Monica

This was a SLOG to get through. Supposedly Maas’ first series in ADULT fantasy and… man, it doesn’t read that way. This is a YA fantasy with a lot of juvenile writing, stilted swearing and an unnecessary amount of horniness. It’s like a hormonal teen’s fanfic about a bunch of different fantasy worlds shoved together with cursing thrown in left and right “Alphahole?” I cringed every time it was uttered. Second-hand embarrassment from beginning to end.

There’s no cohesion to the worldbuilding. There are so many species and mythological figures that she pulls from and yet there’s no real connective tissue between any of them.

This was so long for no reason. It easily could’ve been cut in half. Saying it gets better after page 500 is a bonker. The amount of infodumping is ridiculous, made worse by the fact that it was mostly shallow. I.e everytime a character popped up, it was followed by literally paragraphs of background info.

All the characters are often objectified, the female characters especially and the MC in particular. This whole book is oddly written so heavily from the male gaze. The MC can’t be in a scene without someone looking at, describing or admiring her ass/body. Why is she reduced to a body for most of the novel?? This book is filled to the brim with slut-shaming, ageism, and objectification.

Speaking of MC: Bryce is the hottest, most badass, smartest, best at everything Chosen One Mary Sue = BORING. As I understand it, all of Maas’ MCs are written like this.

There’s a weird admiration towards the oppressors in this society and blaming the oppressed groups and framing them as terrorists when they try to fight for their rights and freedom. I can’t believe that’s such a strong message behind this book.

Random side note: this kind of reminded my of the later Anita Blake books by Laurel K. Hamilton, who is incidentally praising the book on the back cover

Great art although the action scenes can feel a little messy. Don't have much of an opinion so far, but I'm willing to see where it goes. Plus my fiancé has the whole box set so why not? A fun quick read for inbetween other books.

I kept putting this book on the back burner, thinking I’d get back to it since I’ve already put so much time into it. After realizing it’s been over a month since I last read it, I’ve finally decided to just DNF.

This is kind of a weird one. I do like the relationship between the main protag, Charlie and his dog Radar. There are genuinely moments that make you go awwww, especially if you’re an animal lover. However, this book really should’ve been edited down. You just… kind of forget you’re even reading a fantasy story. By the time you get to any fantastical elements, you’re already nearly 200 pages in (according to my Kindle) and the first few characters Charlie meets in the other world are so dull I found my attention slipping.

Honestly, I eventually read a synopsis and the next several hundred pages sounds like uninteresting fantasy tropes, including Charlie’s hair and eyes changing color to show he’s the Chosen One.

Hate to admit it’s an absolute slog of a book.