i kept seeing everyone picking this up and really enjoying it, so i really went into this not knowing anything! but i instantly fell in love with the i kept seeing everyone picking this up and really enjoying it, so i really went into this not knowing anything! but i instantly fell in love with the world and our main character, rune, who is a witch in hiding. basically in the past, in rune’s country, there used to be witch queens who ruled over all, but after a revolution being a witch is a death sentence. also in this world, witches need blood as a component to cast spells, sometimes their own, sometimes others, but when you draw blood to use magic, the wound will heal silver, leaving a tattoo-like mark on your body. and in the present day, there are witch hunters who are constantly looking for these marks and other signs of witchcraft.
rune gets around this by saving and using the blood from her menstrual cycles - which i really loved. the blood isn’t as powerful, because it’s not as fresh because she is bottling it, but i just thought this was such a cool concept. i have read so many books, it is very rare that one surprises me with something i’ve never read before, and this one truly did. but rune is close with the witch hunters because she turned her grandmother in to the authorities years before, because of her grandmother’s wishes. this, and her not having the silver marks, makes it very easy for her to hide in plain sight and be able to get information to save other witches and get them out of the country before they are apprehended by the guard.
the guard is constantly looking for a vigilante that they named “the crimson moth” but no one suspects that it could possibly be rune.. except for gideon, the worst witch hunter of them all. gideon wants to get close to rune to see if she is a witch or knows the crimson moth that everyone is after, and rune wants to get close to gideon because one of her grandmother’s best friends was captured and is currently being held in captivity for being a witch. but maybe, just maybe, they kinda like each other.
i actually really enjoyed it, and never once did i want to stop reading. The setting and atmosphere is really good and instantly hooked me completely. i felt a lot of empathy for rune and gideon throughout and was really rooting for them by the end, but oh my gosh the angst - i cannot believe. the ending is very much a cliffhanger, with lots of twists and turns that i actually didn’t see coming. I actually really want to praise kristen ciccarelli, because she threw out some red herrings that had some mystery writers shaking in their boots truly. but yeah, i had a really good time with this one and i will for sure pick up book two!
trigger + content warnings: blood, self harm to get blood for magic, a lot of talking about menstrual cycles, murder, death, loss of parents in past, loss of grandparent in past, loss of siblings, mention of suicides in past, grief, depression, drugging, violence, torture in past, brief mention of child abuse, one sentence mention of loss of a child during childbirth, talk of sexual assault in past (nothing detailed on page, but it is a main theme of this story), i would also say sa for stripping people of their clothes to search for those silver marks, abusive relationship in past, drinking, talk of addiction, guns and gun violence, spiders, fire
the honey witch is about a girl who is about to take up her grandmother’s legacy being, you guessed it, thARC provided by Orbit - thank you so much !!
the honey witch is about a girl who is about to take up her grandmother’s legacy being, you guessed it, the next honey witch on her island. every eldest daughter in her family had the potential to be a witch, if they so do choose it. we follow our main character (and the eldest daughter), marigold, as she is healing and figuring out what she wants her life to look like, versus the life that society has always told her life should look like. and we are alongside marigold as she is learning her new potion making abilities, while also trying to prove to someone that witchcraft is very real.
this is a really hard book to rate and talk about, because i just never felt connected to the story itself, or the characters, or anything going on with the plot, but i can also recognize that this book had a lot of good in it, that did really mean a lot to me. i mean, first off, sapphic cottagecore vibes, with a queer beekeeper who is learning things from spellbooks her grandmother left her, who is also healing from her past and trying to have a healthy relationship with her friends and family in the present. like, a lot of good! a lot of stuff i will always recommend to you guys!! I just wish i could have connected more with the actual story and plot and not just the themes and concepts.
i also really loved the queer representation in this book, and even though no titles are actually given, i personally feel like the representation of bi, pan, and lesbian was really beautifully done. also, there is a tattoo scene in this book that is truly one of the hottest things i’ve ever read in my entire life. ahhh, friends - i recommend this book just because i want it to succeed and i want more stories from sydney j. shields, and more chances to fall in love with her books completely.
cws from the author at the start of this book: Tattooing/Needles, Burns, Blood/Injuries, Sex, House fire, Bee stings, Loss of a grandparent, Death/Grief, Discussions of infertility, A woman seeks aid of the honey witch for treatment of her miscarriage
other tw/cw i wrote down: mention and talk of abusive and predatory relationship in past, caretaking for a loved one, loss of parents in past, abandonment, fire, blood, vomit
this was a reading experience, friends! after my content and trigger warnings, i will do a spoiler section of my thoughts because at this point in the sjm universe / maasverse, and this being the third book in the crescent city series, it is difficult to talk about anything without it being a potential spoiler!
i had a good time reading this. I really loved lidia and ruhn’s storylines and they really made the entire book for me. I am also still so very in love with hypaxia, and the things i would do to get her pov. speaking of, I felt a little bored at some povs in hofas - mostly ithian and tharion (i am so sorry to these men, i love them and feel so much empathy for them, but it is true). and bryce’s pov made me feel a range of emotions, that’s for sure, but most of the time it wasn’t the best emotions. ultimately, i think there were too many povs in this book and sometimes the switching between them felt very jarring and unbalanced. i also feel like there was just so much going on, which valid, but instead of it being information that we started to learn in the first two books, it felt like sjm was kind of just throwing out every plot she could think up. and i think this all made the pacing of this book a bit weird feeling. but i did love that baldur’s gate unexpected cursed dot storyline a lot.
like all sjm books, this could have been edited down a little bit (or a lot a bit). But i think what all sjm’s books do exceptionally well is discussion of trauma and grief and learning to live coinciding with those two very heavy things and also trying to heal from them, and how those healing paths can look very different for everyone. I feel like we can really see that in her crescent city series and it is always something that i will appreciate her putting out into the world.
overall, i had a lot of fun reading this and making connections between all the things. if you follow my reviews, you will know how much i love theorycrafting and connecting different universes together, and this book truly took this experience to a different level. each easter egg truly felt like a long awaited gift i was finally able to open. and once i finished this last page, well… and all the bonus chapters, the anticipation i felt for whatever sjm does next was very surprising and a little unmatched. plus reading a new sjm book when it drops, with what feels like half of the online book community, feels special each and every new release.
trigger + content warnings: death, grief, blood, captivity, slavery, extreme torture, a lot of violence, gun violence, maybe cannibalism / maybe just a lot of gore, battle, war, loss of a loved one in past (and a lot of talk about it), loss of sibling in past, defecation and urine mentions, self harm to get blood, sexual abuse, threat of rape, talk of forced breeding, talk of medical experimentation, talk of domestic abuse, talk of parental abuse, colonization, needles, bombings, a lot of talk and mentions of hurt children, vomit, a lot of talk of parasites, drugging / poisoning, self sacrifice / a lot of attempts at self sacrificing
this next section of this review will be filled with spoilers! please use caution! and please make sure you’ve read the entire throne of glass series and the entire a court of thorns and roses series!
us finally getting the throne of glass crossover moment we have all been waiting for? I was truly screaming. lidia cervos, the woman you are. the stag throne, the hidden flame powers, the ruby ring, the blatant descendant name drop of whitethorn galathynius. i am still losing my mind while i type this. obviously bryce and ruhn being somehow related to rhysand is pretty cool. and i truly believe Ithan is a descendant of dorian because of the ice powers (and by the end of tog dorian was a shifter). but lidia being related to aelin? i am just speechless.
lidia was the best character in this book for me, too. And she had the most heartfelt and empowering story going on throughout as well. and the naming of her one son brannon? truly, her and ruhn really were the stars of this third book and their povs were hands down my favorite. (that target bonus chapter? so good)
okay more throne of glass crossover screaming - the under king! full credit to emmahalbrook on tiktok! but my jaw is still on the floor. i am just so excited to read reviews and find more crossovers that i missed, and to see all the crossover content that is still to come!
my mind is still trying to process everything with theia and aidas (and helena and silene). i know rhysand is a descendant of theia and amren told him she was a prisoner of theia. But this book kind of makes it appear like amren was a captured “pet monster” of silene. i need to do more research but amren connecting all the gods and theia is really cool and something i think the fandom has been wanting more confirmation of for a really long time.
okay back to crescent city, hypaxia was amazing, as always! i just love my sapphic necromancer queen. i know i made the baldur's gate joke above, but wizards of the coast are quaking at her finding the antidote to defeat the parasites and still finding ways to make it more easily accessible and forever lasting. she is actually the real mvp of this book.
ruhn, hunt, and baxian going through some dark stuff and making jokes to keep light getting out of that dungeon. I actually really loved seeing their friendship in this book, even if… again, some dark stuff.
i don’t want to talk about this, but ultimately i know i need to because i feel like this is the reason i am giving this book three stars, so let’s talk about it - bryce wasn’t my favorite in this book, sadly. her leaving cooper was just so cruel to me. i know many other reviewers are saying this, but bryce did so many things that made readers question that maybe she is turning into the villain (which might have been a little cool actually). but her leaving him behind was just wild to me. ember and randall showing they are upset because of this and voicing that bryce was wrong for leaving him still (or maybe even enhanced) made me so upset at her. But there were so many other instances too, like when she called lidia’s kids baggage? like when she told hunt to get over himself when the man was really going through it in those dungeons? what was all that? she felt so reckless and so careless and even heartless. ahhh i dont know, i just feel like bryce is easily my least favorite of sjm’s main characters, and i just liked her less and less each book, which feels so bad to say, but it really is how i feel.
this is so random, but i also need to admit that i truly didn’t think cormac was dead dead, so i was so surprised when this book wrapped up and i guess that man really is! man oh man, i was truly waiting for that reveal and it just never came!
okay, the ending! i loved seeing those three fire sprites truly saving the day. and them working at griffin antiquities at the end? oh, i really loved to see it. i shed many tears at jesiba actually saving the day, and i shed even more at bryce seeing danika and connor and everyone she loves waiting for her. and i did actually like the blackhole portal teleporting as well. the last 100 pages of this book were very strong and very heartfelt.
and the very end? the way i truly wept at bryce's mom hugging and saying kind words to nesta. I actually felt insane with swollen eyes because of it. (the bam bonus chapter was probably my favorite of all the bonus chapters though. also, i just really want to live in the house of wind!) But yeah, i felt like this was a very strong ending to this book, and a very strong set up for whatever sjm does next! (probably with acotar now that nesta has the sword, dagger, mask, and a harp to potentially find bryce or whoever else whewwwww)
lastly, because i cannot write a spoiler section review and not bring this up: when azriel said nyx is waiting too. oh, it got a tear from me. and bryce telling nesta and azriel how a phone works got a giggle from me. i truly cannot wait for whatever sjm gives us next.
the acotar reread really came in clutch, especially acosf! But this whole reading experience just made me really want to reread tog asap! especially because (i can’t believe i am typing this) i think nesta is really making it hard for me to say that manon is my favorite sjm character!
[2021 reread] i'm still so in love, still an all-time favorite.
[2017 first read] I loved absolutely everything about this graphic novel. To date, it i[2021 reread] i'm still so in love, still an all-time favorite.
[2017 first read] I loved absolutely everything about this graphic novel. To date, it is by far the best graphic novel I have ever read, and even surpasses my love for Saga. I am completely blown away, and will count down the days until Vol. 2 releases (June 6th, 2017).
[image]This story follows a seventeen year old girl named Maika, whose story starts out where she is being sold as a slave. The reader will immediately notice that Maika has a very strange tattoo of an eye on her chest, and she is missing an arm. Yet, it becomes very clear very early that Maika is much stronger than what she seems.
Maika is struggling to hold in her monster, while also trying to get answers from her past. With the help of an adorable little half-fox and a poet cat, Maika is on a journey to discover herself, her past, and what's truly inside of her, all while she carries a very mysterious and sought after item.
In this world there are five races: ➽Humans - Like you and me. ➽Ancients - Immortal, animal-like rulers with an immense amount of power. ➽Cats - Much like people, can speak and fight, but much more adorable. ➽Old Gods - Little to no knowledge of them. ➽Areanics - Half of each
[image]
Also in this world, there are factions at war: ➽The Federation - Humans, who just hate magic users and refuse to let them live and breed. These humans will take Arcanics and make them slaves to do whatever terrible things they wish. ➽Arcanics - Magic users, who are sort of hybrids of the Ancients. Also, two powerful courts, the Dawn Court and the Dusk Court, have risen up to defend against the Cumaea. ➽Cumaea - Witch-like people that use Arcanic's body parts to make Lillium.
People in this world will use a drug like substance called Lillium for power, regeneration, and in some cases, resurrection. Between the war and the use of this magical substance, this world is also now aware of things much bigger than the Federation and Arcanics.
This graphic novel is not only bigger than most bind-ups, but it has significantly more writing than most graphic novels, too! You receive a lot, and I do mean a lot, of information and very quickly. This really worked for me, because it became way more of an immersion, while also reading closer to a book. Yet, I can understand how this would be a different reading experience for some, so I felt the need to bring it up.
The story is so brilliant and impactful. I can already tell I'm going to be thinking about this world for such a long time, because this is the type of story that just sticks with you, while festering in your heart. I truly love everything about this.
The art was so magnificent and I found myself constantly just staring at some pages in disbelief that a human created it. This art also brought very many tears to my eyes very many times, constantly evoking so much pure emotion from me. On top of having an amazing story, it is the best art I've ever seen in a comic, ever.
[image]
Trigger warnings for human trafficking, slavery, child brutality, and many other dark themes that are in the violence and gore vein. This is a dark story, and it doesn't shy away from that darkness or its brutality.
I loved everything about this graphic novel: the story, the characters, the art, the representation, everything. I honestly cannot see any graphic work ever beating this. I am in awe and my thoughts probably aren't even coherent, but this is something unique and special. Please give this comic series a try if you haven't already.
I swear to you with my entire soul, this is nothing short of a masterpiece. This is maybe even a once in a lifetime masterpiece. I never put graphic novels on my "best of the year" list, but I think this is the year I make an exception for Monstress.
[2021 reread] i'm still so in love, still an all-time favorite.
[2017 first read] I loved absolutely everything about this graphic novel. To date, it is by far the best graphic novel I have ever read, and even surpasses my love for Saga. I am completely blown away, and will count down the days until Vol. 2 releases (June 6th, 2017).
[image]This story follows a seventeen year old girl named Maika, whose story starts out where she is being sold as a slave. The reader will immediately notice that Maika has a very strange tattoo of an eye on her chest, and she is missing an arm. Yet, it becomes very clear very early that Maika is much stronger than what she seems.
Maika is struggling to hold in her monster, while also trying to get answers from her past. With the help of an adorable little half-fox and a poet cat, Maika is on a journey to discover herself, her past, and what's truly inside of her, all while she carries a very mysterious and sought after item.
In this world there are five races: ➽Humans - Like you and me. ➽Ancients - Immortal, animal-like rulers with an immense amount of power. ➽Cats - Much like people, can speak and fight, but much more adorable. ➽Old Gods - Little to no knowledge of them. ➽Areanics - Half of each
[image]
Also in this world, there are factions at war: ➽The Federation - Humans, who just hate magic users and refuse to let them live and breed. These humans will take Arcanics and make them slaves to do whatever terrible things they wish. ➽Arcanics - Magic users, who are sort of hybrids of the Ancients. Also, two powerful courts, the Dawn Court and the Dusk Court, have risen up to defend against the Cumaea. ➽Cumaea - Witch-like people that use Arcanic's body parts to make Lillium.
People in this world will use a drug like substance called Lillium for power, regeneration, and in some cases, resurrection. Between the war and the use of this magical substance, this world is also now aware of things much bigger than the Federation and Arcanics.
This graphic novel is not only bigger than most bind-ups, but it has significantly more writing than most graphic novels, too! You receive a lot, and I do mean a lot, of information and very quickly. This really worked for me, because it became way more of an immersion, while also reading closer to a book. Yet, I can understand how this would be a different reading experience for some, so I felt the need to bring it up.
The story is so brilliant and impactful. I can already tell I'm going to be thinking about this world for such a long time, because this is the type of story that just sticks with you, while festering in your heart. I truly love everything about this.
The art was so magnificent and I found myself constantly just staring at some pages in disbelief that a human created it. This art also brought very many tears to my eyes very many times, constantly evoking so much pure emotion from me. On top of having an amazing story, it is the best art I've ever seen in a comic, ever.
[image]
Trigger warnings for human trafficking, slavery, child brutality, and many other dark themes that are in the violence and gore vein. This is a dark story, and it doesn't shy away from that darkness or its brutality.
I loved everything about this graphic novel: the story, the characters, the art, the representation, everything. I honestly cannot see any graphic work ever beating this. I am in awe and my thoughts probably aren't even coherent, but this is something unique and special. Please give this comic series a try if you haven't already.
I swear to you with my entire soul, this is nothing short of a masterpiece. This is maybe even a once in a lifetime masterpiece. I never put graphic novels on my "best of the year" list, but I think this is the year I make an exception for Monstress.
“I know the spells I make aren't helpful, but it's still an important dream to me.”
oh, this second installment was even better than t➽ vol. 1 ★★★★
“I know the spells I make aren't helpful, but it's still an important dream to me.”
oh, this second installment was even better than the first! i loved seeing the friendships, some easy + some hard, between these little apprentices, and seeing them work together. (i extra love tetia so very much!) i loved the introduction of some new characters and some new groups. i love the brushbuddy, forever + ever. truly, these pages were just filled with so much that was so easy to love. i am not sure how i am going to restrain myself from immediately purchasing volume three.
i go back and forth with wanting to call these cozy, because there is a lot at stake with this plot, but the way i had all the best cozy feelings at a rainy day picnic, under a bridge, with a little magic involved. and the art for those panels was so extra lovely, heart warming, and even hunger inducing.
trigger and content warnings: implied verbal abuse in the past to a child, anxiety depiction, + mention of harm to a parent in vol 1.
“Write me a tragedy, Lev Fedorov,” she whispered to him. “Write me a litany of sins. Write me a plague o
ARC provided by the publisher via Netgalley
“Write me a tragedy, Lev Fedorov,” she whispered to him. “Write me a litany of sins. Write me a plague of devastation. Write me lonely, write me wanting, write me shattered and fearful and lost. Then write me finding myself in your arms, if only for a night, and then write it again. Write it over and over, Lev, until we both know the pages by heart. Isn’t that a story, too?” she asked him softly.”
in the year 2023, no one is writing longing, yearning, and angst like olivie blake. every book i pick up by her, vast in different concepts, the writing and one liners she is able to string together just rendered me speechless. what a gift to the literary world and the lyrical prose readers (me).
this story is a mash up reimagining of Romeo and Juliet and A midsummer Night’s dream, which is a really insane combination. we get to see two different families, two different worlds, and two different timelines of power, love, and betrayal. this is a story about family, and sibling bonds, and love that feels too big too much of the time. but everything is also filled with magic, and fae, and secrets. i really did adore this, and it was very impressively crafted. i loved seeing all the different powers, and u think i lost part of my own heart upon finishing this epilogue.
trigger + content warnings: a lot of talk of drugs + selling drugs + drug use, alcohol, vomiting, blood, murder, death, loss of a loved one (a lot too), grief, brief mention of bullying in past, magical compulsion, violence, gore, suicide.
“It’s a leap of faith to love people and let yourself be loved. It’s closing your eyes, stepping off a ledge into nothing, and trusting that you’ll
“It’s a leap of faith to love people and let yourself be loved. It’s closing your eyes, stepping off a ledge into nothing, and trusting that you’ll fly rather than fall.”
no one is more sad that i didn’t love this more than myself, i promise. the vibe i am feeling while sitting down and writing a little something about my reading experience is reminding me a lot of how i felt sitting down to talk about happy place - where i liked everything about this romance story, except the actual romance and love interest, and sadly that made me not love the book itself.
i loved our main character, i loved how she had a youtube channel where she pretended to be a witch in an enchanted tea shop (what a cute concept, my god). i loved the children in this book, their found family and the love they gave each other, and even the discussion of community and how that can heal a lot of things if we want to be seen. and i loved and appreciated the talks of trauma and abandonment and loneliness and how you can experience these things in your childhood and carry them through adulthood to shape the person you are. but the romance, the “accidental” dirty talk, the love interest himself…. i really disliked it all. (and i am truly so sad about it.)
trigger + content warnings: a lot of discussions about trauma in the past / childhood trauma + abuse in past, mentions of loss of loved ones, mention of online harassment, brief mentions of homophobia + racism + colorism, talk of illness, talk of abusive relationships in past, brief mention of cancer in past, spider mentions.
“For when man has the power to do anything, then anything he will do.”
this was such a cute start to a story about a girl who has been intri[image]
“For when man has the power to do anything, then anything he will do.”
this was such a cute start to a story about a girl who has been intrigued by magic her whole life, only to realize that it has been at her fingertips in wait. also, the magic system in this is so smart and unique - i am very in love with it and even more in love with the visual learning incorporated into this story! but there are a lot of secrets in this first volume, one big one being a magical school/apprenticeship that is going to change how she has viewed the world for her entire life.
but why i gave this volume four stars was truly because this has some of the most beautiful art i've ever seen. from castles, to trees, these panels were able to evoke so much emotion from me, so very unexpectedly. one of the most impressive mangakas i've ever laid m eyes upon, truly.
i am so thankful so many friends recommended this one to me. i couldn't resist already purchasing volume two!
trigger + content warnings: brief mention of loss of parent to illness in past, fire, hurt parent
ahhhh this is a hard one to rate, because i really loved these characters, especially our mc, kai. anARC provided by the publisher - thank you so much
ahhhh this is a hard one to rate, because i really loved these characters, especially our mc, kai. and i loved the start so very much, because we are truly given a character sheet and then dropped right into the story of a demon prince, who is able to inhabit different bodies, who is locked in a tomb underneath the water. and he is trying to remember his lost memories so he can figure out who betrayed and assassinated him, and locked him in this watery grave. like, that sounds perfect, true? but as the story went on, i just cared less and less and i really had to make myself pick up this book more times than not. i finished the very last pages just not feeling much, sadly. i just dont know, this book has a lot of good, and i love martha well's writing and mind, but i just wasn't invested in this book the way i wish i could have been. maybe it was the time i picked this up? i am not sure, but i wish you happier reading than i had, especially because i do believe there is a lot of good in this one.
trigger + content warnings: death, murder, violence, gore, implied child abuse, blood, loss of a loved one, fear of water (+ talk of that fear a lot), captivity, slavery, self harm to prove immortality (i think this was a cut on the palm or wrist but i didn't specify in my notes >.< i am sorry), war, battle, very brief mentions of water snakes and spiders, drowning.
In 2023, i keep picking up books by this author in hopes they will become a new favorite, but they just keARC provided by the publisher via Netgalley
In 2023, i keep picking up books by this author in hopes they will become a new favorite, but they just keep not winning me over the way i had hoped that they would. I did enjoy a few things in this story, like the discussions on body image and fatphobia in all medical spaces, and how our main character studies insects (i keep reading books accidentally about archaeologist careers and it’s starting to get freaky), and i even loved the brief mention of playing civ (the amount of hours i have clocked in on those games could be its own horror story). But ultimately, i just didnt enjoy this one, or the setting, or the characters we were introduced to. I also feel like this story wanted to go places, but never went deep enough talking about anything. And… it was just incredibly boring. The last bit of this book just doubles down with the spooky twists, but those didn’t feel good either. I’ll be honest, I knew within 20% of this book that it wasn’t going to be for me, so I hope I can just learn to be better with dnfing again. I am very much not the popular opinion of this book upon its release in april 2023, so maybe don’t let my bad feelings deter you!
trigger + content warnings: racism, brief mention of kkk, loss of a parent in past, one line/question sentence/question about cancer, vomit mention (animal), lots of talk + descriptions of insects and arachnids, child abuse in past, anxiety, nightmares + sleep paralysis, a lot of talk of fatphobia + fatphobia within medical spaces + fatphobia towards a child in past, brief mention of heart attack in past, body horror, blood depiction, child death/abuse in past, cannibalism, anti amish sentiment.
“All the time you've spent playing in the dark — is this what you were waiting for?”
this was the best romance i've read... in years. it can be a b“All the time you've spent playing in the dark — is this what you were waiting for?”
this was the best romance i've read... in years. it can be a bit darker at times, so please make sure you check out the authors warnings below, but this book just completely worked for me. i loved the main characters, i loved the set up, i loved the queer rep, i loved the steamy scenes, i loved the spooky setting, i truly just loved it all. i cant wait to read everything by this author now.
Content Warnings from the author: This book contains graphic sexual scenes, violence, kink/fetish content, horror elements, and depictions of hard kink/edgeplay. This book is strictly fictional and is not meant to represent realistic expectations of BDSM or kink. Kinks/Fetishes Within: consensual non-consent (CNC), breathe play/choking, bloodplay, spit, needle play (body modification fetish), pain play, fear play, public play, bondage, restraint, spanking/impact play.
other cw/tw i found while reading: captivity, enslavement, death, murder, human sacrifice, self harm to get blood for magic, needles, mention of insects, mention of cannibalism in past, anxiety depiction, trauma depiction, gore blood depiction, drugging, vomiting, scenes that i believe could be trigging for claustrophobia, torture, and cults.
“Nothing is fair, except that we try to make it so. That’s the point of humans, maybe, to fix things the gods haven’t managed.”
all year, i have be
“Nothing is fair, except that we try to make it so. That’s the point of humans, maybe, to fix things the gods haven’t managed.”
all year, i have been trying to find a five star t kingfisher book and i am so very happy to report back that nettle & bone was finally that for me. this really had so many elements that i loved and it really just completely worked for me and my reading tastes! but please use caution (and check my trigger and content warnings down below if needed). everyone always just says how this is about a sister getting revenge on a prince who has caused harm to her two older sisters, and that is very true, but this book really goes to dark places and lets you see the horrors humans can be capable of very descriptively - so please use care if you need to! because this book really is a dark fairytale about abuse, and the things that not only abusers do, but the way in which they also abuse power so that nothing can seemingly stop all the cycles in the world. how there are many different kinds of abuse, and how they all can feel strangulating in their own way, with all their many different strings and threads.
but i just really loved this book with my whole heart. the themes, the atmosphere, the traveling, the quests, the goblin market, the revenge, the demonic chicken… it was just all perfect to me. And the characters were really phenomenal. our main character, marra, who is willing to do anything to save her sister, with the help of her magical bone dog. fenris, a knight who just wants to do what is right this time around. the dust wife (demonic chicken’s owner), who is the coolest character and has lived a life of solitude tucked away in a hard to reach graveyard, until marra needs her help and proves she is worthy of it. and agnes, the sweetest godmother who will really make you think about blessings and curses and how kindness can sometimes really go a long way, especially to people who haven’t known much kindness.
i just loved this, it was perfect for me and my reading tastes, and i hope more of t kingfsher's fantasy stories feel like this to me, because she will really have a fan for life if so!
trigger + content warnings: blood, starvation, cannibalism, incest mention in royal families, talk of animal deaths, child birth depictions, mention of child dying in labor, mention of mother dying in labor, miscarriages, murder, death, domestic abuse, loss of a child, loss of a sibling, torture, talk of rape, slavery, captivity, teeth horror, suicidal thoughts and attempts, anxiety, self deprecation, and scenes that i think could feel claustrophobic.
"And there is nothing more dangerous than love, is there? People fight for it. They die for it. They commit acts of war and treason and all manner of sin in its name."
Whew, what a rollercoaster again! Kingdom of the Cursed picks up immediately after the events of Kingdom of the Wicked, and with Emilia trying to pick up the falling pieces of her life. Her main priority is to still avenge her sister and discover who was killing witches in her Italian town, but this time she is looking for clues in the land of actual heck, where she is promised to one of the seven demon rulers, and not the one she already has feelings for. Yet, Wrath escorts her back to his personal heck kingdom, and Emilia soon realizes there is much more she has to be in search of if she ever really wants to live a normal life again.
I feel like talking about my thoughts on this series is just so difficult. Let me start out by saying that this was the most easily consumable book I’ve read all year, and there wasn’t a moment I wasn’t thinking about it while not reading. The atmosphere, setting, and entire vibe is perfect, especially for the autumn time! The main character and her quests for vengeance and for her own discovery really is phenomenal. The writing is lush and descriptive and feels like its own sort of magical teleportation. And the story itself feels enthralling at every turn, and plot points are constantly being set up to leave the reader anticipating that next page, while also begging for the next book.
"When the demon responsible for Vittoria’s death finally felt the flames of my fury, I’d hopefully have burned this House of Sin to ash."
But there was just a horrible chapter that really dampened my entire reading experience and it really breaks my heart because this is one of those situations where I truly believe if publishing houses would just hire beta readers who review critically, this could have been such an easy chapter to fix. I actually believe that if chapter 17 did not happen, this could have been a five star book for me and you could have seen me holding it up as a new profile picture in 2022. But that scene just 1.) made me wanna throw up and 2.) made it so hard to root for the romance after, even though the author constantly tries to make an excuse for the behavior, but it honestly just makes it feel even worse. Also, I wouldn't make excuses for anything that happened in that chapter, but once I finished the book I realized that the “training session” was so unnecessary, at least in this book, and again it just ruined my reading enjoyment.
For the sake of the rest of this review, I’m just going to ignore this chapter. But in my review of Kingdom of the Wicked, I said how this series is the first series in so many years to remind me of those fantasy series I read when I was younger and truly could not put the books down, and I would look forward to their next installments being released months and months in advance, while trying to devour to story when it hit my kindle at midnight!
And this story was extra reminiscent of those feelings because this second book takes a very large jump in the adult or new adult fantasy genre. This book is very steamy, and Emilia and Wrath have very sexy thoughts on the brain 24/7. This author also makes full use of this series being about demons inspired off the seven deadly sins, and this story uses very public displays to showcase this. (I do scream at Emilia not knowing about oral sex though, especially when she claims to have read such naughty romance books in her past though!)
Overall, again, this is just a hard one for me to review and rate. I will for sure read book three and see how it all wraps up, because I am actually unhingedly invested in everything, especially with how this second book closes! I really loved all the new developments with Emilia’s powers and with all the witches and the history of witches, actually. I loved a lot of the side characters we were introduced to too, and maybe one demon prince will actually pull a Rhysand, which would be insane but I’d really welcome it at this point. I also want to see all of the different lands and castles of hell, too, because so far every exploration has felt magical and so exciting! I do apologize for this review being all over the place; middle books are always a bit more difficult for me to review, especially ones where I am trying to pretend an entire chapter didn’t happen. I’m going to be very curious what everyone thinks of this book once it releases!
"Not all stories end happily, Emilia"
Trigger + Content Warnings: a lot of blood descriptions + depictions, grief, gore, violence, mention of loss of a loved one, brief mention of the topic of rape, drugging, a lot of sexual themes and scenes, and a full warning that chapter 17 has very questionable physical consent involving mind control powers using magical compulsion - truly full dubcon vibes but sex does not ultimately happen, but it is just a very uncomfortable scene that actually made me nauseous, so please use caution while reading.
[image] Finished copy provided by the author (thank you so much)!
ownvoices japanese influences + kiki's delivery service inspirations + the power of [image] Finished copy provided by the author (thank you so much)!
ownvoices japanese influences + kiki's delivery service inspirations + the power of friendship and having people who will unconditionally love and support you = perfection! <3
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