Reviewed by A Darker Shade of Rosie on
DISLIKED:
- It took me a month to read, and I wasn't invested in the story until lat least 50% through. I was also just SO conflicted on my feelings about this book.
- I wasn’t completely on board with the writing style, and all of the pronouns were super hard to pronounce (I had no idea there was a pronunciation guide, so this might've been helpful to have in the eARC).
LIKED:
- Something that I can appreciate is how super fast we were thrown into action in the first chapter. No games were played!! No bushes were beaten around!! Nadya was just minding her own business with her pal Kostya, begrudgingly peeling potatoes, and then BAM! Under attack!
- Sometimes alternating perspectives can be tedious and complicated (for me), but this was actually well done, and I applauded it from the start. Dual perspectives of Nadya the cleric from Kalyazin, and Serefin the High Prince and powerful blood mage of Tranavia. I liked both sides.
- Serefin, who has been in the heart of the battle between kingdoms for maybe as half as long as he’s been living, is kind of a drunk, but he’s just about the best damn blood mage there is, much to his father’s chagrin. I liked him.
- I enjoyed Nadya as a character, because even though all of her truths were being tested, she still hesitated at every turn since her gods were all she knew. She didn't up and leave every moral on a whim, because that would have made me lose all respect for her.
- Malachiasz was a beautiful monster, and I need more of him in my life.
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Reading updates
- Started reading
- 8 February, 2019: Finished reading
- 8 February, 2019: Reviewed