Dylan
You read this book, confused as hell. You flipped back and forth, trying to figure out just what the hell is going on here.
You were confused and scratching your head until the final third of the book. And then it clicked.
I knew once the story started picking up that Mia and Grace weren't just gonna pick up where they left off but gosh darn it I wanted an unrealistic, easy, guaranteed happy ending for both of them. I'll take Mia's content smile at the end and assume it all works out for the two of them.
Good read, lots of emotions. The parallel storytelling was fun, and I like all the interconnected relationships and dynamics.
I love that the spaceships are big fish. A lot more exciting than the standard affair. Would love to see more in this universe.
I feel like I'm a college-educated immunologist ready to start diagnosing people right away (I'm joking). But Dettmer does an amazing job of simplifying incredibly complex biological processes—it's nonfiction but it reads as easily as any fiction book would.
This is a very dense book with a lot of phenomenal worldbuilding. It takes nearly half the book before the actual main plot kicks in, then it gets really fast-paced and chaotic.
I'm really excited to see how the threads that were spun in the final 10% of the book are addressed in the sequel.
A slow start the quickly picked up about a quarter through. By the halfway mark I was downing the story as it progressed. And by the final quarter, I was burning through pages to figure out where the story was going
Definitely recommend this book to anybody looking for a darker, non-romance fantasy story with lots of twists and turns.
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.
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.
Cal and Thimble are the best bros. I want more of this universe and these characters, please and thank you.
I've never read a cozy fantasy book before, and I needed a light, easy palette cleanser after fighting tooth and nail to finish a different book. This was great, simple, low stakes, with a wonderful found-family dynamic and cute budding relationship. I will be picking up the sequel(?) after the next challenging book.
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.
A fantastic sequel to an amazing first book! I really liked the pieces coming together and building up for an absolute nightmare of a showdown in the third book.
I will say that there was a lot of slow-moving plotting and worldbuilding and politicking (a lot of dialogue) in the middle half of the book, punctuated with some action, but most of the action was at the end of the book.
The realizations and plot twists, I think, were done really well. The dramatic irony between the different POV characters came to a head nicely.
If I had to critique something, I'd say make the showdown between Elogast and Arren a little longer. I did like Inara a lot in this one, she had drive and agency with the flaws one would expect from a traumatized preteen (especially one with god powers).
Definitely gonna get the third book the moment it's released!