alyssa

I was moderately hooked until about halfway through - things started to get almost unbearably annoying and dull, and it's almost like the author knew that and wanted to come up with the biggest shock factor ending she could? But, like?? Having the big reveal be that Addison's mom tricked her into marrying her own father just gave me an instant ick - I'm all for complicated, messy, questionable, morally grey and even evil characters but that is FUCKED EVEN FOR ME

Absolute perfection up until the last scene, like? Ending it in the literal middle of a bedroom scene was a..... Choice.

Whoever edited this should be fired, honestly, because the amount of punctuation errors was more distracting than the fact that - if you've read your share of crime novels - you could guess the twist from like, the second chapter.

Tbh this would've been a 5 for me if Feyre and Rhys (who is like... fucking INSUFFERABLE every time he's on a page) and the inane “omg she's going to have a baby that's going to kill her but let's not TELL her that” subplot weren't in it

This author writes dialogue in a way that made me think she was at least in her 50s and trying to write 20-somethings while never actually having interacted with 20-somethings - to the point where I could actively only take a few pages at a time due to the sheer amount of cringe it induced? So this is like, 2.5 rounded up just because I love the witchy small town vibe, so while I sort of can't stand the characters, I will in fact be reading the entire series

I loved the first book of this trilogy, but I very nearly DNF'ed this one. Merlin was creepy as all hell and I can get on board with that, but Guinevere was insufferable and a raging bitch, and Morgan spent 98% of the book acting like a whiny, hypocritical teenager to the point that I was actively rooting against her for much of the book because she was just that grating. It was hard to connect with any of the characters this go around. I'm sad to say I think this one suffers from middle book syndrome - but fingers crossed for a third book that reads more like the impeccable first one!!

I laughed, I cried, I want to read it all over again eight more times.

3.5 rounded up because while I found 99% of this to be predictable and full of plot holes, the last 3 pages were a twist I was NOT AT ALL EXPECTING, so I would almost recommend it just for that?? (Trigger warnings for lots of creepy predatory behavior throughout, though!)

The writing and general adaptation of Eros and Psyche's story was lovely and romantic, but the attempts to weave Psyche into the Trojan war were so unnecessary? Literally did nothing for the plot (aside from allowing me to roll my eyes over the bizarre choice to change Penelope to Helen's sister instead of Clytemnestra, and making Psyche's father a brother of Menelaus and Agamemnon, etc) and just had me skimming the chapters instead. Would've been a 5-star otherwise!

Gothic, sort of haunted/sort of alive mansion plus shades of a Beauty and the Beast retelling? Yes, please, give me 800 more pages of it! It's just so nice to find a book that checks off LITERALLY ALL OF YOUR INTERESTS.

How is everyone just blowing on past the fact that Death has been basically stalking Signa since she was a child?? And then wound up seducing her?? I———

Weird move to name the book after the most insufferable and obnoxious of the three - which I feel like is two too many when you're naming the book after a character, but that's beside the point - viewpoints used throughout?? Didn't come across as even remotely a ~feminist retelling~ to me, didn't add anything new to the Troy retellings that have been coming out recently, just all in all a let down, which is disappointing considering I did enjoy Ariadne.

This was so so soooo close to being 4 stars - the reimagining of your usual Arthurian lore was so interesting and had so much promise - but she honestly lost me with the whole “Guinevere is actually a werewolf” storyline and it was only downhill from there. Still enjoyed it, all in all, but couldn't really get past such a bizarre plot choice!

Does the main character suck? Yes, yes, she really kind of does. But is the plot itself fascinating and creepy enough to make up for that? ABSOLUTELY.