![]() Cassidy Serhienko I’m losing my miiiiinnnndddd I’m going to admit to being a little hesitant going into this book because I just finished From Blood and Ash based on bookstagram’s very intense passion, and while I liked it, I wasn’t as gaga over it as everyone else seems to be. I was worried that like FBAA, Serpent and Dove was going to over-promise and under deliver (particularly when it comes to the romance), but Shelby Mahurin is only the most recent person to prove that I am an idiot. I don’t even know what to say other than that it’s freaking good. It’s a very bold strategy to make your romantic hero a bible-thumping, prejudiced dillhole who’s hung up on some other chick but somehow Reid is still kind of hot, even when he’s a firm believer in the Archbishop and his maniacal, bigoted, overzealous influence and is therefore acting like the aforementioned dillhole. She struck the perfect balance at the beginning of making his beliefs and actions inexcusable but his interactions with Lou and protectiveness of her made him soft enough that there was still something intriguing and lovable about him. Small things like the romance novel he loved and shared with Lou, or when she teaches him to braid her hair and he can’t stop touching it. These moments not only laid the groundwork for their romance, but also gave us a window into Reid as a character and made him likeable and trustworthy. I really liked Lou as a character, but Reid was the star of the show for me, particularly when he outgrows that rigidity. Obviously he had the most evolving to do, but right from the beginning he’s pretty upfront about his feelings and devotion to Lou, which is only magnified by the end of the book. I’m really happy we got dual POV’s and I’m very excited to see what happens next after the way this book ended for him. I will say, considering the romance was the focal point of the story it verges on insta love territory. You wouldn’t think that would be true of a 500 page enemies to lovers book, but c’est la vie. I don’t really mean it as a critique, but I do think they went from hating/distrusting each other to being in love really quickly and I think their relationship could have been better grounded/plotted, there was definitely time to do so. And even more so than FBAA, this book is soooo tame when it come to the *wink wink nudge nudge.* This is not a problem for me, but I really don’t get why I’m seeing it all over reels and recommendations for StEAmY reads or “one bed trope” lists. I’m starting to think no one on bookstagram has ever read an adult romance before, or you’re all just super repressed and therefore very easily titillated. Which, like, fair. In terms of world building and the larger plot, I think this was a pretty unique story though maybe not anything I haven’t seen before in terms of the magic system. I do think that making religion such a focal point of the story was a cool choice and not something that I’ve ever really read before, particularly in YA. It helped ground the book in reality and helped Mahurin make something of a point about religion, patriarchy and all those wonderful institutions. Picking up Blood and Honey immediately.
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![]() Cassidy Serhienko I have some shocking, never-before-heard news folks: this book is like, really good. At this point it’s pretty hard to make vampires seem original, but Jennifer L Armentrout absolutely smashes it. I know this book is getting shoved in everyone’s faces, but there’s really good reason. The world that Armentrout created is so unique and detailed, and From Blood and Ash has an intriguing blend of politics, action, and romance (I feel very proud of myself for that joke, read the book if you want to bear witness to my wit). I will say, I think bookstagram has been doing some advertising that though loving, is false. This is absolutely not an enemies to lovers story. It’s more like a “strangers to random hookup to friends to lovers to enemies to are we lovers?” I’m not mad about it, but I was definitely expecting a dynamic more along the lines of something like Carry On, or even ACOMAF. And honestly it’s not as smutty as it’s made out to be. Like yeah, Hawke and Poppy are hot and I’m into it but y’all need to calm down a lil’ bit. That last cliff-hanger though? *chef’s kiss* absolute perfection. I never thought I’d feel glad that I was sleeping on a book, but it means that I can pick up the next one immediately, so I’m a winner baby. The only thing that has kept this from being a full five star, lose my mind, become insufferably obsessed, can’t-think-of-anything-else read is that nothing really happened until the last 150 pages (but what a ride those 150 pages were). The entire book was basically world-building, which I think is a good set-up for the next installment to really blow my friggin’ mind, but it took so long to get going considering it was over 600 pages. Again, a great set-up for the next book because we have a lot of unanswered questions and the political and fantasy landscape of the story has been so well-established, but I feel like it could have been done in half the page count. I really like longer books, but something has to actually happen before the last four chapters, especially when the plot twists aren’t all that twisty. I didn’t find the big reveal all that surprising, I pretty much called it from the first mention of the Dark One. I had also pretty much worked out who the Ascended were and what funny business was going down in the first third of the book. I don’t see that as a detractor or a criticism of the book, because I don’t think that the story was relying on any of it being such a shock to the reader. I’m sure it’s supposed to be, but there’s more to Hawke’s identity swap than shock value. Similarly, the truth about the Ascended is like the worst kept secret in this whole-ass book. As a reader, they’re obviously not going to be the good guys when literally none of the ones we actually meet on page are remotely likeable, let alone the fact that they’re actively abusing the heroine. So I don’t think that the readers weren’t supposed to figure it out, I just think that the first drawn out 3/4 could feel frustrating when you’re already aware of what’s going to happen. I’m hoping that the next book has a little more show than tell when it comes to the true history of the Atlantians, the Ascended, and the Kingdom - but again, I think this set-up was needed for this book. I think Poppy has to hear it from Hawke and then really see it to believe it in the next one. Poppy was a really cool character. I never found her insecurities, doubts, or guilt to feel tedious, and it easily could have. Instead, every time she turns inward or pulls away you understand why she does it and feel for her. The dichotomy of her vulnerability with her determination and strength made her a very compelling heroine. I thought that Hawke was also a great character and love interest, but we don’t really get much out of him until those last few chapters. That’s where his character comes alive and feels like an actual person. Prior to that, the way he is with Poppy is certainly charming but there’s obviously something missing because we literally know nothing about him. Since I was pretty confident that I knew who he really was I just wanted their relationship to finally get going so that his character would have a chance to really pop. But once again, superb cliff-hanger and everything discussed above created an excellent set-up for book 2, which I am going to go order immediately. ![]() Cassidy Serhienko Because I have always been supremely fashionable, I am hella late to this party. But dare I say, in my absence y’all have made this book grossly underrated. I know it’s Sarah J Maas so it’s obviously gotten some love, but nowhere near to the level of ACOTAR or TOG and that is a travesty. I’ve always been meaning to read Crescent City but I just never got around to it because I was really only interested in reading something set in the ACOTAR universe from Maas. After finishing this book in a day and a half I’d like to go back in time and give myself a solid kick in the shin. Sarah J Maas obviously writes action really freaking well, but she seriously outdid herself in Crescent City. I was a little nervous when it’s revealed that Hunt was plotting to buy the Synth, but I should obviously never have doubted my Lord and Savior, Sarah. I was nervous not because I was worried that Hunt was a baddie, but because I thought it was rushed. But then it becomes obvious that it plays out this way because it’s not The Moment. Regardless of your position on the various “controversies” associated with Maas (pretty much all of which are caused by the fandom and not her, in case you were wondering), in the last 300 or so pages Maas is effortlessly showing off what an incredible goddamn talent she is. It’s sucker punch after sucker punch with just enough time in between to get your bearings. Truly incredible. After the absolute monster of a battle scene, everything is settled enough to feel satisfying but the epilogue is such a simple and effective cliffhanger to keep you in this book’s grip. As far as the romance goes, Hunt and Bryce had a wonderful banter but perhaps not initial chemistry to the extent of Rhys and Feyre. I’m really excited to see how their relationship develops in the next book because it’s been a little less in your face then the romances in the ACOTAR series. Despite the heaps and heaps of baggage both of them had, it never seemed to significantly affect their burgeoning relationship with each other. I absolutely adore them together and I think the peace and happiness that they brought each other just simply through being in each other’s company was so well done. I also found Hunt’s character really interesting. While he’s obviously one of Maas’ classic super-powerful winged wonders, there’s something a little boy-ishly charming about him. The way that he blushes and gets flustered by Bryce is different to the men in any of Maas’ other books. I think that openness he shows with Bryce makes him a very well-rounded character and a strong candidate for Book Boyfriend of the Foreseeable Future (there’s plenty of room for multiple winners, obviously. I just have such a big heart). As for Bryce, I felt like I got her. I knew her, understood her, felt for her. I thought she was the perfect mix of vulnerable, quippy, and strong. I also think she showed a maturity that some of the other female characters in the ACOTAR series don’t have right from the start, particular when I think of Nesta and Mor (this could just be because ACOSF is fresh in my mind). She’s compassionate and doesn’t see that tenderness as a weakness. She isn’t afraid to treat Hunt with a great deal of gentleness, despite the massive amounts of pain she’s in. She doesn’t lash out often at people undeserving of her anger and is quick to apologize when she does. I don’t know that I have quite the attachment to her as a character like I do for Feyre or Nesta but as those last 300 pages continually showed, Bryce was holding some pretty major cards close to her chest. I think since all of that is revealed and she’s no longer holding everyone, including us as readers, at arms length I’ll feel a deeper connection to her. I admittedly found the beginning a little confusing as we were bombarded with the information for how this world functioned, but ultimately I think Maas pulled it off. It’s a pretty intricate hierarchical system compared to her other books, and so I doubt there was a way to temper that deluge of information without drawing it out to the point that you were taken out of the story. At first I wasn’t sure how I would feel about this world since it seemed to be a blend of a more traditional fantasy setting (like an undefined time period in the past usually somewhere between medieval and regency), and modern day. However, I found that once I got comfortable in the story the incorporation of technology and things like clubbing and party drugs into what’s a pretty brutal, medieval, and rigid power system made for a really unique setting. It was 800 pages of pure, quality entertainment with a level of depth and care that we all know is characteristic of Sarah J Maas. I absolutely cannot wait for book two. |
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