Dylan

Tall, musclebound man with “tawny” skin, dark eyes, and is covered in scars. Oh, and he has a huge, nay, absolutely massive pe——rsonality. Paired with a pale, very, very small (so tiny, so itsy bitsy), badass/snarky woman with unnaturally pretty eyes (and/or unique hair). And what do you get? A modern romantasy novel. Woo! Yay...

The only reason I even finished this book is for the worldbuilding.Which is amazing! A tidally-locked world, unique time cycle involving auroras, the dragons and most of the other little creatures. I loved the descriptors of the locales, the idea of the unique languages (for the most part), etc. I could nitpick a few things I didn't like, but they're so minor and I'm so happy to see a romantasy with actual worldbuilding that I'll let it slide (the bar is in hell).

I didn't like some of the linguistic choices. The usage of male/female made me cringe every time. But it's expected at this point, so whatever. Some words were just minor changes from normal words (dae - day, mahmi/pahpi - mom/dad, for example), which was kinda goofy.

There was a lot of cringe millennial dialogue. A. Lot. Of. Staccato. Writing. To. Convey. Aggression. A lot of fucks/fucking from all the characters. A lot of growling and snarling from the men. And yes, the MMC does roar when he cums, which made me laugh out loud because of course he does. No avalanches here though, so that's a plus (maybe they'll save that for book 2).

The FMC is whiny and insufferable. It got to the point where I debated if it was worth it to even continue. She's so “woe is me, I'm so damaged” and “I can't love, loving me is a death sentence” when she CLEARLY HAS PEOPLE THAT LOVE HER (Essi deserved so much goddamn better, RIP). She snarks after being tortured, for goodness sake.

The MMC is insta-love (you find out why later but it was still annoying) and even gifted her an unasked-for nickname (which is gross tbh). If there wasn't an actual plot-related reason to be so head-over-heels for her, I would have absolutely zero reason to believe he would try so hard for her. She is so aggravating and just pissed me off. The whiplash between reading Elluin and Raeve's perspectives hurt because I genuinely liked Elluin and hated who she has become. He is a consent king (mostly), so props for that over so many other MMCs out there. 

TL;DR - middling book with interesting worldbuilding and annoying characters. I'll maybe check out the sequel, so long as it doesn't turn into smutty garbage and actually continues the world building.

This is a very YA book, for decent and for worse.

The world and descriptions of locales and some people are great, I really would've loved to see more. I also liked the magic and, of course, always love me some dragons.

The plot feels rushed and a little too easily resolved, but intriguing all the same. I don't like how easy it was to resolve a lot of long-standing worldbuilding issues (dragon pearls, really?!). Like, I expect a little Mary Sue-ness in a YA novel, that's fine, but it was too easy for the MC. And there is ittle to no character growth, especially for the MC.

 I really didn't care for any of the main characters (Shuxiao is a real one, though. I want more of her, please). The sorta-kinda rebound love “triangle” almost made me DNF (specifically the West Lake Inn and godawful shared room, one bed trope 🤮—that thankfully didn't follow through). 

I'll read the sequel for the worldbuilding, but I'm not rushing into it.

I liked the concept of the premise. I'm usually a fan of the extraterrestrial/unknown but this one didn't do it for me all that much. I'm ambivalent on the “interview” style of storytelling. Not a fan of most of the characters.

The narrator is a faceless unknown G-Man figure with his hands in multiple pots and always has the upper hand in some way or fashion. The book constantly reminds me of how hot Kara is. And speaking of, Kara is immature and reads like a bratty teenager, which is not who I would have pegged as a pilot in the military. She acts and talks like a high schooler that doesn't want to work with a kid in her class. Vincent is an arrogant prick that kinda grew on me. Ryan...exists. I'm intrigued by Rose in the epilogue because as far as we all knew she was dead. 

There was a lot of time spent by the G-Men on the relationships between Kara and the two men in the short-lived, but still godawful (and consequential) love-V. I don't think for a second that an all-powerful G-Man would care about someone sleeping with their coworker(s). I'm grateful the author didn't write out a sex scene. I would've DNF'd on the spot

There were moments that went nowhere. I was promised a trip to Bosnia that happened completely off-page that only lent credence to a boring reveal later in the book about obvious-antagonist turned obvious-villain Alyssa. And there were a few action sequences that were done in a “overhearing it through the phone” interview style that were...fine.
Very conspiratorial “government stooges doing cover-ups and having the upper hand at all times” thriller type stuff. Not really the book for me, to be honest. I might try the sequel and see where it goes.

Started off a little sluggish, but in typical SJM fashion it picked up and accelerated into oblivion after the halfway point. 

Aelin is noticably less dumb, but still just as arrogant. Her biggest flaw in this book is needing to communicate her intentions and plans to her allies, but I see that happening going forward. 

Once again, Manon is my favorite character. I really liked her development especially when dealing with Elide and the Thirteen (especially that conversation with Asterin about the matrons and the branding) and I can't wait to see her experience the world with the information she gained.
The King of Adarlan still fascinates me (revealing that he's been fighting a demon the whole time was an interesting—if expected—twist, and I'm a little disappointed that he's dead) but I am excited to see what all his plans spanning the last four books coalesce into.

I get why people don't like Chaol, but he is 110% the most human character (aka the Boromir of this setting), which is a valuable perspective to have when surrounded by super powered people. Dorian is a gem, and I loved that he was fighting the demon the whole time (and him being so horny for Manon that he broke through) was entertaining.

Nice to see the pieces coming together for the inevitable nightmare. It will be interesting to see how it all ends up. 

Hoo boy, this book.

Hated the first half. I don't like academy/school fiction. This book had most of the tropes (plain girl good at everything, abusive curriculum, shitty teachers, goofy guy best friend, and two gorgeous boys (a rich Malfoy and a dark stranger)—thank goodness there was no romance, etc). It was a slog and I nearly DNFd it, if not for the supposed promise of the significantly better second half...

Which. My goodness, the whiplash. 

The beginning of the second half is not for the faint of heart, from the (TW) Rape of Nanjing sequence to the descriptions of actual rape to full-on genocide. 

The supposedly elite military college got steamrolled. and everything following the infamous Nanjing sequence is a corny shonen anime, right down to obnoxious super powers and “power of friendship” escapades.

It's an... okay book, but Rin is so damn unlikeable. The surrounding cast are decent at their best, but Rin is so detestable that she drags them all down with her. The ending feels like she's gonna start a revolution or something, but I don't see anybody rallying behind her for any reason other than maybe fear.
I'll get to the sequel eventually. Maybe.