Cakie

I spent the first half of this book like wow its so nice to read something a bit slower paced with less stakes for once and then it heated up. I really enjoyed the writing style and I could really see the world this was set in. I honestly think the protagonists would have been better of being written a bit older but overall really enjoyed this one

I made a goodreads account for the sole purpose of ranting about this book:

I have a personal vendetta against everyone thats glowing review caused me to put myself through reading this book. I went into this knowing it was more Romantasy than Fantasy and for the most part thats how I like it, but I think even considering this Romantasy is giving it way too much credit.

- Characters in this book are so underdeveloped that I dont even have the energy to dislike them. I cared about absolutely nobody in this world other than maybe Violets dragons. Violet has some mysterious illness that makes all her joints dislocate (ehlers danlos?) but only causes her problems when it works for the plotline and for some reason makes her have natural dip dye (dont even get me started on this) that makes her not like other girls. This supposedly makes her stand out and a target despite another recurring character having literal bright pink hair. Rhiannon is meant to be her closest friends and all we know about her by the end of the book is that she fucks alot?
- The dialogue is horrendously cringey. I dont expect ye olde englishe in my fantasy books but this whole thing just read like a creative writing story from a 16 year olds english class. Dont even get me started on Violet and Xaden conveniently being able to telepathically communicate.
- The romance in this was AWFUL. Enemies to lovers literally where. You cant just SAY theyre enemies and pat yourself on the back. There was no tension. No longing. No explanation as to why they liked each other. No lead up them being together. And then immediate marriage level life long devition from both parties like they had known each other since childhood. I read this FOR the romance plot and it was rushed and unfulfilling in every aspect. The only reason I gave this book 2 stars is because the second star is a thank you to the author for not using the word ‘member'.
- The world itself is not fleshed out at all and just a dumpster fire of the plots for like 5 other series mashed together. I cant begin to tell you how often during reading this my brain fully replaced scenes in the book with scenes from how to tran your dragon.

There is so much more but I am honestly just disappointed that this book is currently the face of NA Fantasy. It could have steered super violent and bloody and the deaths could have been impactful and the MC's could have found safety and calm with each other, or it could have been super gritty and had the FMC pine after and MMC that still wanted her dead. Instead its just a mish mash of divergent, how to train your dragon and 50 shades of grey and I wish I had never wasted my money buying it.

I loved this so much. It felt like one of those completely engaging, bizarre short story anthologies you read as a kid, but with all the depth that comes from the life you’ve lived after you stopped reading them. Kicking it off with Pre-Simulation Consultation XF007867 was perfect, and the author had me exactly where they wanted me for the rest of the stories.

Overall I enjoyed this book somewhat and specifically some of its side characters, but I found it super hard to get into and the plot was very predictable throughout. I found the visual world building much less fleshed out than some other SJM books which is usually the part of her writing that has me overlooking other more lacking aspects of her work. I don't super understand where the series is going to go from here and I'm not even remotely invested in the main romance plot line as much as I have been in the others series mostly due to the fact neither of them displayed a single personality trait outside of horny and stubborn. I was initially considering attempting to continue for the sake of keeping up with the multiverse, but have instead decided I deserve happiness and good literature so I DNF's the second book after 2 chapters and spent my braincells elsewhere.

These two stars are for Lehabah and SJM's ability to make me grieve a character from a world and plotline I dont give a third of a damn about