Beth
This series gets worse as it goes on. The writing feels sloppy, lazy, and left me constantly asking "who is that?" and "what happened to this part of the storyline?" It's easily the worst of the three books currently published.
Rebecca Yarros spends more time on the details of the sex scenes (which are written better than other romantasy books I've read) than the details of the actual characters. Most of what I know about characters like Imogen is that she has a relic and pink hair and helps train Violet. There's a non-binary character mentioned every so often and the ONLY thing about them is that their hair is always changing; that's literally it. Her writing style feels lazy to me because the only way she seems to be able to describe people smiling IN THE ENTIRE SERIES is something along the lines of "the corners of his mouth tugged up" or "a slow smile curves my lips". It's always about little tugs and it's maddening. Same with the "arches a scarred eyebrow" every other sentence. It's all repetitive--down to how Violet holds her daggers and how every description of Xaden is how he carries two swords across his back and has his lips held firmly in a line or that he is so stunning that Violet can't breathe. Oh, and every unit of time is measured in freaking heartbeats. If I took a highlighter to each time those words/phrases are used, the entire trilogy would be lit up like a yard with a firefly infestation over the Fourth of July.
Never once in this book was I on the edge of my seat. It took me longer to get through Onyx Storm because it genuinely isn't interesting. After three books, you're left with no answers to any questions in any of the other books. I want to know more about Aaric! Shouldn't the runaway son of the king be important rather than haphazardly thrown in every once in a while? What about more in depth information on the Empyrean itself? There's still not a ton of information on the dragons. The irids were such a big deal to find and then they're basically not in the novel anymore after that. They spent so much time trying to find them and when they do, it lasts a chapter and a half at best. The battle scene with Theophanie felt very Game of Thrones Season 8 (which is not a compliment). Don't get me started on the random perspective changes. Imogen's chapter was sad, but what was the need for that part of the book? If anyone, add more to Xaden's thoughts. His perspectives are boring and basic as well, though.
I wish there was more depth to this series. The ideas are fantastic, it just needs to be written by someone else.
This series gets worse as it goes on. The writing feels sloppy, lazy, and left me constantly asking "who is that?" and "what happened to this part of the storyline?" It's easily the worst of the three books currently published.
Rebecca Yarros spends more time on the details of the sex scenes (which are written better than other romantasy books I've read) than the details of the actual characters. Most of what I know about characters like Imogen is that she has a relic and pink hair and helps train Violet. There's a non-binary character mentioned every so often and the ONLY thing about them is that their hair is always changing; that's literally it. Her writing style feels lazy to me because the only way she seems to be able to describe people smiling IN THE ENTIRE SERIES is something along the lines of "the corners of his mouth tugged up" or "a slow smile curves my lips". It's always about little tugs and it's maddening. Same with the "arches a scarred eyebrow" every other sentence. It's all repetitive--down to how Violet holds her daggers and how every description of Xaden is how he carries two swords across his back and has his lips held firmly in a line or that he is so stunning that Violet can't breathe. Oh, and every unit of time is measured in freaking heartbeats. If I took a highlighter to each time those words/phrases are used, the entire trilogy would be lit up like a yard with a firefly infestation over the Fourth of July.
Never once in this book was I on the edge of my seat. It took me longer to get through Onyx Storm because it genuinely isn't interesting. After three books, you're left with no answers to any questions in any of the other books. I want to know more about Aaric! Shouldn't the runaway son of the king be important rather than haphazardly thrown in every once in a while? What about more in depth information on the Empyrean itself? There's still not a ton of information on the dragons. The irids were such a big deal to find and then they're basically not in the novel anymore after that. They spent so much time trying to find them and when they do, it lasts a chapter and a half at best. The battle scene with Theophanie felt very Game of Thrones Season 8 (which is not a compliment). Don't get me started on the random perspective changes. Imogen's chapter was sad, but what was the need for that part of the book? If anyone, add more to Xaden's thoughts. His perspectives are boring and basic as well, though.
I wish there was more depth to this series. The ideas are fantastic, it just needs to be written by someone else.