Community Reviews
This book had a lot of promise but fell short in a lot of ways for me. For a book that was so heavily focused on building the characters and letting us get to know them, I ended up not understanding who any of these people were or what motivated them to be awful.
I want to start by saying—I’m not someone who DNFs. That being said, this book made me realize I need to be way more selective moving forward. (Joking… but not.)
I saw this floating around different spaces, and I’ve had V.E. Schwab on my radar for years now. After really enjoying ‘This Savage Song’ some time ago.
I jumped on this thinking it would be a good place to start again.
In hindsight, it probably wasn’t.
While I did enjoy the writing and the way Schwab captured certain feelings and moments in time, the story and characters just didn’t connect for me. I found myself more irritated than invested—and oddly, more drawn to the side characters.
The main plot felt like it dragged, despite the immersive writing.
Still, I pushed on, hoping the ending would redeem the journey (and my time).
To its credit, it did enough to gain a solid three stars, though it was touch and go through most of it.
In the end, what was promised…wasn’t. What was owed, was.
I’m still looking forward to picking up another Schwab read—this one just wasn’t it.
This felt slow and dreamy, like someone telling a me a story while I'm drifting of to sleep. Maybe this is why the characters stick with me. V.E Schwab has a way of getting the reader invested, even though it is clear it can't end well.
I'm wrapped up in all of the characters, not really rooting for them, but just enjoying their lifetimes, since the clearly get more than one.
This reminded me of Lestat and David right after the theif of body snatcher (iykyk). I think I enjoyed it more because of it gave me the vibes of Vampire Chronicles, and that series will always be my first love.
I found the ending satisfying, although predictable. I would have given it 5 stars but the ending felt rushed, so 4.75 it is
A story of dead that ends in dead.
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