DB

The fact that I basically had.. No clue where or what Elias and Laia were doing half the time should show you (and me) something. I do want to carry on because I want to see what's next but not right away. And hoping that changing formats will help. I think Helene might be my favourite out of the three main characters. Though that's like I can mostly tolerate her/she's my least liked out of the three. I do want to see where she goes with her magic and I want to see her get better as a character (meaning, actually see servants as people).

Honestly, there's not much I can say nicely about Elias. He is... a simp, in the sense that he met Laia and then fell in love her with like a week or so later. He's all “I love you so so much. You're my everything” and I'm sitting there like “why though? I don't believe it!” Give me BELIEVABLE ROMANCE FROM BOTH OF YOU. Laia, I think, is improving a but. That's all. I wanted her to delve deeper into herself and learn more about what she could do and that wasn't really done in this book. But, honestly, as she was with Elias I half paid attention to her because he kept annoying me.

Something that annoyed me is that I wasn't sure how much of a timeline we're working with in this book? Ember had the whole month timeline with Laia's brother and all but this with moving between the school and Laia and Elias – no clue. I'm not good with time in real life, much less in books, and certainly not when the book annoys me.

I think the big thing annoyed me is that I went into this series thinking there would be a lot of magic involved. Maybe all three main characters would have magic. Or just one. A character deals with a magic-heavy sub-plot – something along those lines. I don't think that a lot of people who've read this series have really spoken about how much magic is in this series, so maybe I just misread a lot somewhere. I just know that when I sat down to read the first book, I was expecting a lot of magic involved. And I didn't get that. So I think that made me dislike it more. I'm a big magic in fantasy fan so I do get sad if it's not there and I was thinking it would be.

I cried like 3 times. The biggest 5 stars ever

I saw myself a lot in Logan and Rosemary. Their personalities, their ADHD traits (which can and do differ for a lot of ADHDers), how they saw themselves/their traits. I loved how Logan was brash and how she put this air of not caring about what others thought of her – when really, she did. And then Rosemary with her over-preparedness, making sure every little thing is absolutely perfect. Like, wow, Cochrun, how dare you see into my heart like that. But also thank you very much and I love you a lot.

If I begin to think too much about Joe I might start crying and not be able to finish the review. He was my favourite, and such a fun character. He could quite easily have you laughing a ton the one sentence and in the next sentence have you near crying. I felt for him and his story because it is such a difficult time of your life – when you're nearing the end. You might think you didn't do everything, get to know the right people. Have regrets, things you'll miss doing. However, Joe didn't think of those throughout the book. He focused on what was good in his life, what he enjoyed doing, what mattered for him.

Most of the plot is them travelling and sight-seeing (which was very cute and funny) but it's also a lot about Rosemary and Logan trying to come to grips with Joe's death. He's a big part of their lives and not having him physically there anymore – it's a big adjustment for them. And myself too because I was hoping throughout the entirety of me reading the book that he would stay alive.

This wasn't exactly a natural childhood-friends-to-lovers, which is why I liked it all the better. Give me a romance that takes a while to get there, one that's not straightforward, one that takes a while to get to. But most importantly, show me a love that is real. Logan and Rosemary absolutely had that. Even when they were fighting I was thinking “I can't wait to get to when you admit you like/love each other” and still I didn't want to skip a single page because I wanted to see all the steps and stages they had to take.

This was a sweet and really good book and I'm not mad that it's friends to lovers! I have to either really like the author or the trope has to be done well (to like the trope/book) – luckily both applied here! What I like most about Pacton's books are her characters. She writes them so well you can tell she loves them and had fun writing their journey. That makes it easier for me to like the characters. They're also easy to love! Well, most of the time. With The Vermillion Emporium I took a while to start liking the characters. With this book I almost instantly loved Sybil and Esme. They had fun personalities and they worked well with each other. You could tell they were real friends and not just friends because they roomed together.

I loved how easy it was to believe they're friends and then when that changed to romance that too was very easy to believe. I definitely rooted for them to be together long before they actually were and that is... rare with friends to lovers because I don't like how the trope seems to set up the idea that you can't really have friends. That you're bound to have crushes on them and that'll ruin the friendship. Although, most of the books I've read that have that trope are m/f relationships so maybe that's the problem/solution (solution being don't read m/f friends to lovers haha).

The descriptions absolutely made me feel like I was in the book and there's nothing more that I like when that happens. It's something I hope that could happen in all books but unfortunately that isn't the case. Pacton, however, is always so amazing with that so it's easy to feel like I'm in the novel. I wanted to spend more time in this book – in either realm – so I was sad when the book ended! Pacton certainly doesn't slack when it comes to her plots. It's always well-written and I wasn't bored while reading (always a pleasure when I have that). Plus the descriptions really just added to the plot, elevated them to a point where (at least I felt like) you couldn't not be entranced by the book.

I've really begun to like Parker's narration! I definitely want to see what else she's done (I already have my eye on a reread of Alison Cochrun's newest release – peep that review soon I hope). I love how you can tell that she's passionate about the characters and the story. Even sped up it's clear to me, which I love and that's what I look for in audiobook narrators. I want to hear you're enjoying it and it's not just a job for you (looking at you dude who does Game of Thrones audiobooks).

I started to like both main characters but that stopped early and then I just disliked both of them. I sort of liked Laia a bit more than Elias. I was, however, annoyed at Laia quite a bit and that didn't stop in this book. Laia's shown as this strong character, and she is, but the constant, constant mentions of needing to find her brother... did get annoying and repetitive. Especially when she kept saying that her need to save her brother was immediate and then took her time. I get needing to make plans but it just seemed like she kept forgot her urgent need to save him every time she saw Elias.

I'm hoping that Elias gets better and learns when he's away from the military school. I don't like it when the character says or does things because they have to fit in or to ensure others that they're not sympathetic. In here, mind you, they won't like it if Elias is being sympathetic to slaves... and treat them like they're people.

I can guess at the end romantic couple but I really hope they won't do a love triangle because I just can't see it. I do like Helene a bit more than Elias and Laia but not enough that I want her as a romantic contender. Also I just didn't really see enough reasons for the possible romantic couple to be together anyway.

I liked some of the world-building but I thought it was a lot to put in the first book. And then Tahir started to focus more on the characters and plot so the proper world-building was put on the back burner. I love world-building but don't like it when it's set aside for other aspects of the book (unless the other aspects are done well and I like them.

Tuli is such a captivating writer and I can feel her passion and creativity in every single page. I love that I'm rarely bored in her books and that I have to force myself to stop reading because I don't want to.

I already really liked Zarya from the first book and I definitely love her now. She's fiery and passionate she is. She stands up for herself, for others. She's a strong character and actually shows it, not just says it. I can't wait to see where Tuli takes her in the following books (hopefully to get more books!).

The plot thickens in this sequel with twists and it was done well, as I knew it would be. The pacing was slower but that's good! Plus it's a 4 book series so there'll be a long arc with several smaller ones set over the series.

The slow burn love interest in this definitely heats up extremely and I wanted more! Zabin was a great character – I mean, sure, he did annoy me from time to time. But what's a romantasy love interest without being annoyed at them? I loved the slow burn aspect. I can't wait to get to the next book and see where the characters go and how they continue to feel about each other.

I can't talk about the plot too much because, obviously, spoilers are heavily abound but I thought it was good. It picks up right after the first book and I can tell a lot isn't revealed yet – because we have 2 more books to go through. And honestly, I can't wait for that! Tuli writes such rich plots and entangles side and main plots together well enough you don't realise it.

I always like it when we have a protagonist who's new to all of what's going on because we get to learn through them. Plus when it's magic, most of them are magic-learned, so we get to know the magic system through them. I didn't fully understand the one in here but I hope the next ones shed more light on it.

She knows how to write plot twists. Other writers should follow her (not naming names but crown and island curse book

This was... boring but I kept reading to see if it would get better (it didn't) and I wanted to see who did the deed. Then I managed to figure out who the perp was a couple of chapters before the main character did and it was still... very boring.

Kay, the main character, was as boring as a dry piece of barely-toasted toast (I like my toast very dark). I think the only thing I knew about her was that she played soccer (but then didn't at all throughout the book because they'd stopped practice due to the death). To be honest, I don't even know if she liked soccer or was just doing it because she was mostly good at it and could get a scholarship.

There were too many chapters for my liking. So many times a new chapter would start and I stare at my phone like “what do you mean ANOTHER chapter?” It's not that I don't mind a lot of chapters in a murder mystery book; just that they should make sense and are mostly, if not all, interesting. This had neither of that.

The whole murder and the mystery, let's be honest here, was also boring and made no sense to me. Most of me reading this book was just “but why?” and none of it compelled me. Plus I didn't like the narrator. The motives for the murder felt flat and not really believable to me, plus I didn't care for the reasons.

Kay said she had friends but I... didn't see it. Even Brie – their whole friendship had me rolling my eyes whenever they were on the same page. Honestly, maybe if Brie were the main character I would enjoy it more? Still things would have to change then. I don't mind catty teens (well I can sort of handle them) but them in here just annoyed me so much because that was just their entire personality. Plus their cattiness was involved with a lot of the mystery and I didn't like how that was handled either.

This was such an amazing and sad read. I'll definitely want to reread it so I hope there will be an audiobook and I can read it again. Or take it out of the library once it's on one of mine. Because I very much want to read it again.

This was such an atmospheric read, I didn't want to stop reading. I wanted to stay in the world, read slower, but also I couldn't stop reading. So I was quite sad when I finished because I couldn't stay with them. I loved everything about it (well, except most of the town members).

I love weird forests and weird things happening in them and this turned out to be different than what I was expecting! I liked that the Lord of the Wood wasn't what Leah thought he would be. Which I gathered early on but I liked how they showed it. I'm a sucker for a guy who's supposedly a big baddie but really he's very sweet and caring. I'll take this trope in any genre. He was definitely that guy but not in that typical Alpha Male way. The Lord of the Wood was only perceived to be bad but I'm glad we almost immediately saw him to be different.

Leah isn't your traditional strong female main character but she sort of has that quiet strength that's actually quite nice to see as there's a lot of strong fmcs in books. Specifically in fantasy and a bit in paranormal, which I guess this book straddles those two genres. I liked that she was a bit lost in what she wanted to do but she knew she didn't want to stay in the town. My heart hurt for her (and wanted to hurt her mother a lot).

I was surprised to see mentions of TV and phones and such because I think when I read the synopsis and started reading the book it reminded me of The Village (the M. Night Shyamalan movie). They had the same vibes – small town, something creepy in the woods, mounds of secrets piling up. So I expected the village and the book to be in a total fantasy world, not like, I don't know, an hour's drive from a McDonald's. Since I love The Village, I immediately started to like it. And then it changed and very much wasn't like the movie – but it was great because it went above and beyond (my expectations).

I liked that the book showed early that most of what the church and town say and believe in are wrong. In small towns like these, I think it's quite easy for religion to have a foothold and dominate over others. If you're not going to church, well... Everyone knows where everyone else stays. Of course not all churches are good; quite a lot of them have lost the light or reason why they started up. In here it was interesting to see what the church was doing – even though they were utterly in the wrong – but obviously nobody would tell them too. Also makes you wonder that these types of things are... surely happening but there's no Lord of the Wood to receive them.

I liked that, of course, the plot wasn't something that could be avoided – like she had to get her brother back, and that might be difficult (when she thought The Lord of the Wood to be all bad). But she still managed to sit and smell the roses, start to realise she's not the person the town's painting her out to be. Which I really liked!

I want to eat this duology I love it so much.

When I tell you Damian is one of my favourite fictional characters ever, you better believe it because he is. He's just that amazing and I love him. I love Roz as well, but Damian just takes my heart (and Roz's). I've recently learnt the “if he could he would” trope and I think it applies to Damian (I think).

There is a bunch of politics and I get that it's not everyone's cup of tea but I really enjoyed it! I like it best in fantasies when the politics of the world is really intertwined with the rest of the book and characters. I think Lobb did a good job with that – I think that when readers get confused with the politics it's because the author doesn't explain it as well as they could. Maybe that's just me, I don't know.

The magic system did take me a while to wrap my head around it (even though this is the second book). It did get better when I reread the audio (plus audio helped me to understand it better). Plus in this book they explore more of the magic system, which I liked to see.

I didn't really think I was a big fan of one character “simping” for another but I was extremely wrong because Damian simping for Roz utterly won me over. Like I see it. I see the vision. I get why people love it. Roz was great too, don't worry. I loved her passion for wanting to help and stand up for everyone. I always love it when we have a strong female main character and that definitely describes Roz.

My heart broke for them two a ton while reading this. I loved to see it because, for some reason, I love it when characters are in danger and have a lot of angst. This duology has it in spades; stemming from the romance, plot, world-building, everything.

Also the progression from the first book where Damian always calls her Lacertosa and then her first name (full name when he's annoyed, short when he's more emotional) when it's serious. To this one where he mostly always calls her Roz but Rossanna when it's an emotional scene. It's a good trope and I love seeing it every time.

Now and then I get a sequel I didn't like but I'm so happy that this wasn't the case here. Especially this being a duology – you don't want the final book to be a bummer. I don't think Lobb can write a bad book; and I'll say this just having read two books by her.

As per usual – all you have to tell me is there's dragons in a book and I'm there. This was a good amount of dragons, they felt like proper characters and not just plot devices or there for the sake of saying “hey there's dragons in here”. I do prefer it when the dragons are able to talk to the humans – like they do in here.

I always like it (and I mention it often) when a book is atmospheric – in its writing and description and that was the case here so I was glad to see that. I want to read a book and not want to stop reading because I'm so invested in the story. I want to feel like I'm in the story myself – experiencing the plot alongside the characters. This is Cole's debut so we'll see how she fares either in this sequel or another book she puts out. I am definitely interested in seeing them both (as she has both scheduled).

It's a dual pov as the book follows 2 sisters as they end up in different places facing different issues. That way we got to experience separate locations and get to know them separately. I think I liked Elara (she bonded with a dragon) more at the start and then Faron more at the end so I definitely want to see how that changes, and how they change, in the sequel. They're both strong and independent characters but they remain close to each other but physically apart. They felt like they were sisters and not just written to be sisters, something I'm always happy to see, as I've said it multiple times.

Faron and Elara use different kinds of magic and they're both explored and explained in their respective chapters. I do think the magic system could have been explained a bit more/better but seeing as it's the first in a duology, plus Cole's debut, I'm fine with being a bit confused. But I am hoping I'll understand more in the second book (and hoping it gets explained more/better).

The plot was full and rich and thankfully didn't fall apart when moving from one sister's chapter to the other. I think it helped that most of their plot points linked to each other so that made it easier to understand the plot. I suppose that made it okay for the magic system to be confusing if I understood the characters and plot (does that makes sense? Only for me, I think). The plot's also very linked to the sisters' magic – how it works, how they used their magic to further the plot.

Def better experience than the counselors. Jail to nearly all men in the book. And oh they stop at the end so guess... Everything's forgiven?

I think a lot of times I'll read so much modern world fantasy or low fantasy that I'll forget how fun a full fantasy with a heavy emphasis on the world-building and the magic system is. I know this happened with The Unspoken Name and definitely was the case with this book. I'll admit (quite easily) that magic systems can and do confuse me and that was present here. I didn't understand much of it so I hope that'll be different when I return to it. Or I just enjoy the book and not understand everything! I'm good with that too.

I thought the characters were interesting but the emphasis in this book clearly was on the world-building and the plots. Not that the characters didn't develop, but I could tell it will be gradual development. I think with series; characters can be introduced and developed over the series but most of the world-building and magic systems should be introduced and explained in the first book. And that's what Bolender did here!

I liked Clae. He had a fun, dry sense of humour and he kept a lot of his personality closed off, though you were still able to get a feel for his personality. I liked Okane too. He has an incredibly difficult backstory and trauma that they haven't explored enough. I also think he has more power than he realises and I'd like to see that improve.

I liked Laura as a narrator, though I probably would've preferred Clae as that spot but that's because I liked him more. I hope in the next book she's able to fully come into her personality and then I'll like her some more. I hope that Laura and Okane don't get into a relationship over the series. I just really don't see them as a romantic couple. Friends, absolutely. Confidants. Even Laura essentially being a pseudo-mentor to him. We'll see what the author does.

Two of the characters are named Chevrolet and Winchester...

There's a cat, that was okay.

Grumpy x sunshine but the grumpy is just really rude under the guise of anxiety and sunshine but she's just... Nice?

Reread to get ready for the sequel. absolutely excellent audiobook

So first of all – Lightlark was written in the morning, before Aster had her breakfast. She had a word goal and then she could eat (which must've been eggs every morning because why was the sun being referred to as a yolky thing etc). Nightbane was written late at night. Aster must've had to hit her word goal to be able to go to sleep – because it was boring and I wanted to SLEEP after every chapter. I want to speak to Aster's editor because what does Aster HAVE over you or WHAT is written in that contract. Why are there so many ellipses? Sometimes it was THREE IN ONE PARAGRAPH.

A lot of the chapters just ended and I don't like it – like there was meant to be more or Aster just wanted to get to the next chapter. It just makes me feel as if the author isn't doing their due diligence in ensuring the chapters flow from one to the next. The ease of chapter flowing is something I've only recently picked up on and I'm not a fan. Some choice words/phrases were used and I wonder why. His eyes had been hollow as honeycomb. Someone was built like a tombstone and then referred to like being carved out of a mountain – which I'm used to seeing. It's just... tombstone. Okay, I could argue Aster had been watching Twilight but Edward was never likened to a tombstone. My favourite sentence – “her own shoulders were small, tiny slopes. His were wide cliffs.”

Isla goes back to Wilding Isle (because remember, she's actually the ruler). The text mentions that Wildlings have animal companions, her tutors had them, she's always wanted one. That was entirely new to me because she had never mentioned this before but apparently it was mentioned in Lightlark? One time I think. You'd think if she really really wanted a companion that it would have been mentioned more, no? Adding on to this new information – other information of the other isles are given. And while a lot of sequels do this (of course, it's totally natural to add on to the world-building); the way Aster did it made it sound like this info was given on like page 267 of Lightlark and we just weren't paying attention. You can't put brand new information in the second book and act like the readers should've known this in the first book.

Maybe I'm cynical, maybe you'll say I'm a romance hater (which I'm not) but EVEN TWILIGHT has literally a better love story/love triangle than this. And that's saying something as it's Twilight. All three of the characters of the love triangle are absolutely horrible and Isla shouldn't end up with either of them. She should just stay single, on a deserted island, so nobody (me) has to look at her. They're all so boring – I don't care for any of them. Either romance is extremely unbelievable, their personalities are so bland. I don't understand the allure of this love triangle in the slightest. Also please read this line about Oro and Isla: The love between them was like a bridge. It went in both directions. I read a bunch of romance and I've been reading forever – I know about chemistry between characters – whether platonic or romantic. I can tell what works and what doesn't work. It's not only the romance that doesn't work in here. Literally nothing at all worked for like even a second in here.

Grim is not a person, he's not a ruler, he's not even a fictional character. He's just 3 badly written tropes in a (black) trench coat. You cannot write characters made up of tropes. They won't work like that. They fall flat, they feel boring, and they don't work. Not as interesting characters and not as believable love interests. You want me to root for them, you want me to care for them? I can't care for characters that aren't even fully fleshed-out characters. Oro... I don't even know what to say about him because he was so incredibly bland and boring in here. Aster stuffs so many tropes into Grim that poor Oro only receives scraps and then has to figure out how to create a personality from that.

If I thought the world-building didn't make sense the previous book, then basically all the work that had possibly been done had unravelled for this book. It was a mix of just loose world-building and plotlines flying around. A war was going to happen but the reason for it happening was never addressed? Oh no, wait, it was only addressed at like 98% and that still didn't make a lick of sense. There's a lot (like every other chapter and I groaned when I saw it) of flashbacks and I guess that and the “incoming war” were supposed to be the plotlines? Except they weren't because they were both written so dully. The first book (and I can't believe i”m saying this) actually had a plot (well multiple and Aster didn't do a good job of juggling them) so it'll be interesting to see what the third book will be like.

3.5 ⭐ rtc

Technically, I guess this is a 3.5 but I enjoyed it quite well so I bumped it up to 4 because it was cute. The characters did annoy me at times but they're also kids so I let it slide quite a bit.

I went back and forth on whether I liked Jolina or not. Sometimes I would and then she would say or think something slightly annoying and then I wouldn't like her again. But also she's a child! Who's recently moved to a new place so that almost gives her right to be annoying (in my eyes). In the end I did like her so that was good. I liked Claudine more but also I'm a sucker for the mean girl turns into a friend trope. It's one of my favourites and I don't mind seeing it repeatedly because I'll enjoy it every time. I liked that both of them were cat and dog people and that was cute to see.

I did like how the book let both of them be messy and that didn't bother me. Books should have kids be messy characters more often. It won't make them annoying, they're kids and a lot of people want messy characters nowadays. I really like messy characters and I think kids being messy make even more sense because, well, they're kids! Their personalities are still developing, they're still developing, and we shouldn't force adult expectations about their personalities just because we're adults (or insert your age here).

I liked the plot! It started out quickly and then wrapped up quickly as well. It's under 300 pages so of course so the plot has to advance fast. It was a sweet one as it shows the start of a friendship that doesn't start out the way you'd necessarily want it to. But friends can come in any ways and quite often from unlikely places.

I liked the low fantasy aspect of the book – I kept reading the synopsis before I picked it up because I didn't know if it contained actual magic or like suggestive magic? But then I read and saw that it was magic – but also had that bit of suggestive magic. Or rather, your intentions and emotions influence your magic/the way you cast the spells. Which is something I like!

The other characters were sweet. I liked how close Jolina and Claudine were with their families and also might be friends with the other's in the future.

This was definitely longer than Queen of Roses – both in its pacing and the pages (nearly 300 pages longer haha) so this took a bit longer to read than the first book. But once I properly got into the book I really liked it and can't wait to carry on with the other books. I like that it picks up immediately after the end of the first book. It allows us to easily remember what all happening in the previous book while introducing new plot points to the reader early on. I much prefer it when a sequel is set almost immediately after the previous book.

The character progression was great to see! As I've said multiple times (and will continue to) I love banter so so much and it only improves in here. Their relationship changes a lot and I liked it. They're pushed to spend even more time together and I liked how that developed their personalities and relationship.

Morgan and Draven are both strong characters and I really love that he doesn't push her down or act like he's stronger than her. He loves that she's strong. I really like it when the male main character, typically seen as “macho” and “the most powerful”, is fine and likes it when the female main character is stronger than the male.

We're treated to a lot of Morgan's background – finding out where Morgan's from, what her power looks like. I do prefer characters who have to fully learn their magic, and don't have those “instinctual magic” scenes. But I don't mind it if the character, like in here, doesn't really know they have magic – then I'm more okay with instinctual magic. We did get quite a good amount of that in here, so I'm happy but I can't wait until she really digs deep into her power.

Her powers fit in a lot with the plot and I was happy to see that one didn't overshadow the other one. That could always easily happen. I like it when the character really digs deep into their magic (especially when it's tied to their emotions, like Morgan's is).

The plot was a bit confusing here and there, I'll admit, but I'm happy to see where the next book will take us! I'm 'bout halfway through the third book and it's good! I think this will be a completed quartet this year I definitely recommend this series.

I know this is very short – under 200 pages. But so many short books manage to be around that length and it works. This wasn't the case here. Most of the time it felt like the story was meant to be a full story. Like it was leading up to be a full horror story – 300 or more pages. Nearer to the end it seemed to remember it was actually meant to be a short book and moved the timeline up. That meant the ending's pace didn't match up with the rest of the book's and that made for an unhappy reader. I've begun to realise I don't like mismatched pacing in books.

I don't really have much to say about the main character. She wasn't really memorable? I liked that she was autistic (the author is too) but other than that I don't really remember much of her. None of this book really stood out at all to me. I think I liked a bit of the mystery but obviously, not enough I would remember more.

Beth O'Leary you've done it again

Not that I need to start another series (I know how many ongoing series I have, I just don't want to know) but I liked this! It was a good start to a series and kept me engaged throughout. I hope I get approved for the next ones because I definitely want to carry on with them.

I loved the Arthurian inspirations! It was fun and I liked the addition of the Fae – a genre I'm happy to be exploring more of. I liked that Boleyn focused on Morgan and not Arthur as most retellings/inspired books tend to do. She's a strong character, wants to prove herself, and she wants more for herself. I always root for the characters who have this fiery need to prove themselves.

I'm thanking Boleyn a ton because she added the line: “who did this to you line” to the book. Instantly I wanted to read it quicker because that line will always get me to read a book faster. The line comes from the other main characters and while he seems to be your “typical brooding bad boy”; of course you find out he's much more than that. I always enjoy seeing the path that a character takes and specifically how he ‘ll walk his path. Plus I get to see the romance blossom over the series

I was really hoping to absolutely love this one as it seemed to have cool things – pirates, tons of magic, immense world-building. And a mermaid to boot! Unfortunately I soon realised it wasn't going that way, but also that I still liked it enough to carry on. 3 stars for both books, which is totally fine!

I think it was a mixture of Grace wanting to do absolutely everything plus it's her debut novel. To me it just didn't just work out although I will commend her for trying to do a lot. In my opinion debut authors do tend to cram so many things in their debuts – either because they aren't sure if they'll get another one or they want to prove themselves. Grace is a good author, yes, but I think she just tried too much here (I hope it's not a recurring theme as I have another of her books to read).

I'd say it was also a combination of the characters, the plot, and world-building – all too much and not well-managed. Maybe others felt differently (as is their right). There are seven versions of magic, and all very complicated (to understand). Maybe if there were only 3 or 5 (ways of magic) or still seven just not so big. The world-building goes along with the magic system – in that it's confusing (but also they are tied together). I didn't understand much of it and that confusion carried on into the second book. Plus because it's so linked to Amora, whom I started to like less, I sort of didn't want to pay a lot of attention (whoops).

Most of the characters were okay but I didn't really feel connected to them. I didn't like Ferrick at the start but I realised that was mainly the narrator's voice for him – it made him so whiny and annoying. Ferrick's personality and voice (both written and verbal) definitely improved for the second book. I liked Bastien and Amora but as the books went on I liked them less (no real reasons). Vataea, the mermaid, was probably my most-liked alongside Ferrick. I did get the feeling she was mostly there to play against Amora but I like that they became friends. They could've easily made them jealous of each other. Plus she did have a full personality other than just “pretty and magic”.

Merged review:

I was really hoping to absolutely love this one as it seemed to have cool things – pirates, tons of magic, immense world-building. And a mermaid to boot! Unfortunately I soon realised it wasn't going that way, but also that I still liked it enough to carry on. 3 stars for both books, which is totally fine!

I think it was a mixture of Grace wanting to do absolutely everything plus it's her debut novel. To me it just didn't just work out although I will commend her for trying to do a lot. In my opinion debut authors do tend to cram so many things in their debuts – either because they aren't sure if they'll get another one or they want to prove themselves. Grace is a good author, yes, but I think she just tried too much here (I hope it's not a recurring theme as I have another of her books to read).

I'd say it was also a combination of the characters, the plot, and world-building – all too much and not well-managed. Maybe others felt differently (as is their right). There are seven versions of magic, and all very complicated (to understand). Maybe if there were only 3 or 5 (ways of magic) or still seven just not so big. The world-building goes along with the magic system – in that it's confusing (but also they are tied together). I didn't understand much of it and that confusion carried on into the second book. Plus because it's so linked to Amora, whom I started to like less, I sort of didn't want to pay a lot of attention (whoops).

Most of the characters were okay but I didn't really feel connected to them. I didn't like Ferrick at the start but I realised that was mainly the narrator's voice for him – it made him so whiny and annoying. Ferrick's personality and voice (both written and verbal) definitely improved for the second book. I liked Bastien and Amora but as the books went on I liked them less (no real reasons). Vataea, the mermaid, was probably my most-liked alongside Ferrick. I did get the feeling she was mostly there to play against Amora but I like that they became friends. They could've easily made them jealous of each other. Plus she did have a full personality other than just “pretty and magic”.

I wanted to like this so much but it let me down and I was so sad. It had everything that I wanted! But it just didn't execute it well enough. I think it was a mixture of the characters, the writing, and a confusing plot.

I get unlikeable characters, I even like that they're unlikeable sometimes. For me the two sisters just had no personality. I didn't like either of them, they were flat characters. I think I maybe could like Clara; but since most of the story was through Natasha's eyes, all we saw were Clara's negatives. Which, let's be honest here, I don't think Clara really had many negative characteristics. Natasha just wanted to see her sister as an evil person, so she was.

It's not even that “Oh, the curse made her (Natasha) annoying” – I was totally fine with the curse making her dark – it's how that was written that annoyed me. I also didn't like how she viewed relationships – even if this is set in the past – why do we have to have do all of this slut-shaming?

I would've liked it if we got to the other land earlier. I also thought Natasha would travel between the two worlds often instead of spending a tiny bit in the other world. It's just what I thought would've happened and then it didn't. Which made me sad and once again felt a bit let down by the book.

I just wanted more. I think that's what annoyed me most of all. I expected so many things from the great cover and the synopsis and nothing worked out for me. The ending came out of the blue for me. It didn't make sense and I didn't like the sudden time jump we were given.

I've been meaning to actually sit down and read Dracula since I got it whenever in 2022 or '23, whichever. I subscribed to the original Dracula Daily emails, even read a couple, and then missed a bunch of ones.

I liked how it was formatted in the review copy. The original text normal (so like any other book) and the comments and/or fan art made by readers on the margins of the pages.

Really, I think all classics should be read like this or sort of like this. The bite-sized chapters makes it easier (of course not every classic has dates like in here but you could still read one chapter a day). You could even follow along in a normal copy of Dracula – keep to the dates in the book and browse the tag on various social media sites. Obviously it will be different to what was gathered in this book, but still nonetheless fun.

I was interested in this book – it wasn't one of my most anticipated books but I did have my eye on it. Unfortunately the interest fizzled out quickly. I liked the book but not enough to give it a higher rating. I was bored, but not enough to stop reading it. I'm glad that I was speed reading it and reading the ebook and audio because if I were just reading one and at a slower pace – a definite dnf, that I can tell you.

I had various issues but a big one was that it was Adult but the writing seesawed from feeling Adult to feeling YA. The characters were Adult and their experiences were Adult, but the writing, quite a couple of times, felt like any other YA book. I actually thought it was YA at first because the cover looked YA to me and the synopsis could be a YA book as well.

For the first 10 or 20% I couldn't tell the sisters apart in their chapters. The sentence would say Esther and I had to remind myself of which one she was. Their voices and personalities did start to become more visibly/easier to tell apart as I carried on. I really liked Nicholas and Collins – more than I did the sisters. They felt like they had more personality right off the bat whereas it (for me) took a while for the sisters to grow on me.

I, and I know a bunch of other readers felt the same, did not see Joanna and Collins' romance coming at all. It was extremely out of the blue and I didn't see any chemistry between them. All throughout I'm thinking “cool when are Collins and Nicholas getting together? Nice, a bodyguard romance.”

My other issues were the pacing and worldbuilding. The pacing was so extremely slow. It only really picked up in the last few chapters but even then it still felt a bit slow. The world building was ok but I wanted more? I wanted to know more about everything. More about the world and the spells and the magic system. The characters exploring all the books and the magic. But I also wouldn't want a sequel because this book didn't interest me enough (to want for a sequel).

Larkwood managed to keep me entertained throughout and I liked that. I haven't read such a mega epic fantasy book in a while and I think that added to my “do I like this or not?” line of thinking. But I'm glad that I grew to really like it. The pace doesn't really pick up at all, it remains a steady slow throughout. Which didn't bother me either – I'm happy about both things.

I'm no stranger to odd fantasy names (Kvothe hello) but the audio did help with everything. Also to remember that it's Csorwe rhymes with doorway. I liked Csorwe's character. She was interesting and had a lot of depth to her. I can't wait to see where we go with her in the sequel. I liked how she changed over the book (and the years). Csorwe, as a kid, just goes along with what she's told to do but it's not really what she actually wants. I liked that she began to stand up for herself later on; it added to her personality. Hopefully the next book will have her be louder and more stabbier.

I didn't realise it but I do like end of the world books and books where the protagonists have to stop the world ending. Here it's much slower than in other world-ending books. But once again, I really didn't mind it like I thought I probably would.

Honestly, I don't think I understood everything about the magic system or world-building. There was so much to take in and sift through but I liked what we got and hopefully I understand more as I read on. It wasn't info-dumping per se but if you're not a fan of a lot of world-building and it being a bit confusing, I wouldn't so much so recommend this to you (low fantasy, however, might do the trick).

Tal annoyed me so much at times and then I liked him