Solid Story

The story telling is solid. The romantic chemistry between the characters is not really that believable, the spice is a bit cringe even some romance scenes are cringe.
Overall it is a good story, it can be exciting at times but it also drags too much. I don't find it satisfying, I wish there was more to the characters and even the politics and the magic. I need more, otherwise it's ok nothing new or special.

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Seasoned FMC a breath of fresh air

Seasoned FMC, what a breath of fresh air. Slow burn. A bit too wordy tho.

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Enjoyable, doesn’t feel like a whole book

It feels like this author has been heavily influenced by SJM and there are shades of the Throne of Glass series in her characters. Overall the book is enjoyable if fairly trope-tastic. It feels like book finishes as it’s approaching the middle of the story (a pet peeve of mine) but as it and the second book are currently in the audible plus catalogue this is as annoying as usual. The narration is excellent.

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Solid debut

I’m really trying to give this author the benefit of the doubt - from what I understand, it’s their debut novel and for that alone I think they’ve done well. There’s a lot of worldbuilding, but at the same time I feel like not quite enough, I can’t remember the differences between the elves and fae, who likes who, who’s dead and why. I think I made a mistake by listening to the audiobook rather than reading it just because I know I’ll have missed bits whilst doing other things, so I’m still pretty baffled by most of what’s happening. The story is quite trope-y (almost rolled my eyes at the “there’s only one bed!”) I know a lot of readers, especially with Booktok being the way it is, absolutely love stuff like that, but I feel like it’s had its time and we should all start to move on from it tbh. The first few chapters were difficult to get through, I knew by the trigger warnings that we’d be dealing with alcoholism, so it didn’t necessarily bother me as much as it did bore me a little, it was repetitive (which, with addiction is totally understandable, but still had me wanting to skip ahead every time she mentioned wine). I’m not 100% set on Riven at this point either, I don’t know if the author will be pulling an SJM or something, but at this point I can’t see myself being disappointed if he doesn’t end up as endgame for her. The story was interesting enough to mostly keep my attention, and it’s good enough for me to go ahead and read the next in the series, which I’m hoping will pique my interest a little more than this instalment did. Overall, I think it’s a fine debut, but I’m looking forward to seeing how the author develops along with the story.

Narrator was fine, though I did feel she lacked a bit of variation in her reading, felt quite monotonous and I wasn’t a fan of her male voices. I think with a more enthusiastic reading, I may have been a bit more invested in the story. It was fine, but definitely not a stand out performance imo.

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There is room for improvement

I am kinda new to this genre, but I am beginning to think that either I don't like the genre or these books are often poorly written. The story here here feels like one of a million similar stories, 13+ hours of repetitive language and just overall predictable outcomes.
Being someone who tends to binge-listen books, I find it unbearable when every hour or so the same scene of "He flashed his fangs", "I brethed in the scent of him, the birch and dew", "his eyes were so dark they were almost black", "my stomach lurched"... and so on. Come on. So many repetitions! The buildup of the story is slow but the description of the world leaves a lot of questions unanswered.

Then, although I undestand it is meant to be a trilogy, the cliffhanger at the end of the book feels rushed. Right after finishing this I started "The Picture of Dorian Gray" and BOY OH BOY, how much better a classic novel is.
I don't think I will come back for seconds here.

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Not LGBT

This story is great but it is incorrectly listed as LGBT. The few sentence mention of a historic lesbian relationship does not suffice to tag as a sapphic romance. This is a het story. Please correct for future listeners.

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1 person found this helpful

Its good

The pacing is not always good. I like the story, the characters are mostly good, well written and have funktioning motives. The twists are fun. The mc is a well written character and she is clever, flawed and intressting.

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A great start!

I mean booktok make me read this, and its good. Love fairies/fae/elf but then after lots of stories/novel of it (especially some overhyped ones) i get ick of it and get tired. But this one, ooh story is great and the characters! So lets have the second one!

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Great Fantasy Book

This was my first fantasy book snd I really enjoyed it. Meeting Kiera, and following her adventures. Understanding Elf’s. Halflings and their powers. I recommend this book.

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Amazing, captivating, immersive

I loved everything about this book and Keera. The story captivated me from the start and the narrator was brilliant.
The characters, the writing, the world building was all phenomenal! I’m in awe that this is a debut!
The story is uniquely refreshing and I think I’ve found my new favourite fantasy romance series!

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