puddlejumper's reviews
726 reviews

This is one long battle sequence, hence the name. I found it very boring to read and ended up skimming most of the book. 

Originally, Peace Talks and Battle Ground were one book. I would have preferred that. Cut a few bits out and make the narrative tighter and it would have worked. On its own, Battle Ground is a slog. 

Because of the grand scale of things, many character details and plots got lost. Thomas was hardly mentioned for example. 

The Murphy thing was very stupid and unnecessary. Harry didn't need more reason to fight. It was cheap. 

It's still a well written book but I've not been enjoying this series as much. The last few books were very hard to read and don't have the re-readability of the early books. 

 This was mis-marketed as a Sapphic fantasy rooted in Finnish mythology. It's why I went for it on Netgalley. This has apparently since been addressed by the author and has been changed. 

I was also excited by the Finnish mythology. I think the Sapphic element probably tipped the scale for me because without it I probably wouldn't have gone for it especially since it's a chonky book. 

I am aware that, as it was mis-marketed, I am not the target audience. However, this was incredibly boring to read. 

The choice to write in the first person present did not help. The writing did not evoke any feelings, it was very matter of fact and dull. 

The characters were bland. Their personalities were whatever the plot needed. The main villain had no nuance, they were a caricature of evil. 

There was no sense of time. I have no idea how long the main characters were separated for. How long one suffered in the underworld. That might have helped with character motivation if I knew she'd been there for months rather than days. 

It didn't need to be that long either. Portions of the book really dragged. I ended up skimming bits because it was becoming a chore to read. 

The whole thing felt like a chore in the end. I can see why people enjoyed this, for me it was a miss.

Thanks rto NetGalley for the ARC

 

Porn studio romances are one of my favourite tropes. They are weirdly wholesome. This one included a strong cast of secondary characters and found family.

I am terrified of spiders and this was the cutest thing I've read in awhile. Monster spider learning to become a soft dom for his boyfriend. Excellent.

 

The writing is beautiful and the sense of place is exceptional. It's a period of history that I don't know much about and the book does a great job of placing you in the setting and giving information without info dumping. 

I went in expecting a horror book with vampires and I got a historical romance with a little bit of horror. My expectations were wrong and it's not really a genre I enjoy.

However, I can see why people would really enjoy this which is why I’m saying its a pick because it was an excellent book, just not to my tastes.