAMIIIIIII OMG release my husband! 

I was obsessed, entangled, and enchanted by this book so much that I dragged it out because I didn't want it to end. I even gave myself two days to sit with it to figure out how I’d review it. 
World building, lore, tone, and language 10/10! Several things about this book made it immersive and vivid, one being the writing style, but I want to talk about the map. Specifically, how intertwined each family was with their houses and just how deeply the setting affected the plot and feel of the story overall. It’s hard to convey in words, it’s really something the reader experiences. I’d never felt the need to interact so much with a book’s map. I even ended up annotating it heavily. Every other page, I had to flip back to it to make connections to the characters and groups—whether it be through location, power dynamic, structure, etc. This is all just a roundabout way of commending the author’s writing now that I think about it. You can tell Tigest crafted this with so much care and attention, all I can do is thank her for giving a damn about the world she created and the people who traverse it.
 I haven't felt so deeply about a book in years. And this is coming from someone who despises enemies to lovers. That isn’t a trope I take up for fun, but I knew I wanted to read his book since February and now it’s my favorite read this year. 
Thankfully I don't need to like characters to be able to enjoy books because these people were a TRIP. They were complex, dimensional, and absolutely unhinged the lot of them. I adored how their studies merged with the storytelling. That was one of my favorite aspects; the conversations and discussions that were had. This book made me turn my brain on and not simply to solve the mysteries. By the end, I was attached to people I didn't think I'd be attached to and suffered that beautiful post-depression feeling that comes with excellent literature. 
The pacing was perfect for this story. It doesn’t start off slow, it is slow and that’s exactly how it should be. You really got to see the development and movement of the characters, relationships, and plot. Any diversion from the pace and it would’ve been jarring, plus a lot of it probably wouldn’t even make sense.
This is not a book for everyone, I will say that. It's marketed exactly how it is; dark. The characters are VERY morally grey, Kidan is an absolute mess (which made sense considering her circumstances IMO), and this is not something you should go into thinking it's going to be cute because it's not. This is not the kind of book I read on a regular basis and what other people disliked was what made the complexity of it a masterpiece. Despite all of it, this has been one of the most compelling things I’ve read and it was a wonderful experience. A super solid start to what I know will be an excellent trilogy.

 This was a chill read I needed for my slump last month. It was so unserious and hilarious at times. I also didn’t expect the amount of adventure it came with and I enjoyed that the most. I’m not gonna lie, the plot was very ABC and this didn’t feel like the final draft of a story but it was entertaining enough for me to get to the end. We missed out on so much in terms of Rayna’s relationship with her family and friends. She had more than one friend but Keri was the only one we saw. The language took me out of the story at times too. We were interacting with creatures from other worlds but everyone talked the same way, had the same mannerisms, etc. On top of that, I was cringing because of it or had to edit in my head as I read. Plus everybody was winking too damn much for me. Like why are we winking and teasing about sex when lives are at stake in a world over? I get that it was supposed to be funny and easy to read but I wished it were taken more seriously because a lot happened in this book. There were several scenes where it went from zero to a hundred and left me reeling. This has potential but it could’ve been developed and tightened up more, in my opinion, especially since it ended with multiple ends untied. 

The magic in this book was awesome! I made the mistake of listening to the audiobook my first time 'round so of course I didn’t catch every little detail. What I enjoyed the most was how much love poured out of the characters for each other, especially when it came to family (including found family). There was so much personality and character to these people, this book truly felt like home. It was heartwarming following Malik on his journey and seeing him find his people and make his way in the world.

 On the other hand, the language at times made me cringe endlessly and I might've DNFed if I'd physically read it. I can do references, but they were constant, it was almost unbearable. I wasn’t a fan of the pacing. Several things could've been cut, condensed, or thrown in as backstory. Over half of it felt like worldbuilding, but there wasn’t much to build since it’s still heavily set in our world. I would've loved to see Malik messing around and getting used to his magic but we hardly got that outside of classes or near-death experiences. It took a while for the central plot to come into play, and when it did, the story got predictable. Everybody I suspected turned into a culprit in one way or the other. I didn’t care for Malik and Alexis as a couple. They were holding on to the past rather than building anything. Whatever connection they had wasn't convincing to me, especially with how they treated each other. 

Then I learned this was supposed to be 'black boy joy' and 'no trauma'. A lie. This entire book is based on trauma and we hardly saw Malik experience any kind of joy. It's why we don't see him have fun with his magic or trust anyone. I honestly thought there would've been a balance between lightheartedness and the heavy plot lines, but it was mostly heavy.

 They had the audacity to put a man on the cover of this book.

The one time I decided not to read the summary, I stumbled into a horror movie. I don’t have much to say about this, but I’m glad Kennedy Ryan got more thorough with trigger warnings in recent books. Cause why were there whole chapters of Iris getting abused and raped…. I’m not talking mentions; in gruesome detail. It was absolutely draining and I skipped them, but still! Then there was August. He was great but I didn’t give a damn about what he had going on. There were lives at stake! The book had great underlying messages and seeing Iris’s growth and survival was satisfying. I wish we’d gotten more of that but most of the book was her being trapped. I felt like I was being held hostage with her. Then when she finally walked out the house, it went pretty smoothly which threw me. That transition in the book was probably the weakest. We saw none of her plans to take Caleb down or nothing. She just summoned his team the next day and we were there. By the time she and August got together, I didn’t care much, unfortunately. We got so much detail of the abuse that everything else felt shallow because it wasn’t given the same attention, in my opinion. 

//:-- EXPLICIT DETAILS OF ABUSE, RAPE/SEXUAL VIOLENCE --:\\