A mixture of brilliance and frustration - I really appreciated the character development of Nesta, and how she grapples with her demons from her childhood and the war in order to seek redemption from her family and the ‘inner circle'. The pacing of this book was less than desirable, and certain plot points felt underdeveloped. I believe the romance storyline of this book overshadows other potential storylines, leaving some aspects unexplored or rushed (there was spice scenes that went on for 15+ pages but a pivotal enemy was defeated in 3). While it has moments of brilliance (I can't believe my favourite new character was a house), the book struggles to reach the heights of the original trilogy.
4/5 • I was hooked by the first 20 pages, however, the story dried up a bit up until page 150. Almost DNF'd but I had read so many amazing reviews that I persisted and I am so glad I did. I read the final 50% of this book in one day. There was twists I didn't see coming and the overall message and correlations of the British colonisation was so moving and eye opening that it should be on everybody's TBR.
“Some people are born in the mountains, while others are born by the sea. Some people are happy to live in the place they were born, while others must make a journey to reach the climate in which they can flourish and grow. Between the ocean and the mountains is a wild forest. That is where I want to make my home.”
A great book that delivers insight into gender neutrality and the power of using correct pronouns.
5/5 • Easiest 5 star rating of the year.
I absolutely adored this book. After not reading a true fantasy book in years I am now hooked and can't wait to start the next. The descriptions of the land and creatures was immaculate and the character dynamics were jaw dropping. The hatred I felt towards the end of the book was a true testament to Maas's writing of villains.
4/5 • Worth the awards!
I really enjoyed this unique perspective into game development in the early 90's, it's actually incredible how the games written in this book don't exist as they are recounted with so much detail. I enjoyed the character relationships for the first half of the book but found the shifting in dynamics in the second half to be frustrating. Not normally a book I would pick up but worth the read and would recommend it.
3/5 • Not what I expected.
I went into the book thinking it would be a lighthearted, quick, romance read based on the blurb. It was anything but that, it relied heavily on the work obsessed female trope too busy for love and I found some of the events a bit heavy especially considering how the story ends.
3/5 • A frustratingly, toxic relationship.
While I appreciated the beautiful writing of this book with rich descriptions. The dynamic between the two main characters can only be described as toxic. I found myself towards the end really not caring about their relationship and wanting them to both just move on as they both brought too many issues and hid their true emotions.
3/5 • “Maybe the best way to cope with the loss of the people we love is to find them in as many places and things as we possibly can.”
While this book was overall enjoyable and had me quite emotional in parts I felt parts of the writing to be a tad cringy and the relationship between Kenna and Scotty to be too intense for their short relationship. I was picturing the characters to be older than they were due to the nature of the storyline, however, due to the characters being young there was a lot of immature moments lending this book to a more young adult audience. Overall an enjoyable read but not very memorable.
1/5 • First DNF of 2023
This book has been sitting on my TBR for a couple of years and I finally picked it up at the start of the year. While this book touched on some important adult topics such as; managing finances, body image issues, eating disorders and blended families etc. I felt there was way too many characters introduced too quickly with virtually no description given till later in the story and for some characters no description at all. As the story centres around three seperate couples within a family I think the book would have been better structured in three parts, one for each couple rather than blending them into a mismatch of chapters. I found nearly all the characters and the relationships un-relatable and this book put me in a bit of a reading slump as I didn't want to pick it up so unfortunately I had to dnf to move onto a book I would enjoy.