Grace

⭐️⭐️⭐️.5
It was a bit slow the first half but then the story unraveled in a marvelous, mind-blowing way. I just have to start ACOWAR right away!

It is more of the cotidianity after Under the Mountain, yes there are some secrets revealed and I love the banter between Feyre and Rhys, and the last half was stunning, brilliant, and sets everything in motion for ACOWAR (I just read a few chapters)... but I find the first half way too long to get to that point. Some bits are moved fast-forwardly but others are -to me at least- unnecessarily very detailed or repetitive.

It would have been a 5 star if not for this, it took me way too long to want to put the book up again and continue my reading, couldn't get past 10 pages at once for the first half. I even started and finished another one in parallel to keep me motivated, ended up choosing to finish that other book instead lol...

Maybe once I get to ACOWAR I will find those bits necessary or, at least, making sense. I have learned after the end of this book that SJM doesn't leave crumbs without a purpose, so... I am open to be amazed and change my mind ✨️

I was postponing this book for far too long, that I regret it. It was so good, much better than I thought it would be.

Maybe I would have liked more world-building, to me it was lacking, but the story was so good and the writing... chef's kiss, that it didn't matter that much to me.

Yes it felt like Beauty and the Beast was a major inspiration for this book, at times there were parallelisms, but I think SJM explored the curse with a very interesting twist to it, and how it all unraveled was beautifully executed.

Like many, I too had my doubts in the beginning, like it didn't make much sense, but I knew there had to be more to it and when it happened I really enjoyed it.

Now I'm off to the second book because I need a follow-up!

I love Riley Thorn's series, but this last one... was a DNF for me, I couldn't manage to read past 55%. I didn't expect this book to be my first DNF ever, considering how much I enjoyed all the series, and here's why I just couldn't:

1. I don't remember Nick being so possessive of Riley, like honestly WTF with him being “My girl”, like all the time?

2. It bothered me so much having him stating over and over again how much he wanted to have sex with Riley, all so needy that to me felt very annoying and over the top. Even saying that in front of anyone to hear is so uncomfortable.

3. If they had that history with Griffin, why even bother to help him? To me the argument is off, because Nick is bothered by him all the time (Riley should be the one to have a banter with Griffin, but apparently she's over it and for some reason it is Nick who has a problem with him now... did I miss something? Maybe I read the last a while ago and I don't remember

I loved it!!! I think this is my favorite read of the year

I loved the book, mostly, I enjoyed the story, the banter, the illusion of a happy ending and the conflict January has with her father's choices in life... to me it was pretty relatable, and it had a lot of funny times too, so I had a great time.

I enjoyed the writing behind January's personality, to make me understand it's not like she sees life under rose-colored lenses because she has a perfect life, she just chooses to see it that way regardless of the bad going on around her and look for her happy ending. And that is a nice way of viewing life, actually. Gus even points that out as kudos to her ability to be the bright light in a dark room.

Also... how she starts feeling comfortable in a town she thought she would feel the opposite due to its history, and later understanding why she's there is so beautiful and emotional... this actually brought me to tears.

My favorite chapter is 25

I think is a classic, it is beautifully written and the story, as simple as it is, is moving. The detail I liked the most is the reference of the green light, it is effortless ICONIC.

I think I am in the age of truly understanding and valuing the message told in this book, it talks about making your dreams come true, Gatsby worked hard to get there, only his means weren't honest and that's when he lost everything he truly cared for... the shallow things won't follow us to the grave, only the most important ones: love, friendship, people we left a positive mark on.

You see, Gatsby had his house filled with people every night attending his parties, but Nick struggled to find people willing to attend Jay's funeral in the end, and that tells us that you can be surrounded by people but that doesn't make you less lonely.

I watched the movie a long time ago and don't remember much of it except for the green light and the final scene. I will have to re-watch it and have a more solid opinion on whether the movie did justice to the book or not, as well as if they kept some details in the book that are more of a performance and less of quotes.

I enjoyed the book, it is fast-paced, nostalgic at times and I think it is the first book I've read that is written by a man that has romance in it, of course the genre is tragedy but still... it brings a nice POV.

This was the best book of the trilogy! In my opinion Vow of the Shadow King was extra, the story would have worked better as a duology. Yes, some happenings in the second book lead to this one but with a good editing between first and second books (let's be honest, not everything in the first book was necessary as well) a duology would have been just fine.

I wasn't sure I wanted to read this book after VOTSK but I am so glad I did, it made so much sense and it moved me so much.

Favorite scenes (NO SPOILERS):
-Cheep, I love it!
-The Vulug Ugdth ceremony
-The war with the Licornyn riders
-Maylin's backstory is beautiful
-All the scenes with Arraog, specially her backstory

Some points I didn't love, but aren't deal breakers for me:
-As some reviews also pointed out, the repeated scenes but from the other's POV was too much, although the last scene made sense, but most really didn't
-Faraine's silence when she actually could and should have said something... it's like “girl, speak your mind, say what happened...” but she chose not to and I thought it would be an interesting plot later on, but it wasn't

SPOILER POINT





- To me, the magic compelling Vor to go through with the alliance made with Larongar didn't make sense... he may not have known about Ilsevel BUT the higher forces compelling him to fulfill his side of the bargain must have... therefore they should not have forced him at all knowing he didn't marry Ilsevel... there couldn't be two Ilsevels at the same time right?





End of SPOILER POINT

So all in all I loved it, even more than Moonfire Bride and Sunfire King together (and that is a lot to say), to me it had more depth and purpose, the turning points, revelations, the retcon that will be continued in War Bride... puff I am invested

What do you think? Do you agree? Did I miss something?

I write this review as a D&D player and former theater actress I TOTALLY LOVED IT! I bought it just for the title, knowing what I was getting into, and it became better than expected! To me this brings romance in a different way, to me more relatable and includes groups of people that are often overlooked at high-school.

I read in other reviews that some people thought the story was flat, I agree that there wasn't too much of a backstory. This isn't fantasy YA writing, this is romance. In my opinion and coming from someone who mainly reads fantasy, you don't need 4 chapters for world building nor the characters need to be complex in a romance book... because this is totally relatable without any effort, especially because the target audience is well defined, so we can identify with one or more characters, and understand where their concerns and decisions come from.

Even if you don't relate directly, didn't we all, at some point, make reckless choices when we were in high school? At that age anything is a drama, the end of the world, so to Riley being kept away from theater activities and brought to work at a gamer store WAS indeed a punishment.

I like how the relationship between her parents after divorce is still amicable, and her mom even wishes for Riley to have a relationship with her father even though they both clearly think his priorities lie in his store and gaming sessions.

In this matter, I can relate with her mom because my hubby IS a DM and also enjoys painting his miniatures and terrains, so much that sometimes I myself feel he enjoys that even more than spending time with us as a family. Of course he doesn't, but I related to how Shannon must have felt having her then husband dedicate so much time and effort into his store and game-related activities.

And on the other hand, I enjoyed Riley's dad opening to her, and she finding out that he actually cares for what she does, he is a proud dad regardless of her interests being totally opposite to his. I cried myself out on their chat at the hospital, so sincere and tbh I felt the book was telling my own story. My dad had a heart attack 2 years ago and we hadn't seen each other for 4 years because we live in different countries and then COVID happened... but we took that time to realize how much we've lost over not-so-important matters.

Now, regarding the main topic, Riley and Nathan's relationship... I bought it, yes it is a trope and I could foresee everything that happened, the what was predictable but not always the how it was going to happen, so I liked that very much. Then again, this is a romance book of less than 300 pages, I was expecting actually something simpler. It was predictable, yet I enjoyed how Kristy wrote and developed their story... so yeah, I dig it

I think this book is perfection! I had read some reviews that said Rule of Wolves title wasn't accurate... I can see that but I also stand by the title given by Bardugo. It is because AND later thanks to Fjerda that we have a great story happening at all in this book.

Without spoiling anything my thoughts with spoilers are marked below I enjoyed the book, at the end of King of Scars I wasn't sure I'd like Rule of Wolves, to be honest I felt tricked into the same story of the S&B trilogy and just wished Bardugo had more creativity than that.

I can't say I give it to her, that she came with a brilliant plot in RoW, because I still think it could have been something greater than that... I don't enjoy echoes throughout the whole series and Leigh has done it 4 times already so it gets old and some might even call it lazy.

What I can say is that the main plot and its different POVs alongside some interesting retcons and plot twists make this book perfection to my eyes. If you are someone that has already read the other books, I think you'll like this one better, even if you didn't like S&B trilogy, or LOVE too much SoC and CK... also fills in some gaps left in past books of the series.

Now here come some spoilers that you can skip if you don't want to miss out on the surprise





REVIEW WITH SPOILERS





I still can't get over the fact that the Darkling was brought back...again... the retcon wasn't enough to justify it.
The Darkling's fate at the end of the book was grounded in the fact that he was strong and eternal enough to keep the tear closed, but still in the last two pages a completely different solution was on the table, so... that is my only no no

I loved Nina and Hanne's story ever since they met in KoS, and how they developed in RoW had me hinged, I am fully invested in their relationship. I was so upset when they made us believe she was unalived by Prince Rasmus but when “he” spoke at the assembly in Os Kervo I started suspecting what eventually was revealed and I cried so hard over that scene when Nina and Hanne finally speak alone (Hanne as Prince Rasmus)

I also felt thrilled when Alina and Mal came back, and that brief scenes with the Crow Club. I expected Kaz to rely on Zoya when they ended up in the Suli camp, but I wanted more Jesper and Wylan, although this was not their story so I can understand the chapters in which the crows were involved.

Zoya's character development was amazing, she grew to be the Queen Ravka needed, the soldier she aspired to be, and the woman her aunt expected to become. Some readers didn't get why Zoya and Nikolai's romance, but if you have spent most of your time with one individual, it is natural you grow to care for each other. Now Zoya didn't care for him that way at the beginning, but keep in mind it's been 3 years of Zoya's care (day and night) and chase of the demon, so that is more than enough time for them to get very close. Nikolai really valued having Zoya keeping him (and others) safe that long, and Zoya felt seen for who she really is, so I can see their romance happening with no problem to the story.

Also Zoya is a badass of a queen, who humbled herself to the point of working with people she didn't want to and ending up feeling nothing less than respect for them (Alina, David, Genya, General Pensky, Adrik...)

Speaking of David, I didn't expect him to die, not on his wedding night, I was torn and my heart ached for Genya, I was grieving the whole time

I loved the story... I just finished it and am in tears. There's so much to say about the story:

First, I must say it starts somehow slow, like I didn't understand why so much backstory for both Rory and Soline... but then halfway I realized Davis builds a backstory that actually adds to the present of the characters, and it unravels in the last quarter of the book, like every single detail of those backstories come to importance when Anson is found alive and then when Rory discovers that Hux is alive too. I really enjoyed that, even the glass of wine Soline and Anson had on their first date is brought as a detail when Anson tells Soline he doesn't drink anymore and she answers that he wasn't much of a drinker back then either.

The build up for the story is very well written, I felt every single flinch, rage, fear, joy, heartache, accomplishment and pride... I grew to dislike Owen with all my heart and still cannot forgive him even if what he did was because he wanted what he thought was best for Anson.

And Camilla wasn't my favorite either, but then I got to understand why Camilla is the way she is and saw how she redeemed herself to Rory once she filled that emptiness she had by finding out Soline was her biological mother... such a masterpiece...

Character development felt so natural, realistic and also relatable, how Rory starts to feel confident of her work and standing for what she wants in life even if she's broken, how Soline overcomes her wish for solitude by opening to Rory and ending up attending her gallery's opening night, Camilla's joy to have a loving mother and therefore becoming one herself, Anson's brokenness after the war plus being deceived into an unhappy life by his father...

I also must be honest, I saw the grand revelation of Camilla being Soline's daughter coming from a mile away, but for the first time in having that not-surprised-for-this-revelation thing and the “late period” trope I actually wasn't disappointed nor did it ruin the book for me, on the contrary: I was expectant to see how it would be revealed and the waiting was very enjoyable.

The only thing I would say felt incomplete and maybe rushed was the ending, like, Hux is alive and what happens next...? You move forward some months and the wedding is happening? How did they find him? Why was he kidnapped (or no reason at all? That is also valid)? At least what was his reaction when he saw a new Rory fulfilling her dreams? There were obvious struggles when he got back home whichprobablyy would have made the ending more complex and also losing focus of what the author wanted to say, it was not his story the central point... although one of the main conflicts (the gallery) was influenced by him... I think it is a story for another time, yet a story worth telling.

Sorry for the long review, it is so much but at the same time it is so good I want to thank the author for this story, it has become one of my favorite books and reminds me so much of “The Things We Leave Unfinished” by Rebecca Yarros.

I needed something light to read, that didn't require too much thought and that would be entertaining... to me this book accomplished that. I have to say I don't think it to be a very complicated story but I still really enjoyed this book very much.

It is light, not that short, and depicts the kind of romance that is built overtime... not a romance that happens just because, nor it is forced upon, although it does start with the MCs kidnap after tricking her into stepping out of her house's threshold, but it is developed in a way that it doesn't fall as a Stockholm syndrome trope, she genuinely keeps her trust limited and questions everything even when he is kind to her and doesn't give her any reason beyond her kidnapping to distrust him, which makes it -to me- more realistic.

I didn't expect it to be as enjoyable, so I am reading The Sunfire King, I need to know why everything happened in the first place and if Valera can make amends of her choices.

Loved it, the narrative places you in the scene so she makes sure you have the full experience. So heartwarming reading

My favorite book ever!