Zo

I just want to say that this book would have been four stars. Up until babyface and boss. I'm sorry. I cringed so hard. And boy? I don't like daddy-son or boy. I'd be fine with just daddy, but no, no, no, no. No. Babyface? BABYFACE? JESUS.

Also the forgiveness happened too quickly. It was just a...when had the hate gone? Nope. Bray's group and the OG four are still the only ones I like. Hopefully I like Maz/Lucan.

Whee. Glad I stuck with this series! I know I said I'd wait a bit, but I had to come back.

-0.5 for a few cringe action scenes. E.g “For Hakon!”. Idk, I don't expect that kind of rallying in urban fantasy. High, sure, if done well. But urban, it'd take more for me to like it.

What I disliked:
The switching perspectives (between Bray/Ruari/Kean and the original four). I found both interesting, but sometimes I wanted to stick with one side. Anyway, I didn't really take off points for this because like I said, I liked both.

What I liked:
Bray/Ruari/Kean/Jax. Omg I haven't read many romances with babies but these ones are cute. Hakon didn't get much screen time, but that's alright. I loved seeing the relationship grow. Being reading a lot of Tal Bauer which tends to be angst free, so I wanted a lot of that + rejection.

Rip to the death spoiled in the intro section. I don't know why that is. This isn't a Shakespeare play and I don't need my cast of characters introduced at the beginning. Even in those, their character arcs don't get spoiled. Points off for that.

Best so far in the series. Will be continuing.

This was fine. Not a lot of time spent with this group. Also the fated mates thing happened so quickly there was no time for romance. Just oh I think you're hot do you think I'm hot huh well this could be something.

Well I stayed up late to finish this book and it was worth it (I'll remind myself this when I'm falling asleep during meetings). It's pretty much what I expected. Some angst, a whole lotta love :))

I'm really happy.

I listened to parts and read parts. I've read some reviews that say the narrators should've been switched, and honestly, that's just leaning into stereotypes. I liked it just fine. 

Some parts were a drag, as romance (contemporary especially) tends to be, but I honestly didn't care. This was fun to read, and fun is good.

Fuck it. 4.5 stars.

Alright, I just finished this one.

I finished book 2 a bit ago and held off because I'm not a huge fan of following a different relationship, especially when the main one hasn't gotten it's ending yet.

I'm not a fan of Daddy/son. Had to hard skim several parts.

It's not bad. There is a shit ton going on in the background. To be fair, the plot is progressing. It's just, idk. I'm trying to figure out what it is about the so much plot that puts me off. I think it's the stakes. They're all safe, and relatively happy. I never once felt in this book that their lives were in danger. Things are happening, sure. But they're all way too safe and comfortable.

Sven has a quarter of a personality. Like I said, I don't like d/s, so I didn't like his infantilization. Lars is...a lot of hot air. Grayson is all wise, all knowing. It's...it's fine. I'm glad we got more of the original four, although Enar has two fifths of a personality in this one. I will wait another bit before reading book 4. This series is better appreciated in small doses.

I enjoyed this. It was a quick listen (about 4 hours). I'll admit I was very distracted at the end and so had to Google to understand what happened.

Fuck it. The book was good. It had problems, and I'm going to list them, but it kept me coming back each night and I stayed up till 6 am to read it when I had work at 9 am. So there's no way it's sub 4 stars. I sometimes refresh ratings after the wind of nostalgia blows, so I might bump this later.

The problems:
1. Too many proper nouns introduced at the same time at the beginning. I only finally understood many of them at the end. I don't like over explaining either, but you can work it in somehow. Like Goat. Huh? Yeah I get it now, and I sort of got it when it was introduced, but I was mildly annoyed I never got a proper explanation.
2. Weird names. Madoc. Took (yeah I get this one, but still), Pally, Quick (fucking Quick?), Lawrence (there's nothing wrong with it, it's just very old fashioned idk). There was Kit and Tac too. I don't even remember who Tac is supposed to be again.
3. I saw things before Took. The ending betrayal by a certain woman we saw early on. It was pretty obvious from what she was saying. But Took missed it. West too.
4. I wish we could find out who took Took. I thought West might have something to do with it, but we don't find out for sure. Plenty of mysteries left. It's not bad, it's supposed to be a series. But where the fuck is book 2?
5. I like that Madoc guaranteed the death of a certain man. I hope the others died too. If they didn't, I'll have a problem with it. But like, whatever, it's a common plot device.
6. The lore was dropped in here and there. I can't quite understand why the boyars would surrender themselves to suffer and why they still have power even though they're imprisoned.
7. The way the mystery came together. Even when they were explaining it, I still didn't understand, until after the last showdown.
8. Wtf is that cat?

The awesome:
1. That shadows bar fight ahhhhh. Madoc ilysm. Heck, Took too.
2. Paladin. I want more of this man. Like I want to see this man in action. Pally makes him sound so uncool. Din would've been cooler or something.
3. Took is so mysterious. Why did he turn even with his bloodline? What's going on with his anger? (Madoc has this too but he doesn't black out) What did Anderson mean? Where tf is book 2???

The WTF:
1. The bloody sex scenes. No I don't mean that as a swear word. I mean that actual blood was involved. I...you do you T A Moore. You absolutely do you.

Extra points for not making me annoyed with the relationship. There was no does he does he not. Took knew how Madoc felt. Took had issues to work through. They started slow, relatively. Took tried. Madoc loved. Took loved in the end. Sweet.

Nothing coherent to say.

Read the novella pls.

Seriously, stop looking at reviews. Go read the damn thing. It's a novella.

It is apparently a twist to some people that

Damaya, Syenite, and Essun are the same people

This is bizarre to me. There is no way it could be otherwise. And I saw it when they were introduced.

Anyway,
Look, this book is 5 stars. The prose is tight and neat. The only things I would point out are
1. How confused she was. Her understanding seemed to always come later, and at some point I started to wonder why we couldn't join her at the end of her understanding, why we had to had to spend so long in that in-between. Then she understood. Then she saw. It got repetitive.

That's literally one thing. Huh.

Ok now more spoiler-y things:
That island interlude Jesus Christ. Innon, my God, and their little family. It broke my heart and I'm so glad Alabaster fucking ripped the world apart for it, just like he said he would. Syenite, poor Syenite. How did she even rebuild herself after that? And for it to happen again with Uche.Also that beginning, You are here, is insane. Fucking insane.The narrator for this book is a fucking goat. The whole thing is read so gloriously, all the right pauses in all the right places. I just had to mention. Some narrators get in the way, some are just a vehicle for the story, and some accentuate the story. This one took it to a whole new level.The foreshadowing in this book is great. When Damaya leaves and Jemisin writes she'll wish she had looked back is just one great example.The Guardians are fucking terrifying. I don't think I've read a book recently with terrifying villains. Most times they inspire rage or maybe just annoyance. But these ones, absolutely terrifying. Part of it has to do with how absolute they are, how even the strongest orogenes can be neutered by them. The oppression in this book is systemic and they are the architects of it.When Syenite sees burgundy at Allia, my heart was in my fucking stomach.

This book has temporarily ruined me. I'm trying to read Witness for the Dead and finding its prose too stuffy.

ALL OF THE STARS FOR MURDERBOT.

NO WORDS. GO READ THE BOOK.

The audiobook for this is 26 hours. Somehow, that didn't register till I started listening, and it wouldn't have registered if I hadn't found myself checking how many hours I had left every few chapters. This entire review is full of spoilers, and you will see me swear. If you are like I was, 20% through and struck with the realization that you frankly do not give a shit what happens next, or perhaps you have just finished it, then continue below.

Otherwise I leave you with this: too many words for all the rubbish scenes, zero words for epic fight scenes (I mean literally, the book cut away to another POV).

HOW CAN I, AFTER 250 PAGES, NOT HAVE BEEN GIVEN ENOUGH OF ONE OF THE MAIN CHARACTERS? A CHARACTER IN THE BLURB? Why should I give a fuck about Niclays Roos or fucking Loth Beck?

I will address a few things.1. The romance between Ead and Sabran.When I first read the blurb, I thought the romance would be between Ead and Tané. I wondered how they would meet, until that scene in the garden (or wherever they were walking), where Ead says she has no idea why she is suddenly acting irrationally around Sabran. I had had no idea too, until that moment. I had no idea, even at the end and after many confessions of love. As I write this now, I still see zero chemistry.Sabran was cruel, and Ead thought she was selfish. Then they are kissing and that's it, that's all the development we get. If you read this for the love story, woe is you.2. Tané's arc.a. Torusa. Wow. After the fight he is never heard from again. I do in fact believe that at the end of 850 pages, Shannon forgot he'd existed at all.b. Her relationship with her dragon: a couple smiles exchanged before Tané becomes a dragon rider, the first talking scene, the confession scene, the scene after they are reunited, some time traveling to the South, the final fight, the end. Those are all the scenes with Tané and her dragon. This book has a dragon on the cover. And after 850 pages, those are all the scenes with Tané and her dragon.3. Niclays RoosIdgaf about his relationship with Jannart (I may get spellings wrong as I listened to the book). There was one flashback scene, and I fucking wanted to sleep through it. He's a sad sack of shit. Don't get me wrong, I feel for him because Sabran is a cruel piece of shit, but he had choices to make in life, and he made several questionable ones. But aside from his personality, he just didn't really do anything.Things happen to him. He is a vessel for narration, like Loth. This is never more clear than on the island, where he has a chance to escape but chooses to stay because he is entranced by the story.Of course, what Shannon means here is that readers are entranced by the story, and Niclays cannot leave because then how else would readers hear the end? It is lazy, and fucking boring.4. Loth.So fucking sheltered in his braindead religion. Like Niclays, things happen to him. Towards the end, he improves, but if I had to listen to him talking about the Saint again, I would...well I wouldn't be very happy.5. The death of KitThat was startling. I have to assume it was added for shock value. I was shocked alright, shocked with the realization that I wasn't going to enjoy reading this book. Say what you will about harsh realities or whatever, none of the main characters died. And for Tané Suza and Ashari died. Should've killed the dragon too. Killed her off too.6. Kalyba.What was her purpose? You know when Sabran had a fever, right after the scene where Tané eats the Orange fruit and bursts into flames or something, I thought Sabran had eaten the fruit. I thought in the final fight we'd see her duel Kalyba. But no, Kalyba talked a lot and then got stabbed by Ead. I just, wow.7. The fight between Ead and the Prioress.The book cuts away to Loth just before the fight. The next thing we see is Ead injured. This is certainly a choice, and a choice that means it is difficult for me to give this book up to 3 stars. It is emblematic of the problems with this book. The way time is spent in the head of useless things, and not enough on the things that ballads are made of.8. The training with the jewels.There is nothing here, just as there was no description for this. 850 pages. 26 hours.9. The jewels, the swordMy head, my shoulders, my knees and toes, bring me more macguffins. I love how often these are lost and easily obtained. There is no conflict in this book, not really. There is only loss of loved ones. They all suffer that, except Ead for the most part, but there are no consequences for anything else. Lose the dragon, locate the dragon. Lose the jewel, locate the jewel. Get poisoned, aha cure easily no problem at all. Be about to die, get saved.10. I'm confused. Why does Fyredel not simply attempt to burn Sabran a second time? Heck, he doesn't even go after Ead for real. Doesn't even try to burn the town down. I guess they don't want to destroy the world, but when your main villain is just pure evil with zero nuance, I cannot understand why everything done in his name would not be pure evil. Where is the line?11. The Nameless One. The next villain in a book should be Unnamed. He without name. Birth-certificateless-less. Who-the-fuck.12. The whole ending was underwhelming. Suddenly the armies unite. Fight, win, as expected. Like surprise me, for once, surprise me.13. The most tragic deaths in this book are Triam and Truyde. After their executions, the main characters then simply do what they tried to do, very easily. They were both so fucking brave. The scene in the jail where Truyde tells Ead the Knight of Courage is her Saint, bruh, that was better than any other speeches.14. Crest should've been drawn and quartered. Sabran should've made sure of it. She literally has no backbone.15. The Priory is made up of a bunch of fools. Were the damsels even at the final fight?16. The final fight where Tané wished she had a Seiikenese weapon. The whole time I'm wondering why she doesn't have one. Like, isn't part of preparing for battle making sure you have a weapon that you can and want to use?17. The narrator. Bruh that “So be it” from the Nameless One was just like, peak narration. The accents don't mesh with what they apparently should. I think if I had read this I would've been more forgiving, because I'd be able to read much faster. But I listened to the whole thing because I really fucking wanted to get to the end. I did. It was disappointing, but frankly, I saw that coming from 10% in.

Ah. A space opera. Noice.

This was good. Slow burn. It's not a very actiony plot with lots of pew pew pew. It's more political but because Kiem isn't very experienced, there's less intrigue, less maneuvering, secrets, etc.

The romance, uh, takes time. It's fine though, there's some plot to make up for it, so the book doesn't drag too much. Narration is excellent.

Oh Jainan. You deserve the world.

I can't give this book 5 stars. Grace annoyed me too much. And to learn she's the main character in book 2? I wish Robin's was first, or even better that Miles' story continued. Why do some authors do this? Make book 2 follow a different character in the same story? If it's the same universe but different arcs, sure, for e.g Ocean's Echo by Maxwell, which I'm looking forward to. But the same story? Come on. The Last Binding is doing it too. I like the new MC just fine, but I would very much like to read more of the OG MCs too! WRITE YOUR SPINOFF AFTER THE FULL SERIES FOR FUCK'S SAKE! unless your original pairing sucks.

So yeah, the ending was pretty great though. Also the tender romance between Tristan and Miles. Really nice.

Also I listened to this, and the narrator sometimes mixes voices for Miles and Tristan. Tristan usually sounds softer, but sometimes he reads them the exact same and I have to rely on a “Tristan said” to know who spoke.

Fucking glorious.

About a specific scene:
Oh God the scene in the library with Robin and Edwin's ankles. Oh my God. It's the little things that burn.

Audiobook narrator was excellent, though a bit slow and with some long pauses. But, still glorious.

Hmm. This started off strong, and then once the two MCs got together, it, hmm.

Minor spoiler.
Listen, I like languages too, but like one word of Italian and you're weak at the knees? Come on.

This just didn't hit the spot. I think it's that the big final battle felt anti climactic. I've seen this often though, so I won't let it detract from the rest of the book. Still a solid read.

Be warned though, the sex scenes are fade-to-black.

Very nice.

I've had this on my to-read for a while now. Started the audiobook and realized the narrator was not going to do it for me. It was the same guy from Spellbound which I'd just finished, and I was distracted by it.

Anyway, I called it. Called the twist too. But was still nervous so you know it's a good mystery :)

Good chemistry. Cooper is prickly done right. Prickly but also with enough emotional maturity to try. Park is sweet af.

ETA: bumping this down to 2 stars. 3 stars just doesn't sit right with me.

I'll give this book a solid 3 stars. This isn't a spoiler but it isn't in the blurb: the book is from the point of view of Helena, not Konrad. Also, it's one of those first-person past-tense books where the narrator is actively telling from the present. So we get sentences like “If we had known,” or “More was to come” (not exact sentences from the book btw). But that basically strips all the tension away from the book. All of it. I'm not surprised by anything because Helena helpfully tells us, “Btw this went wrong.” It annoyed me so much that I highlighted several instances of this happening and noted, “Shut the fuck up.” And when you have to tell the narrator to shut their goddamn mouth, they've gone too far.

Now for spoilery things:

Insta-love. In a way, Mattas (Did I spell it right?) was basically the male version of what many female love interests are for a male fantasy protagonist.Insta-love, and then a sorrowful death to motivate the protagonist.Thank you, Mattas, for your sacrifice. Also, they banged, to completion I'm sure. I was like, girl, you're gonna get preggers what are you doing? If she turns up preggers in a later book, I'm gonna shake my head.Anyway, Helena. Oh Helena.Helena angry all the time for no justifiable reason. Like justifiable anger is epic. Unjustifiable anger is go sit in the corner and breathe deeply.Helena screaming for no reason and then blacking out when hearing a dead man's voice. Maybe we were supposed to be scared by the necromancy. But I wasn't. All I thought was Jesus Christ shut the fuck up. Even the second time I was lmao.Helena being mean to her love interest. Sigh.Helena nineteen years but acts like she's fifteen.Helena I grew up in DA HOOD screaming crying Helena.Helena I just met this guy and I wanna abandon my career and have all the babies.Helena nineteen and acting like a hormonal teenager Helena. I don't expect her to be the most mature human being, but come on. She's nineteen.And Konrad doesn't get off either.Konrad I'm gonna just do nothing instead of stopping the watchmen from opening the gate.Claver somehow gets away.Helena foreshadowing moral decline like HELENA SHUT THE FUCK UP. LET ME FIND OUT IN THE BOOK. SHUT THE FUCK UP.Jesus Christ.

Forget the characterizations. Forget that this basically turns into cookie-cutter European fantasy complete with “Gondor calls for aid scenes.” Forget that the mystery isn't very compelling TBH. Forget that I recently read Tainted Cup, which similar in the Watson/Holmes vibe in a fantasy world, except those characters had more personality than Konrad I-am-the-law, Dubine drink-and-whore, and Helena angry-so-angry. Forget the plot holes.

Forget how many times the phrase “wrong-footed” appeared.

Forget that I saw two back to back paragraphs begin with the word “Ultimately.”

Forget how much time this...Helena spends describing places at the start. Places I didn't give a fuck about because...Helena focus on the current village please.

Forget all that, and you have sparks of something interesting here.

I hear Helena shuts the fuck up in book 2. I will read it.

Let this be my sign to not take goodreads ratings and reviews seriously. Or book covers. The cover of this book is an absolute travesty. Honestly, its title too.

It's not terrible. It just did not come close enough to the depth of this book. Something abstract would've been better, I think. I don't care now. But I judged it before. I only picked it up because it won the Hugo. And I thought, huh, I thought this was a random space opera, there must be something else here.

And by god, there was something. I remember being hooked at 30%. I remember at 54% thinking holy shit holy fucking shit.

Because this book is unreal. This book made me question everything. There was depth, and complexity, and so much character growth.

There is so much in this book. If you're thinking about reading it, please do so immediately.

Thank you, Emily Tesh. Honestly, seriously, from the bottom of my heart, thank you for this book's existence.

Victory or death.

Before I read this book, I watched several CinemaSins videos, and I couldn't help but zing my way through this book. So let's go. Spoilers included.

0. How are readers scarier can architects? Architects can literally take over your body? Yeah you know what's happening, but the fuck does that do when you can't stop it? Excuse me, I'd rather somebody know about that time I was using the men's bathroom and some guy opened it and just kinda stood there while I awkwardly pulled my pants up and fled than you know, take control of my body. What kind of society do they live in?

0.5. Book opens with a young rake just doing some raking things. Then he has sex, so you know he's got game. Then he gets arrested, because plot's gotta plot.

1. There were several dramatic pauses in this book: “at that moment”, “In that moment”, “that was the moment”, “that was when he knew”, etc. Late in the book they began to occur more frequently. I didn't like this. It felt like withdrawing from the action. I vividly remember that one scene on the Fractal Note after they just made their plans, and then we cut away with something similar. Just let the story ride on.

2. The first half was better than the second half. I hoped the last quarter would be better, but it was all just too convenient. Surit dips in the tug, doesn't die immediately after breaking the sync, conveniently gets picked up by Archer, taken to Oma, who conveniently leaves him alive. He finds sudden strength, we get some Rank Onering, then he conveniently runs into Tennal who is there, somehow. They resync, conveniently find Oma, and conveniently take her out of the equation even though she is much more powerful than them.

Also Zin's around and does important lawyer stuff. The Resolution is like this all knowing council that always resolves everything the right way. The next book better be about the High Chain and/or have a Resolution main character.

So right, the second half was convenient. The last ten percent was actually boring. 

3. Surit loses his powers because Tennal forgot he had powers. No, no, Tennal never knew Surit had powers. Imagine. It's not earned. He should have lost it earlier, maybe when he was lending it to Tennal. Not because Tennal forgot. How does that make sense?

4. Speaking of forgetting. Here's a huge one: the compulsion. Tennal was in that room when Oma compelled Surit. Later he says (to paraphrase) “Oma said she put a compulsion...” but he was there. He saw it. He saw that it worked, because there was a dramatic pause with “Oma wrote Surit”. Not Oma tried to write Surit. So he knew, and Surit knew too. It's not like the compulsion makes you forget you were compelled. But they both forgot. Wonderful.

5. Where did the compulsion go? Oma could have used it in the last act and taken Surit out of commission. Did she forget too lol? Was the whole thing just a way to have that scene on the Note and trigger Surit's suicide plan?

6. Let's talk about Tennal. I oscillated between neutrality and, I don't know, not neutrality. He's not a great guy. He says so himself, often. He reads people with no remorse, so he doesn't exactly have moral high ground. And that's fine, I guess. Zing anyway for crossing Surit's boundaries when they first met. And also for not taking “No” for an answer when the tried to pressure Surit into sex.

Also, the scene where he goes to float off in space for no reason. At least Surit didn't forget his reader powers eh? 

7. Tennal has architect powers now. Nothing becomes of it. What was the whole point of Surit breaking the sync? If they simply resynced? Nothing changed between the break and the resync. No new feelings developed, no new threats. Absolutely nothing but that Surit decided he didn't want to die anymore. I mean that's a valid reason but not a particularly strong one, especially for Surit who puts Tennal above his self-preservation instincts.

8. The chemistry wasn't all the way there. It tried to be there, but two things happened:
A. Somewhere in that third quarter I wanted the plot to plot but we were stuck with Tennal and Surit and mostly in Tennal's head, and he did his best to squash all feelings for Surrit. So there weren't any romantic thoughts and all that.
B. In the end they get together but Tennal's going away soon anyway. Yeah he'll be back, but I don't care.

9. We get withdrawn from the action. The coup starts, and our heroes go off to do their own thing. Who sent those fucking coordinates? Why would the Emperor, sorry the Legislator, send the coordinates to Tennal? Not knowing if he was fully on her side? And why did she not expect him, knowing she sent them to him? Yeah sure someone else might have, but who? Convenient plot device is convenient.

But on the action, we miss the whole thing. Next time we come back the coup has spread to Exana (did I spell it right?), Oma is now Legislator Oma, and Commander Vinys (ha, remember that guy? He's here, somehow) is here with the Cavalry (see what I did there?). Surit gets to show him though and locks him out so he and Tennal (how did Tennal get in?) can fight Oma in a universe scale showdown at High Noon. Except it's two ancient aliens hurling rocks at each other. Mental rocks. Maybe some physical too. Idk there was a lot of striking.

10. Have I mentioned how convenient it is that the Resolution just cleans everything up?

10.5. Why does the Legislator simply not stay dead?
 

Lol. I know I don't like this writer's style. Yet I keep trying because many of them are very recommended. At around 50% the book starts to repeat itself and becomes a slog. The premise itself is impossible but I knew that before starting it. If you're looking for a quick, light read that's hot at first but becomes boring but is skimmable because so little plot happens, I've got a book for you.

This book was meh. I'd round it up to a 3 if I had to.

Kindle: 1 hr 20 mins left in book.
Me: 25 minutes, take it or leave it.

Yes I skimmed the last 50%. You know what, I missed nothing. There were no crucial or interesting conversations. Everything was just predictable.

I much prefer slow burn, or at least, chemistry. These two didn't really have like, sizzling chemistry, you know.

But anyway, issues I had with characters:
1. I didn't like prickly Shae was. If he was actually closed off I would accept it. But he mostly pretends to be. The scene where he leaves Arthur and is disappointed Arthur doesn't chase after him, Jesus Christ. Like wow, maybe don't leave?
2. Arthur is bland.
3. At about 42% they kiss. Then they have sex. I skipped the sex scenes. They were boring.

I knew Shae wasn't going to lose his powers because the book just isn't brave enough for that. It makes sense too that Arthur leaves the order but doesn't lose his powers. Georgia remains alive. Wonderful.

Really dry. Idk I was expecting more angst. I like angst, but not like, pretend angst followed by quick declarations of love. I like real fucking angst. I think the book just wasn't long enough for that kind of character growth, and Shae is just the kind of MC I do not like.

Idk what it is about alpha beta omega books. Especially the ones grounded in shifter society. Man, the prejudice just comes flowing out, no stops, no filters, nada, just problematic statement after problematic statement. This book would have been 5 stars based only on sexual tension. Now it's a 3.x. Here's why.

ETA: I am bumping this down to 2.x because the climax gets resolved off page. Off-page. We get an epilogue that the showdown we built up to, has been resolved. Off fucking page. If you want a similar but more complex book with an on-page resolution, try Winter's Orbit.

The regular character problems:
1. Haydn. That's how you spell it right? Without the E because. Haydn is a general, was a general, who lost two thousand and something men in the past month. Haydn doesn't seem very upset by this fact, never mind what he says. They call him Death Bringer. Now I don't know about you, but nothing about this man, nothing, says Death Bringer. I don't buy it. I just don't. He should've been non combattant, maybe a strategist. I'd believe that more. Death Bringer and we never see him fight, Death Bringer and all he does is talk about how good he is at killing. Yeah sure, sure.
2. Devlin. Called that he was next in line for a book from a mile away. They always do this. Set up the side character for the next book. Just throw away the rest of the book and give me that one then. Fucking hell.

The problematic society:
Hazard goes out of her way to show you that homosexuality is great, perfectly great, but homodesignation isn't. It just isn't natural, isn't biologically possible. This isn't anyone being bigoted. It just can't work. Fine, it isn't illegal now, but come on, nobody accepts it. Do you see what I'm seeing? Can you hear what the fuck I'm hearing? Is it just me or does homodesignation sound a lot like homosexuality? 

What fucking hypocrites Royce and Haydn are. Reading the beginning, right after Haydn is like ew, omegas, then calls his father disgusting for saying much the same thing. Oh my fucking God is this a simulation? Was that supposed to be sarcastic. Does the author present these two ideas to show us that Haydn is in fact, very prejudiced. Monsieur Royce with his own brother. His own brother, man, he was prejudiced against him. Never even examined the situation, just shipped him off to war to possibly die. That relationship is fucked up for its own reasons (Lucien and Aksel? Askel?) but hot damn.

Of course I figured something was off with Haydn. I knew, but I wanted it not to be so. He couldn't just be an alpha. No, it had to be revealed that he was an omega all along. In his own words he was literally born to be fucked. Is that all omegas aspire to? To be fucked? Can you hear, do you hear the FUCKING...women btw. We're talking about women. Every time we talk about omegas we're talking about women. When we talk about homodesignation we're talking about homosexuality. The parallels are there.

Had this same issue with Irresistible Omegas. Wanting to submit, that can't be an alpha thing at all. Gotta show he's not really one. Gotta make it okay for him to submit.

Fucking disappointed is what I am. Alpha beta omega books just keep being excuses for some really shitty stereotyping. At least this one has female alphas.

Ahhhhhh.

Omg this was so sweet. I have to go sleep but omg. Stayed up to finish this. Was just craving something really sweet and sniff sniff. Once Luke realized he was in love it was all systems go push W and full send. No 80% break-up, no misunderstandings, nada, rien. Everyone is fucking accepting, everyone's fucking great, and happy. And my God I'm so happy.

Take all my fucking stars.