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The Other World #1
An Imposter In Warriors Clothing
Vien’s life was a wreck before she fell —literally— into a world of magic and kingdoms. Not only had her long-time girlfriend died but she was ninety-nine percent sure whatever mysterious powers that hid within her were the cause.
Now with her abrupt arrival to this new world, she is taken into the Kingdom of Light but it seems that trouble was not far behind.
This beautifully fascinating world filled with magic is slowly dying and through all the chaos Vien doesn’t know whom to believe.
The beautiful fire demon that begged her not to trust the Light King?
The Light King’s right-hand man who seems to know more than he lets on?
Or the Light King himself who is just a bit too enthusiastic for her to join him in his kingdom?
In between the twisted truths, there is one thing they agree on: Vien, a reincarnated magical warrior, is the only one that can open a door to another world and demand that the gods return their magic.
CW on all book on author website
Now with her abrupt arrival to this new world, she is taken into the Kingdom of Light but it seems that trouble was not far behind.
This beautifully fascinating world filled with magic is slowly dying and through all the chaos Vien doesn’t know whom to believe.
The beautiful fire demon that begged her not to trust the Light King?
The Light King’s right-hand man who seems to know more than he lets on?
Or the Light King himself who is just a bit too enthusiastic for her to join him in his kingdom?
In between the twisted truths, there is one thing they agree on: Vien, a reincarnated magical warrior, is the only one that can open a door to another world and demand that the gods return their magic.
CW on all book on author website
347 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 4, 2021
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Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews
August 13, 2021
I received a free copy from NetGalley and Victory Editing NetGalley Co-op in exchange for an honest review. Thank you!
Okay, when writing this review I could lie to you and say that I enjoyed reading this book. But, I promised myself to always be truthful in my reviews so it pains me to say that I sadly really did not enjoy this book at all. I give it a 2 star rating, because I think the idea behind the fantasy storyline isn't that bad, but the execution leaves a looooooooot of space for improvement!
First off, I have to say that even though I got an ARC copy and I understand that these editions might still go under a lot of revision work and spell checks, what I read went beyond minor spelling and grammar mistakes. I really hope that this book got edited again before publishing, as it would improve the reading flow and understanding of the story massively! Not only did it feel like I was reading an unproved copy, but sometimes paragraphs ended midsentence and I had to put the meaning of the passage together myself? I was a bit disappointed by this and the state of the writing had a major influence on my review. Another big part I disliked was the pacing. The story felt too rushed and without any noticeable breathing room for us readers to process what was actually going on.
As for the story itself: I thought it was very confusing. Right from the beginning we get thrown into an unfamiliar fantasy world, without understanding how we got there from the mortal realm and who the characters are or what the goal of each individual is. The interactions make no sense and it seems to me like the characters probably had more communications with each other than we got to see, because the pacing of how the character's relationships developed was incomprehensible.
As for the main character: Vien (or Iniq) is a very unlikeable character in my opinion. (Same goes for every other character except maybe Spiris, but I won't really go into details about them here.) She is very selfish and a lot of her thoughts do not make any. sense. at. all. I get that the author might have tried to write her as a victim in her story who realizes that she was wronged and then tries to get her powers (over others) back, but her lust for killing and violence is just so irrational. I really do not understand half of the thought process Vien went through in this book and it just all seemed groundless.
So yeah, if this book undergoes a proper editing and review process, then I think it has some potential! The magic and wars described in this story could lead to a fascinating story, if they're better explained and embedded into the character development of Vien. Overall I think this book just needs a bit better pacing and story telling and then it's on its right track!
Trigger warnings:
Okay, when writing this review I could lie to you and say that I enjoyed reading this book. But, I promised myself to always be truthful in my reviews so it pains me to say that I sadly really did not enjoy this book at all. I give it a 2 star rating, because I think the idea behind the fantasy storyline isn't that bad, but the execution leaves a looooooooot of space for improvement!
First off, I have to say that even though I got an ARC copy and I understand that these editions might still go under a lot of revision work and spell checks, what I read went beyond minor spelling and grammar mistakes. I really hope that this book got edited again before publishing, as it would improve the reading flow and understanding of the story massively! Not only did it feel like I was reading an unproved copy, but sometimes paragraphs ended midsentence and I had to put the meaning of the passage together myself? I was a bit disappointed by this and the state of the writing had a major influence on my review. Another big part I disliked was the pacing. The story felt too rushed and without any noticeable breathing room for us readers to process what was actually going on.
As for the story itself: I thought it was very confusing. Right from the beginning we get thrown into an unfamiliar fantasy world, without understanding how we got there from the mortal realm and who the characters are or what the goal of each individual is. The interactions make no sense and it seems to me like the characters probably had more communications with each other than we got to see, because the pacing of how the character's relationships developed was incomprehensible.
As for the main character: Vien (or Iniq) is a very unlikeable character in my opinion. (Same goes for every other character except maybe Spiris, but I won't really go into details about them here.) She is very selfish and a lot of her thoughts do not make any. sense. at. all. I get that the author might have tried to write her as a victim in her story who realizes that she was wronged and then tries to get her powers (over others) back, but her lust for killing and violence is just so irrational. I really do not understand half of the thought process Vien went through in this book and it just all seemed groundless.
So yeah, if this book undergoes a proper editing and review process, then I think it has some potential! The magic and wars described in this story could lead to a fascinating story, if they're better explained and embedded into the character development of Vien. Overall I think this book just needs a bit better pacing and story telling and then it's on its right track!
Trigger warnings:
April 26, 2021
Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
*heavy sigh* where to even begin with this one....
An Imposter in a Warrior’s Clothing is a high fantasy book about a woman transported to another realm that discovers she’s the reincarnation of a previously killed famous warrior/savior of the realm. Her powers are needed to fix the dying magic of the realm so they need to awaken her powers. But who is helping her awaken her powers are not to be trusted and not everything is as it seems.
Can’t explain more of the plot without giving away spoilers so that small summary should suffice.
It was a quick read for me because overall it was ENTERTAINING and I really like the cover.... but that’s where the positives of this review end.
I know this is an ARC so it’s not a finished copy, but I’ve never read one so clearly unedited before. And I’ve read a lot of ARCs from Netgalley and Edelweiss. Incorrect spellings, the wrong words used (example: heard when the author meant hard), missing apostrophes, etc. It just seemed like it hadn’t been edited at all, which I don’t think is usually the case when publishers send out digital arcs. It was pretty bad, honestly.
The writing style was also really hard to read. Once I started reading more I had to purposefully try my best to ignore it, for the sake of trying to finish this book. The only other reviewer on goodreads DNF-ed for these reasons, so I did this for you guys. You’re welcome. The writing style felt VERY passive, things just happened to the MC, and also very jumpy and erratic in general. It was overall very unpleasant to read and it was the whole book.
This book also deals with some VERY heavy topics, such as literal torture, abuse, suicide, rape (coercion used for consent), violence, death, etc. It’s very much new adult, this is not a book for teenagers.
While I was interested in the story being told, the romance was all over the place. The MC had multiple potential love interests and it ended up not being relevant towards the end.
Can’t say I really liked the main character or any of the side characters all that much (aside from Spiris, I would die for you) either.
I think the first part of the book took up too much of the narrative, and then the shift towards the end should have come earlier so we could actually become familiar with the new characters that were introduced, but there wasn’t much time until the end and I just finished like 10 minutes ago and frankly I couldn’t tell you who those characters were.
And the ending just left me with a big question mark. I don’t even know what to make of it. The ending itself wasn’t bad but it was extremely rushed and abrupt feeling and I don’t know how I feel about it other than “meh”
This review is all over the place because the book was all over the place and it’s 6 am and I’ve stayed up all night. I don’t know what else to include in my review other than the premise and story being told were interesting and had a lot of potential, but this book really should be completely rewritten before publication, and also edited, heavily. Cannot say I’d recommend this book because of how many issues there were.
*heavy sigh* where to even begin with this one....
An Imposter in a Warrior’s Clothing is a high fantasy book about a woman transported to another realm that discovers she’s the reincarnation of a previously killed famous warrior/savior of the realm. Her powers are needed to fix the dying magic of the realm so they need to awaken her powers. But who is helping her awaken her powers are not to be trusted and not everything is as it seems.
Can’t explain more of the plot without giving away spoilers so that small summary should suffice.
It was a quick read for me because overall it was ENTERTAINING and I really like the cover.... but that’s where the positives of this review end.
I know this is an ARC so it’s not a finished copy, but I’ve never read one so clearly unedited before. And I’ve read a lot of ARCs from Netgalley and Edelweiss. Incorrect spellings, the wrong words used (example: heard when the author meant hard), missing apostrophes, etc. It just seemed like it hadn’t been edited at all, which I don’t think is usually the case when publishers send out digital arcs. It was pretty bad, honestly.
The writing style was also really hard to read. Once I started reading more I had to purposefully try my best to ignore it, for the sake of trying to finish this book. The only other reviewer on goodreads DNF-ed for these reasons, so I did this for you guys. You’re welcome. The writing style felt VERY passive, things just happened to the MC, and also very jumpy and erratic in general. It was overall very unpleasant to read and it was the whole book.
This book also deals with some VERY heavy topics, such as literal torture, abuse, suicide, rape (coercion used for consent), violence, death, etc. It’s very much new adult, this is not a book for teenagers.
While I was interested in the story being told, the romance was all over the place. The MC had multiple potential love interests and it ended up not being relevant towards the end.
Can’t say I really liked the main character or any of the side characters all that much (aside from Spiris, I would die for you) either.
I think the first part of the book took up too much of the narrative, and then the shift towards the end should have come earlier so we could actually become familiar with the new characters that were introduced, but there wasn’t much time until the end and I just finished like 10 minutes ago and frankly I couldn’t tell you who those characters were.
And the ending just left me with a big question mark. I don’t even know what to make of it. The ending itself wasn’t bad but it was extremely rushed and abrupt feeling and I don’t know how I feel about it other than “meh”
This review is all over the place because the book was all over the place and it’s 6 am and I’ve stayed up all night. I don’t know what else to include in my review other than the premise and story being told were interesting and had a lot of potential, but this book really should be completely rewritten before publication, and also edited, heavily. Cannot say I’d recommend this book because of how many issues there were.
April 5, 2021
3.5 stars. I liked this book plot wise and I’m actually excited for the possibility of book 2.
Vien is powerful and has a lot of people looking for the reincarnation of her. Eventually Baecos finds her and uses her- soon she finds out it’s all a manipulation and then we’re introduced to other characters who even though they claim to care about her also seem to want to use her which to me was the frustrating aspect of this book, Vien did not catch a freaking break and I hoped that it would’ve been with Cruor. But no Cruor was also just a slack lead.
Now my problem with this book is plot development, character development and grammatical structure.
Plot development- it was way too fast. Vien seemingly accepted everything way too fast and I guess you could say that was her subconscious speaking to her about what she knew was familiar but even then the story was rushed.
Character development- there’s supposed to be this change in Vien as she starts getting her memory back but instead she’s just the same old Vien. Along with that the author failed to build any character in anyone except Baecos. Part of be hopes that if the story does get a book 2 this changes- series tend to leave room for character development.
Among that was also the relationships between the characters, it all times felt forced and tense. Why did she have more chemistry with Spiris than she did with Cruor?
Now grammatical structure, was a bit awkward at times and in my opinion first person point of view isn’t the best type for stories like these. The stream of consciousness of Vien was choppy at times. Perhaps this problem would be solved with intense structural editing.
Now regardless of these points I still give the book a rather higher rating than I would because not only did I like the plot but I realized that Ella Mae is rather new to this whole scene so she’s still getting the hang of it and this was a good try and this could have the potential for being an amazing series.
I received an ARC from NetGalley and the publishers in exchanged for an honest review
Vien is powerful and has a lot of people looking for the reincarnation of her. Eventually Baecos finds her and uses her- soon she finds out it’s all a manipulation and then we’re introduced to other characters who even though they claim to care about her also seem to want to use her which to me was the frustrating aspect of this book, Vien did not catch a freaking break and I hoped that it would’ve been with Cruor. But no Cruor was also just a slack lead.
Now my problem with this book is plot development, character development and grammatical structure.
Plot development- it was way too fast. Vien seemingly accepted everything way too fast and I guess you could say that was her subconscious speaking to her about what she knew was familiar but even then the story was rushed.
Character development- there’s supposed to be this change in Vien as she starts getting her memory back but instead she’s just the same old Vien. Along with that the author failed to build any character in anyone except Baecos. Part of be hopes that if the story does get a book 2 this changes- series tend to leave room for character development.
Among that was also the relationships between the characters, it all times felt forced and tense. Why did she have more chemistry with Spiris than she did with Cruor?
Now grammatical structure, was a bit awkward at times and in my opinion first person point of view isn’t the best type for stories like these. The stream of consciousness of Vien was choppy at times. Perhaps this problem would be solved with intense structural editing.
Now regardless of these points I still give the book a rather higher rating than I would because not only did I like the plot but I realized that Ella Mae is rather new to this whole scene so she’s still getting the hang of it and this was a good try and this could have the potential for being an amazing series.
I received an ARC from NetGalley and the publishers in exchanged for an honest review
April 8, 2021
First of all, I received this as an ARC from NetGalley. Thank you to victory editing for providing me with this book, in exchange for an honest review!
I was very intrigued by the cover of this book! It’s so stunning! After my fascination with the cover died down I went ahead and read the description and that wowed me as well! The big eye catch for me was “A court of thorns and roses meets a new adult twisted fantasy...” because how awesome does that sound? ACOTAR is so far my top read of 2021, and I’ve been on the lookout for similar ones, so I was automatically drawn to this book! Then I got reading....
I didn’t make it very far. I was aware of the disclaimer made that editing was still being made, as it was not the published version. This is something I’m willing to overlook since I have the opportunity to read it before it’s published.
So that was not my issue.
My issue was that the book was all over the place. The first few chapters were so rushed. From chapter 1-3, we went from Vien coming home because she had an altercation with a coworker which lead to her being fired, to her all of a sudden bolting out the house to chase after “...something glowing” to being placed in the middle of a battle?! I think that there should have have been more time taken to ensure the scenes were laid out well to establish some sort of basis for the character and her environment.
This book had everything going for and, which makes me really disappointed that I didn’t like it.
Thank you for the opportunity to have been able to read this in advanced but I am not able to continue this book. I have DNF’d at chapter 10. I do hope to revisit it once again in the future because as previously mentioned, the idea of this book is fascinating to me and it helps that the cover is beautiful!
I was very intrigued by the cover of this book! It’s so stunning! After my fascination with the cover died down I went ahead and read the description and that wowed me as well! The big eye catch for me was “A court of thorns and roses meets a new adult twisted fantasy...” because how awesome does that sound? ACOTAR is so far my top read of 2021, and I’ve been on the lookout for similar ones, so I was automatically drawn to this book! Then I got reading....
I didn’t make it very far. I was aware of the disclaimer made that editing was still being made, as it was not the published version. This is something I’m willing to overlook since I have the opportunity to read it before it’s published.
So that was not my issue.
My issue was that the book was all over the place. The first few chapters were so rushed. From chapter 1-3, we went from Vien coming home because she had an altercation with a coworker which lead to her being fired, to her all of a sudden bolting out the house to chase after “...something glowing” to being placed in the middle of a battle?! I think that there should have have been more time taken to ensure the scenes were laid out well to establish some sort of basis for the character and her environment.
This book had everything going for and, which makes me really disappointed that I didn’t like it.
Thank you for the opportunity to have been able to read this in advanced but I am not able to continue this book. I have DNF’d at chapter 10. I do hope to revisit it once again in the future because as previously mentioned, the idea of this book is fascinating to me and it helps that the cover is beautiful!
April 16, 2021
*Thank you, NetGalley, for the ARC of this book*
I really wanted to love this story but not a single character was sympathetic or likeable, least of all our main protagonist, and I couldn't help but notice that in an entirely different magical realm where people have tattoos appearing suddenly on the skin and purple eyes - there were very few people of color.
The dialogue felt overly formal at all times, especially from Vien.
I also couldn't feel any emotion from Vien and I was very confused about her varying motivations. The majority of the life in the story lives in the more explicit violence and intimate scenes between characters.
The magic system was unique and very interesting. The characters interacting with that magic, however, were not.
I really wanted to love this story but not a single character was sympathetic or likeable, least of all our main protagonist, and I couldn't help but notice that in an entirely different magical realm where people have tattoos appearing suddenly on the skin and purple eyes - there were very few people of color.
The dialogue felt overly formal at all times, especially from Vien.
I also couldn't feel any emotion from Vien and I was very confused about her varying motivations. The majority of the life in the story lives in the more explicit violence and intimate scenes between characters.
The magic system was unique and very interesting. The characters interacting with that magic, however, were not.
April 14, 2021
This book is one of the biggest disappointments for me this year. Ever since I saw the cover, I couldn't wait to start this one. The title intrigued me, and I had super high hopes. By the halfway point, my hopes were crushed.
I still don't have any idea what this book was supposed to be... Was it fantasy? Romance? Smut? The plot was almost nonexistent, and the pacing was horrendous. Every few chapters there'd be a random sex scene thrown in. There wouldn't be buildup or anticipation, it would just happen. What made it worse was that I didn't ship any of the romances. Baecos was interesting at the beginning, but his character was butchered. I would've been fine with that, but it didn't add anything.
I could go on and on about my dislike for this book, but I don't think it's necessary. The author has potential, but this book was a miss.
Thanks to Elle Mae and Netgalley for providing a free copy in exchange for an honest review!
I still don't have any idea what this book was supposed to be... Was it fantasy? Romance? Smut? The plot was almost nonexistent, and the pacing was horrendous. Every few chapters there'd be a random sex scene thrown in. There wouldn't be buildup or anticipation, it would just happen. What made it worse was that I didn't ship any of the romances. Baecos was interesting at the beginning, but his character was butchered. I would've been fine with that, but it didn't add anything.
I could go on and on about my dislike for this book, but I don't think it's necessary. The author has potential, but this book was a miss.
Thanks to Elle Mae and Netgalley for providing a free copy in exchange for an honest review!
April 26, 2021
Thank you to Netgalley for `providing me with this ARC. An imposter in warrior's clothing was an interesting book-reading experience. When I read the description of this book I was very enthusiastic, I also found it in the LGBTQ+ section so I had high hopes. For the first half, I was very confused as to where the representation was but once I got further in I understood and I was not mad about it.
My favorite part of the book was the second half when everything started picking up and the action really started since the first half was full of backstory and information. Spiris has to be my favorite character, he was very calm and always rational as well as a sweet character overall. He knew how to be ruthless when needed and I enjoyed that about him.
Now on to some of my issues with the book. There was a lack of consistency in the dialogue where the characters seemed to jump from one topic to another without transitions and that seemed a bit confusing. As well as our main character simply accepting everything that is happening to her without giving it a second thought, maybe if she had dwelled on her situation more I would have been satisfied.
Overall my rating is 2.5/5 stars. I would recommend it if you want a quick easy and enjoyable read.
My favorite part of the book was the second half when everything started picking up and the action really started since the first half was full of backstory and information. Spiris has to be my favorite character, he was very calm and always rational as well as a sweet character overall. He knew how to be ruthless when needed and I enjoyed that about him.
Now on to some of my issues with the book. There was a lack of consistency in the dialogue where the characters seemed to jump from one topic to another without transitions and that seemed a bit confusing. As well as our main character simply accepting everything that is happening to her without giving it a second thought, maybe if she had dwelled on her situation more I would have been satisfied.
Overall my rating is 2.5/5 stars. I would recommend it if you want a quick easy and enjoyable read.
May 4, 2021
The cover art and description of An Imposter in Warriors Clothing caught my eye and interest! I was able to secure a physical copy of the book from Elle Mae (thanks, Elle!). I know she has worked really hard on this novel, released as her second, but written prior to her first, Contract Bound. I did not go into this experience, as some other readers did, expecting something like ACOTAR (it just didn't sound like ACOTAR to me), so I was able to maintain a more optimistic mindset throughout my reading experience. Despite this, I found it difficult to connect with the story and its characters.
It was hard to follow the story, it felt like information and dialogue was missing, but not in a cheeky intentional way. More as if sentences were removed, leaving responses in dialogues unclear; or like the reader was expected to infer things (or meaning) with little, or no, indication.
I don't think Vien herself was fleshed out enough as a character to be likable. I was apathetic to her plight. I was told some things about her, but I never felt much for her, or any of the characters – everyone felt so soulless (though, Ash was endearing and probably could've won me over if he had more page time!). Even halfway through the book I was unclear what the point of everything was, who and what everyone was, if they liked each other, where their tattoos come from, what the hell was behind the door, etc... I felt like these were answers that should, at least, have been more aggressively pursued by Vien.
Clearly, Iniq has her reasons for trusting people throughout the story, but the reader wasn't given enough insight to comprehend Iniq's decision making process. The dynamic and interactions between Spiris, Vitos, Baecos and Iniq are disjointed. It's not easy to care or keep up with any of them.
I really didn't understand if this was supposed to be a romance... was this a love triangle? I did not feel any romantic love, though we were told Spiris took care of Iniq throughout her many lives. And apparently Cruor once thought she might love Iniq, or still does? I never felt that anyone cared (even Iniq), I was told they did.
Don't get me started on Baecos, I was disappointed in his turn of character. Though allowing Vitos to beat Iniq 24/7 should've told me something. Apparently, he is just a possessive sadist.... But, why didn't Baecos ever just ask her to share her power? Did he, how did all this start?! It's confusing since we're told he's a sadist, but don't have a clear understanding of him as a person, or he and Iniq's prior relationships, to understand where this stems from. He clearly has the capacity to care. He shows his care fairly often actually. The violent streak seems to appear out of nowhere.
The Baecos Mansion drama becomes larger than the lore and it's hard to keep track of the information given early on in the story. There's just not enough background in this story. Once Iniq is with Cruor the writing begins to breathe and offer the reader a bit more of a balanced presentation. However, things begin to devolve and Iniq makes rash decisions, they aren't completely unfounded... just made quickly, and without contemplating things fully. Once Baecos shows up at the end things get interesting enough that I could ignore what led to Iniq crossing the Water territory's barrier and getting caught in the first place. I did enjoy how the story ended for Iniq.
I still feel that the idea of the story is intriguing, I would give it another read after a rewrite.
Other observations:
- I didn't really feel like the portion about Vien's friend in the first couple chapters was relevant to the progress of the story or Vien's character
-Vien claims to have spent little time exercising, but is somehow able to do hundreds of pushups and sit ups. I'm lean but I don't exercise and I can admit right now there's no way I could do hundreds of both consecutively and then attempt to run miles before giving out. I'd have fainted at sit up 150. There's a lot of dramatics and not a lot of substance or reason to back it up
- It's hard to follow Iniq's schedule, she makes it seem as though it's regimented but suddenly her training becomes less frequent without any real explanation. Just lots of lounging around having internal dialogues by herself or with Spiris
- Are Fluvis and Cruor related?
- The face cupping might be a bit overdone...
- Some words in the text are incorrectly used within the sentences they're placed in
- I would suggest reworking a number of sentences so they flow better, some of them are quite clunky, I find myself performing mental rewrites when progressing through the story to improve its readability
- Transitions from one scene to another could use some polishing
- It's unclear whether this is a modern or historic setting, based on the cover; fashion; weapons; etc. it would seem to be a less advanced or more antiquated setting... but there are lattes?
It was hard to follow the story, it felt like information and dialogue was missing, but not in a cheeky intentional way. More as if sentences were removed, leaving responses in dialogues unclear; or like the reader was expected to infer things (or meaning) with little, or no, indication.
I don't think Vien herself was fleshed out enough as a character to be likable. I was apathetic to her plight. I was told some things about her, but I never felt much for her, or any of the characters – everyone felt so soulless (though, Ash was endearing and probably could've won me over if he had more page time!). Even halfway through the book I was unclear what the point of everything was, who and what everyone was, if they liked each other, where their tattoos come from, what the hell was behind the door, etc... I felt like these were answers that should, at least, have been more aggressively pursued by Vien.
Clearly, Iniq has her reasons for trusting people throughout the story, but the reader wasn't given enough insight to comprehend Iniq's decision making process. The dynamic and interactions between Spiris, Vitos, Baecos and Iniq are disjointed. It's not easy to care or keep up with any of them.
I really didn't understand if this was supposed to be a romance... was this a love triangle? I did not feel any romantic love, though we were told Spiris took care of Iniq throughout her many lives. And apparently Cruor once thought she might love Iniq, or still does? I never felt that anyone cared (even Iniq), I was told they did.
Don't get me started on Baecos, I was disappointed in his turn of character. Though allowing Vitos to beat Iniq 24/7 should've told me something. Apparently, he is just a possessive sadist.... But, why didn't Baecos ever just ask her to share her power? Did he, how did all this start?! It's confusing since we're told he's a sadist, but don't have a clear understanding of him as a person, or he and Iniq's prior relationships, to understand where this stems from. He clearly has the capacity to care. He shows his care fairly often actually. The violent streak seems to appear out of nowhere.
The Baecos Mansion drama becomes larger than the lore and it's hard to keep track of the information given early on in the story. There's just not enough background in this story. Once Iniq is with Cruor the writing begins to breathe and offer the reader a bit more of a balanced presentation. However, things begin to devolve and Iniq makes rash decisions, they aren't completely unfounded... just made quickly, and without contemplating things fully. Once Baecos shows up at the end things get interesting enough that I could ignore what led to Iniq crossing the Water territory's barrier and getting caught in the first place. I did enjoy how the story ended for Iniq.
I still feel that the idea of the story is intriguing, I would give it another read after a rewrite.
Other observations:
- I didn't really feel like the portion about Vien's friend in the first couple chapters was relevant to the progress of the story or Vien's character
-Vien claims to have spent little time exercising, but is somehow able to do hundreds of pushups and sit ups. I'm lean but I don't exercise and I can admit right now there's no way I could do hundreds of both consecutively and then attempt to run miles before giving out. I'd have fainted at sit up 150. There's a lot of dramatics and not a lot of substance or reason to back it up
- It's hard to follow Iniq's schedule, she makes it seem as though it's regimented but suddenly her training becomes less frequent without any real explanation. Just lots of lounging around having internal dialogues by herself or with Spiris
- Are Fluvis and Cruor related?
- The face cupping might be a bit overdone...
- Some words in the text are incorrectly used within the sentences they're placed in
- I would suggest reworking a number of sentences so they flow better, some of them are quite clunky, I find myself performing mental rewrites when progressing through the story to improve its readability
- Transitions from one scene to another could use some polishing
- It's unclear whether this is a modern or historic setting, based on the cover; fashion; weapons; etc. it would seem to be a less advanced or more antiquated setting... but there are lattes?
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 19, 2021
eARC provided by Victory Editing NetGalley Co-op.
So this book.... it was a Lot. And sadly not in the good way. Please heed the trigger warnings (violence, death, sexual assault, rape, torture, suicide)
I requested this initially because of the gorgeous cover and the plot seemed intriguing enough: a powerful sorceress is reborn hundreds of years after her death in our very boring, very magicless world with no recollection of her past life. Through sheer luck, or perhaps destiny, she falls back into the land she comes from but also into the hands of people who want to use her for their own gain. And with time it gets more and more difficult to see anyone's true intentions.
I was expecting a complex story of queer, morally grey characters, unclear motives, and lots of cool magic. I got... maybe the cool magic? There was just nothing that truly kept me engaged.
Not the world building because after all these pages I still feel like I know barely anything about what happens in this world exactly.
Not the characters who also seemed pretty much defined by one single trait and that was it. Also, there was a severe lack of other women apart from the main character and one of the antagonist/love interests. (which: how many damn love interests does one protagonist need?) I feel like I hardly knew anything about any of the characters or what made them who they are. Half of them were cruel, manipulative, power-hungry villains with very little else to their character. The others were... just there? I feel like I never even got to know Vien, the protagonist, because of how much her thoughts and actions jumped around.
Not the plot and writing. There was just so much going on at times where Vien's thoughts would jump around but never truly show me the reasons for her actions. The fight and magic scenes were well written but anything beyond that was not really captivating. The entire first half of the book was full of plot holes that even a twist to the entire story can't fully explain away. The only truly good plot point that had me shocked was the epilogue but not even that will make me pick up a sequel, I'm afraid.
So this book.... it was a Lot. And sadly not in the good way. Please heed the trigger warnings (violence, death, sexual assault, rape, torture, suicide)
I requested this initially because of the gorgeous cover and the plot seemed intriguing enough: a powerful sorceress is reborn hundreds of years after her death in our very boring, very magicless world with no recollection of her past life. Through sheer luck, or perhaps destiny, she falls back into the land she comes from but also into the hands of people who want to use her for their own gain. And with time it gets more and more difficult to see anyone's true intentions.
I was expecting a complex story of queer, morally grey characters, unclear motives, and lots of cool magic. I got... maybe the cool magic? There was just nothing that truly kept me engaged.
Not the world building because after all these pages I still feel like I know barely anything about what happens in this world exactly.
Not the characters who also seemed pretty much defined by one single trait and that was it. Also, there was a severe lack of other women apart from the main character and one of the antagonist/love interests. (which: how many damn love interests does one protagonist need?) I feel like I hardly knew anything about any of the characters or what made them who they are. Half of them were cruel, manipulative, power-hungry villains with very little else to their character. The others were... just there? I feel like I never even got to know Vien, the protagonist, because of how much her thoughts and actions jumped around.
Not the plot and writing. There was just so much going on at times where Vien's thoughts would jump around but never truly show me the reasons for her actions. The fight and magic scenes were well written but anything beyond that was not really captivating. The entire first half of the book was full of plot holes that even a twist to the entire story can't fully explain away. The only truly good plot point that had me shocked was the epilogue but not even that will make me pick up a sequel, I'm afraid.
May 18, 2021
"Not a moment later her laugh broke through the silent cemetery."
I was really excited about this book. It's my first author/arc copy and the stunning art at the beginning of each chapter really got me excited for this. To be DNF'ing 53% of the way through is a huge disappointment.
What I liked: tone of the first chapter and the suspense it set up and Spiris (the only reason I kept reading after a while).
What I didn't like: it had a real lack of characterization (even half way through I know very little about the characters), the exposition was incredibly short (I didn't know much about Vien before being thrown into literally a different world), the story is told in a passive voice, and I felt like I was being told what was happening instead of reading along.
I won't comment on the grammar/structure issues because (I believe) this is still an ARC.
This book has good bones and the tone of the first chapter was incredibly compelling.
Big thank you to Elle Mae who sent me a physical copy!
I was really excited about this book. It's my first author/arc copy and the stunning art at the beginning of each chapter really got me excited for this. To be DNF'ing 53% of the way through is a huge disappointment.
What I liked: tone of the first chapter and the suspense it set up and Spiris (the only reason I kept reading after a while).
What I didn't like: it had a real lack of characterization (even half way through I know very little about the characters), the exposition was incredibly short (I didn't know much about Vien before being thrown into literally a different world), the story is told in a passive voice, and I felt like I was being told what was happening instead of reading along.
I won't comment on the grammar/structure issues because (I believe) this is still an ARC.
This book has good bones and the tone of the first chapter was incredibly compelling.
Big thank you to Elle Mae who sent me a physical copy!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 15, 2025
If you liked ACOTAR, you'll probably like this book. Although it had the same aesthetic, the characters were much more diverse. This book covers a few heavy topics, so make note of the trigger warnings at the beginning of the book. Also, be forewarned that this is not a standalone. I repeat: THIS IS NOT A STANDALONE. It ends with a cliffhanger, and I won't lie - it's making me feel a little angsty. I need the second book and am dying to see how this plays out. Thank you to Netgalley and Elle Mae for sending me a copy in exchange for an honest review!
April 16, 2021
Shadow and Bone meets A Court of Thorns and Roses in this dark, New Adult fantasy. Vien is a social outcast in her town, unofficially blamed for bringing death with her over the past few years, when she suddenly finds herself transported into a world where magic is dying and told she's the only one who can bring it back. Not only that, but she's a reincarnation with both light and dark magic inside her- if only she can learn to control it.
Things that made me pick up this book: the gorgeous cover (shoutout to the artist, Madli, because she did a fantastic job) and seeing it tagged LGBTQ+. I was incredibly satisfied to see how perfect the cover was for the book and that there was a sapphic love interest.
What I liked:
-The plot. I was genuinely interested in where the story was going, although the pacing was a bit off. Once the story picked up it was extremely hard to put down and the ending left me curious about where it would go from there.
-The magic. I found it interesting that there were so many types and loved the scenes where Spiris would teach Vien how to use it.
-Spiris. My favorite character by far, every scene with Spiris was better than those without.
-The clear triggers warning in the beginning before the actual book began. I wish more authors would do this, and it was definitely needed as this story contained some heavy themes that could be very shocking and harmful if you weren't prepared to encounter them. (Seriously, this book got extremely dark)
-LGBTQ+ main characters. Did I mention there's a sapphic love interest? She has chapters told from her point of view in the book as well.
What I didn't like:
-The writing. The first third of this book was a hot mess. The writing was all over the place; half the time I struggled to understand who was speaking because of the odd way the paragraphs were structured around the dialogue. Vien’s character and motivations confused me greatly. I couldn’t get a good feel for her character for most of this book. Also, there were random chapters from the point of view of an "Unknown" near the beginning that disrupted the narrative without providing any actual information and just made me more confused. (The reveal was cool though, so there's that)
-Most of the characters. Vien only really interacts with three people for half of the book and two of them gave me major creep energy. The characters you meet more near the end are interesting but there wasn't enough time to get to know them. Cruor confused me a lot too, but I feel like that was due to the writing as she is objectively an interesting character that I wish I had liked more.
-The... romance? I'm actually conflicted about this one because I simultaneously liked and disliked it for very different reasons that I can't explain without spoilers.
Overall, I thought this was a very interesting read that I greatly enjoyed. I'm rating it 4 stars (I slightly rounded up) because although the writing wasn't great, I did have a lot of fun reading An Imposter in Warriors Clothing. The potential for a great story is there and I seriously hope this goes through much more editing before being published so that it could live up to that potential. If there's a sequel I would be very interested in reading it.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for giving me this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Things that made me pick up this book: the gorgeous cover (shoutout to the artist, Madli, because she did a fantastic job) and seeing it tagged LGBTQ+. I was incredibly satisfied to see how perfect the cover was for the book and that there was a sapphic love interest.
What I liked:
-The plot. I was genuinely interested in where the story was going, although the pacing was a bit off. Once the story picked up it was extremely hard to put down and the ending left me curious about where it would go from there.
-The magic. I found it interesting that there were so many types and loved the scenes where Spiris would teach Vien how to use it.
-Spiris. My favorite character by far, every scene with Spiris was better than those without.
-The clear triggers warning in the beginning before the actual book began. I wish more authors would do this, and it was definitely needed as this story contained some heavy themes that could be very shocking and harmful if you weren't prepared to encounter them. (Seriously, this book got extremely dark)
-LGBTQ+ main characters. Did I mention there's a sapphic love interest? She has chapters told from her point of view in the book as well.
What I didn't like:
-The writing. The first third of this book was a hot mess. The writing was all over the place; half the time I struggled to understand who was speaking because of the odd way the paragraphs were structured around the dialogue. Vien’s character and motivations confused me greatly. I couldn’t get a good feel for her character for most of this book. Also, there were random chapters from the point of view of an "Unknown" near the beginning that disrupted the narrative without providing any actual information and just made me more confused. (The reveal was cool though, so there's that)
-Most of the characters. Vien only really interacts with three people for half of the book and two of them gave me major creep energy. The characters you meet more near the end are interesting but there wasn't enough time to get to know them. Cruor confused me a lot too, but I feel like that was due to the writing as she is objectively an interesting character that I wish I had liked more.
-The... romance? I'm actually conflicted about this one because I simultaneously liked and disliked it for very different reasons that I can't explain without spoilers.
Overall, I thought this was a very interesting read that I greatly enjoyed. I'm rating it 4 stars (I slightly rounded up) because although the writing wasn't great, I did have a lot of fun reading An Imposter in Warriors Clothing. The potential for a great story is there and I seriously hope this goes through much more editing before being published so that it could live up to that potential. If there's a sequel I would be very interested in reading it.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for giving me this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
April 11, 2021
Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for providing me with this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
I was so intrigued by the cover and plot summary, so I was dying to read this book. It follows Vien, the reincarnation of an immortal warrior whose power can save the realm that was home in her past life. She lives a lost, mortal life and has no memory of who she once was. She agrees to train with a King, to increase her power, enticed by the prospect of being more than her mortal life. However, as her memories begin to return, she realises that those around her have ulterior motives.
I did really enjoy Vien as a character! I have seen reviews wondering about why she quickly agreed to train with Baecos, but really, with an offer of immortality and extreme power, who wouldn't?! I also thought Ellie Mae did a great job portraying a person who is unsure of who/what she is and what she remembers. Rather than slot effortlessly into her 'old' life, Vien has issues with it. As the book is written in first person, we as readers are brought through the twists and turns of her mind as she tries to understand her memories and reconcile them with who she is now.
This book was a great read. I liked the character and how she didn't immediately become an awesome 'saviour', but processed these changes like many people would. I also liked that her character was happily bi-/pan-sexual and enjoyed the writing of her relationships.
Minor drawbacks: Due to this book being written in the first person, occasionally some of the decisions and thoughts of Vien can be confusing, although they do make sense down the line. She herself is confused and trying to figure out what is actually real. At times the relationships between the characters don't feel as fleshed out as I would like them. However, this is something easily overcome if there are books to follow. Especially because I would read any follow up books right away!
In short: This book had a great main character and is set in an interesting world that I would love to see more of. I liked seeing the character process and deal with her trauma and learn how to interact with people that she doesn't know, even if they know her. There are trigger warnings with this book, especially that of sexual assault/coercion and violence. If you can get past that, I thoroughly recommend!
I was so intrigued by the cover and plot summary, so I was dying to read this book. It follows Vien, the reincarnation of an immortal warrior whose power can save the realm that was home in her past life. She lives a lost, mortal life and has no memory of who she once was. She agrees to train with a King, to increase her power, enticed by the prospect of being more than her mortal life. However, as her memories begin to return, she realises that those around her have ulterior motives.
I did really enjoy Vien as a character! I have seen reviews wondering about why she quickly agreed to train with Baecos, but really, with an offer of immortality and extreme power, who wouldn't?! I also thought Ellie Mae did a great job portraying a person who is unsure of who/what she is and what she remembers. Rather than slot effortlessly into her 'old' life, Vien has issues with it. As the book is written in first person, we as readers are brought through the twists and turns of her mind as she tries to understand her memories and reconcile them with who she is now.
This book was a great read. I liked the character and how she didn't immediately become an awesome 'saviour', but processed these changes like many people would. I also liked that her character was happily bi-/pan-sexual and enjoyed the writing of her relationships.
Minor drawbacks: Due to this book being written in the first person, occasionally some of the decisions and thoughts of Vien can be confusing, although they do make sense down the line. She herself is confused and trying to figure out what is actually real. At times the relationships between the characters don't feel as fleshed out as I would like them. However, this is something easily overcome if there are books to follow. Especially because I would read any follow up books right away!
In short: This book had a great main character and is set in an interesting world that I would love to see more of. I liked seeing the character process and deal with her trauma and learn how to interact with people that she doesn't know, even if they know her. There are trigger warnings with this book, especially that of sexual assault/coercion and violence. If you can get past that, I thoroughly recommend!
April 21, 2021
Big thank to Elle Mae and Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Vien is a human who has found herself in the terrifying middle of a war, literally. Two sides are running toward her, battle cries and swords held high. Taking a chance, she goes with Baecos, the hansom King with striking purple eyes.
As Vien becomes accustomed to her new surroundings, living in a giant castle and training with two of Baecos closest friends, but something isn't right. Freedom is only really freedom when you get to make choices for yourself.
Vien begins to have memories resurface and soon finds out that she has come back, over and over again, reincarnated, and the people she now surrounds herself with were well known to her past self. Vien needs to figure out if the people she's staying with, or the people who are trying to take her are really her allies.
So.... this is a hard one to rate. I think they storyline was decent, and I'm a total sucker for falling for the bad guy. I liked that the alternate romantic partner was a woman and Vien seamlessly fell for both options. I'm actually interested in following up with the next book to continue the story.
My troubles with the book was the editing.. or lack thereof. This IS AN ARC, so I totally understand typos, and grammar is going to be a bit off but... this read as though there had NEVER been a second read through. At a few points, I wondered if the book was dictated through a voice to text app, then uploaded straight to Netgalley?
Another difficult part for me was the relationships... Spiris was Baecos .. friend? for lack of a better term. He was constantly tortured and abused and yet his job was supposed to teach Vein how to use her magic and keep her captive. I kept waiting for his character to turn back into a villain, but he didn't. Then we find out the extent of Vien's relationship with Cruro and Vien is PISSED that Cruro didn't come look for her for two years.... after being together for 600 and now pretty much wants to kill her.
Overall, I think it was an OK book and if there was any, any at all, editing I really would have enjoyed it more. It's hard to understand when sentences have multiple pronouns and doubled words what direction the story is going.
Vien is a human who has found herself in the terrifying middle of a war, literally. Two sides are running toward her, battle cries and swords held high. Taking a chance, she goes with Baecos, the hansom King with striking purple eyes.
As Vien becomes accustomed to her new surroundings, living in a giant castle and training with two of Baecos closest friends, but something isn't right. Freedom is only really freedom when you get to make choices for yourself.
Vien begins to have memories resurface and soon finds out that she has come back, over and over again, reincarnated, and the people she now surrounds herself with were well known to her past self. Vien needs to figure out if the people she's staying with, or the people who are trying to take her are really her allies.
So.... this is a hard one to rate. I think they storyline was decent, and I'm a total sucker for falling for the bad guy. I liked that the alternate romantic partner was a woman and Vien seamlessly fell for both options. I'm actually interested in following up with the next book to continue the story.
My troubles with the book was the editing.. or lack thereof. This IS AN ARC, so I totally understand typos, and grammar is going to be a bit off but... this read as though there had NEVER been a second read through. At a few points, I wondered if the book was dictated through a voice to text app, then uploaded straight to Netgalley?
Another difficult part for me was the relationships... Spiris was Baecos .. friend? for lack of a better term. He was constantly tortured and abused and yet his job was supposed to teach Vein how to use her magic and keep her captive. I kept waiting for his character to turn back into a villain, but he didn't. Then we find out the extent of Vien's relationship with Cruro and Vien is PISSED that Cruro didn't come look for her for two years.... after being together for 600 and now pretty much wants to kill her.
Overall, I think it was an OK book and if there was any, any at all, editing I really would have enjoyed it more. It's hard to understand when sentences have multiple pronouns and doubled words what direction the story is going.
August 7, 2021
This book deals with a lot of heavy topics.
I really wanted to love this because because the plot sounded so interesting but I don't know if it because they haven't finished it or edit I am not sure but it was definitely a miss the character were very much every where and the author writing style was passive it kinda took the magic about. I will definitely consider rereading because it has potential. It was really hard to read this book I had to put down a couple times. Things just happen to Vien there was no character development she just accept her situation and it completely fine with it. The other character are kinda just there except Baecos. This story has the potential of being an amazing Dark Adult Fantasy I just hope it get there.
Even though I am mad that it finished in a cliffhanger I am so happy that I got accepted to read this because it was so much fun book,I could not put it down. All I knew about this is that there was sapphic activates so i don't investigate further(Also the cover is perfection) I was incredibly surprised when I stared reading how incredibly badass the characters are I love that fact that Asa the main protagonist is a super geeky about technology and that she know her strength and weaknesses. I really hope the author pays more attention to Riven because she is such a breath of fresh air she a girl that likes guns, takes no crap from no one and is protective of her friends. I was incredibly surprised of how the author presented the technology and overall world it didn't take me out of the story what so ever. I don't know how long we are gonna have to wait for the second seeing as this a debut so please go support the author and read the book.
Thank you netgally and the publisher for giving me a free copy of An Importer in Warriors Clothing for an honest review.
I really wanted to love this because because the plot sounded so interesting but I don't know if it because they haven't finished it or edit I am not sure but it was definitely a miss the character were very much every where and the author writing style was passive it kinda took the magic about. I will definitely consider rereading because it has potential. It was really hard to read this book I had to put down a couple times. Things just happen to Vien there was no character development she just accept her situation and it completely fine with it. The other character are kinda just there except Baecos. This story has the potential of being an amazing Dark Adult Fantasy I just hope it get there.
Even though I am mad that it finished in a cliffhanger I am so happy that I got accepted to read this because it was so much fun book,I could not put it down. All I knew about this is that there was sapphic activates so i don't investigate further(Also the cover is perfection) I was incredibly surprised when I stared reading how incredibly badass the characters are I love that fact that Asa the main protagonist is a super geeky about technology and that she know her strength and weaknesses. I really hope the author pays more attention to Riven because she is such a breath of fresh air she a girl that likes guns, takes no crap from no one and is protective of her friends. I was incredibly surprised of how the author presented the technology and overall world it didn't take me out of the story what so ever. I don't know how long we are gonna have to wait for the second seeing as this a debut so please go support the author and read the book.
Thank you netgally and the publisher for giving me a free copy of An Importer in Warriors Clothing for an honest review.
May 2, 2021
Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers of this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
This is pitched as ACOTAR meets new adult. I absolutely LOVE ACOTAR, I did not love this book.
So at the start of the book there is a page warning of triggers. I read this and understood and continued to read this of my own choice. That being said I could not handle this book, it was way too much, especially as the tale is told in POV, it makes reading it very unsettling and disturbing. Maybe if it had been written in third person it may have been a different read all together. There are very heavy topics in this book, heed the trigger warnings.
Aside from that, I was so confused regarding the story, it was all over the place, the characters (to me) were unlikeable. I’m not a prude nor lily-livered when it comes to sex and violence, to me it needs to be relevant to the story, not just constantly thrown in throughout the whole novel.
If this is a series, I will not be going ahead, I am abandoning ship.
Note: on a positive note, the cover design is absolutely gorgeous!!
This is pitched as ACOTAR meets new adult. I absolutely LOVE ACOTAR, I did not love this book.
So at the start of the book there is a page warning of triggers. I read this and understood and continued to read this of my own choice. That being said I could not handle this book, it was way too much, especially as the tale is told in POV, it makes reading it very unsettling and disturbing. Maybe if it had been written in third person it may have been a different read all together. There are very heavy topics in this book, heed the trigger warnings.
Aside from that, I was so confused regarding the story, it was all over the place, the characters (to me) were unlikeable. I’m not a prude nor lily-livered when it comes to sex and violence, to me it needs to be relevant to the story, not just constantly thrown in throughout the whole novel.
If this is a series, I will not be going ahead, I am abandoning ship.
Note: on a positive note, the cover design is absolutely gorgeous!!
May 10, 2021
Summary: Vien had been a pitifully weak mortal with a miserable life. She encounters a magical portal in the forest and is sucked into this magical world, but what she doesn’t know is that this world has been searching for her in hopes that she is the reincarnate of a powerful god and would be able to help stop their world’s magic from disappearing.
I am familiar with Elle Mae’s work and decided to give this book a try. I am not a huge fantasy reader so I was a bit skeptical, but I read that this book had some LGBTQ+ rep in it so I knew I had to read it. Starting off, I was really grateful there were trigger warnings at the beginning of the book because this book grapples with some heavy topics (ex: sexual assault, death, gore, domestic abuse, and violence.)
The story starts with Vien who had been living a miserable life for the past two years since her girlfriend passed. This is where I get a bit confused in the plot and wish Mae had spent a bit more time on the backstory. Vien is suddenly walking in the forest and in a completely new world? We got so little of Vien in the mortal world, I felt she lacked some character backstory and character development throughout the book. This issue also presented itself with other key characters in the story, which created a sort of disconnect between the character's decisions and the plot.
The things that I did love about the book were the elements of found family and the way Vien connected with certain side characters. Elle Mae wrote such lovely side characters, that I found myself so attached to them just as much as Vien was. I will say what pushed this rating to a 3 was the plot twists and the possibility for a book two, because I am nosey and ALWAYS want to know what’s next.
I am familiar with Elle Mae’s work and decided to give this book a try. I am not a huge fantasy reader so I was a bit skeptical, but I read that this book had some LGBTQ+ rep in it so I knew I had to read it. Starting off, I was really grateful there were trigger warnings at the beginning of the book because this book grapples with some heavy topics (ex: sexual assault, death, gore, domestic abuse, and violence.)
The story starts with Vien who had been living a miserable life for the past two years since her girlfriend passed. This is where I get a bit confused in the plot and wish Mae had spent a bit more time on the backstory. Vien is suddenly walking in the forest and in a completely new world? We got so little of Vien in the mortal world, I felt she lacked some character backstory and character development throughout the book. This issue also presented itself with other key characters in the story, which created a sort of disconnect between the character's decisions and the plot.
The things that I did love about the book were the elements of found family and the way Vien connected with certain side characters. Elle Mae wrote such lovely side characters, that I found myself so attached to them just as much as Vien was. I will say what pushed this rating to a 3 was the plot twists and the possibility for a book two, because I am nosey and ALWAYS want to know what’s next.
Read
June 10, 2021First of all, I received this as an ARC from NetGalley. Thank you to victory editing for providing me with this book, in exchange for an honest review!
I was very interested by the cover of this book! It’s so stunning! After my fascination with the cover died down I went ahead and read the description and that wowed me as well! so I was automatically drawn to this book! Then I got reading....
I would go into explaination in why I don't like this book but I honestly don't even know where to start. I get it wasn't a finished copy of the book but it was just awful.
I was very interested by the cover of this book! It’s so stunning! After my fascination with the cover died down I went ahead and read the description and that wowed me as well! so I was automatically drawn to this book! Then I got reading....
I would go into explaination in why I don't like this book but I honestly don't even know where to start. I get it wasn't a finished copy of the book but it was just awful.
July 21, 2021
My opinion on this book is really mixed. Let me explain, the plot is the main reason, i liked how it was developed and built but some things were more meh. The beginning of the plot was a bit weird and how the main character enters this new world in such a passive way it was upsetting. I wanted to scream at her “wake up it’s not normal”. A lot of things were rushed, especially the relationships that didn’t seem natural.
One thing I liked was the representation in it, bisexuality is usually not spoken of in books or in strange ways but in this book it was really well represented.
One thing I liked was the representation in it, bisexuality is usually not spoken of in books or in strange ways but in this book it was really well represented.
June 20, 2022
The book has an interesting concept and it was entertaining. Basically follows a woman transported into a new realm she needs previously killed famous warriors of the realm to fix the dying magic and awaken her powers. However it has some twists as not everyone or everything is as it seems. This is an adult book as it has some heavy topics of suicide and rape, so keep that in mind. My biggest issue with the book was the editing as it had a lot of spelling issues and grammar issues. Hopefully those get sorted out in the finial copy.
July 5, 2021
this book had an intriguing plot that was enough to carry me through the book to see how it ended . Unfortunately this book read like a badly written fanfiction and I would not read it again or recommend it to a friend. This book was quite disappointing as I set up quite high expectations and this book didn't live up to any of then. Overall id give this book a 2.5 out of 5. I wanted to like this I really did.
June 21, 2021
2/5 stars
This was unfortunately not the book for me. I did not like the writing or the characters. I continued to put the book down and not want to finish it. It had so much going on and was very unorganized. The plot just wasn't there. It just felt like a bunch of words thrown together. The was just not for me at all.
This was unfortunately not the book for me. I did not like the writing or the characters. I continued to put the book down and not want to finish it. It had so much going on and was very unorganized. The plot just wasn't there. It just felt like a bunch of words thrown together. The was just not for me at all.
April 9, 2022
Honestly, I felt this novel jumped in too dramatically. I was confused by the direction the author was taking the story and I felt it was a bit predictable. Stories about women being abducted by fae are as old as time. I would like to read a fantasy novel that does not involve the kidnapping of a woman and her slowly coming around to it.
April 23, 2021
Interesting. This was quite confusing and all over the place for me personally. I loved the cover and description. I didn't understand Vien and her choices at all. I just couldn't connect with the story.
Thank you NetGalley and the Publisher for this ARC in return for my honest review.
Thank you NetGalley and the Publisher for this ARC in return for my honest review.
Want to Read
July 23, 2021
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Blurb:
Vien’s life was a wreck before she fell —literally— into a world of magic and kingdoms. Not only had her long-time girlfriend died but she was ninety-nine percent sure whatever mysterious powers that hid within her were the cause.
Now with her abrupt arrival to this new world, she is taken into the Kingdom of Light but it seems that trouble was not far behind.
This beautifully fascinating world filled with magic is slowly dying and through all the chaos Vien doesn’t know whom to believe.
The beautiful fire demon that begged her not to trust the Light King?
The Light King’s right-hand man who seems to know more than he lets on?
Or the Light King himself who is just a bit too enthusiastic for her to join him in his kingdom?
In between the twisted truths, there is one thing they agree on: Vien, a reincarnated magical warrior, is the only one that can open a door to another world and demand that the gods return their magic.
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Blurb:
Vien’s life was a wreck before she fell —literally— into a world of magic and kingdoms. Not only had her long-time girlfriend died but she was ninety-nine percent sure whatever mysterious powers that hid within her were the cause.
Now with her abrupt arrival to this new world, she is taken into the Kingdom of Light but it seems that trouble was not far behind.
This beautifully fascinating world filled with magic is slowly dying and through all the chaos Vien doesn’t know whom to believe.
The beautiful fire demon that begged her not to trust the Light King?
The Light King’s right-hand man who seems to know more than he lets on?
Or the Light King himself who is just a bit too enthusiastic for her to join him in his kingdom?
In between the twisted truths, there is one thing they agree on: Vien, a reincarnated magical warrior, is the only one that can open a door to another world and demand that the gods return their magic.
October 29, 2021
Thank you to NetGalley and the Publishers for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
3.5 Stars
In this book, the main Character, Vien, wanders into an alternative dimension filled with magic and danger. Even stranger: the King here expect her to be able to save them and bring the failing and fading magic back. The issue? Vien can't remember anything about the past life they say she lived or the magic she's supposed to have.
First things first: I LOVE the concept of this book. The storyline is interesting and while not generally unique, fresh in the way it is told and spun. Especially the second half of the story kept me wanting more and hanging on to every word. The Characters felt diverse (Yay LGBTQ rep!) and multi-dimensional, with thought through histories and mindsets.
Due to the way the story is told (which is part of what makes it fresh and left me breathless) the first around 20 Percent of the book where very confusing. Things just sort of happened around Vien, with no real participation or motivation on her part. She made decisions that seemed sudden and inexplicable. This has a reason and is purposeful, which honestly left me in awe. I am, however, afraid this might deter a reader that decides wether or not to continue reading very early on. It was somewhat of a struggle to keep on reading at that point. Even later, Vien sometimes reverts back to the curt way of storytelling from the beginning. I wished more of Vien's inner monologue had been displayed here, as it would have given hints at the goings-on, thus making it easier to understand and removing the feeling of "WHAT? WHY?" without spoiling the plot-twist.
The Worldbuilding is interesting, if a little late in the story. This does have a reason though, and while I do still have questions (it would be rather boring if I didn't, wouldn't it?), a lot of the initial ones were answered by the end of the book.
I do wish there had been Trigger Warnings for sexual assault, coerced sex, torture, abuse and suicide at the beginning of the story. I have to say that I didn't feel like any of this was romanticised. If it couldn't be criticised by the character experiencing it themselves, it was criticised by an outside perspective. I thought this was generally well done. Still, the scenes depicting this spare no detail, so if any of this may hurt you, I'd recommend skipping this one.
All in all I think there are a few things that would have improved my reading experience, but I did have fun with it, so there’s that.
This review and a photo will appear on my Instagram @/flybybooks later today.
3.5 Stars
In this book, the main Character, Vien, wanders into an alternative dimension filled with magic and danger. Even stranger: the King here expect her to be able to save them and bring the failing and fading magic back. The issue? Vien can't remember anything about the past life they say she lived or the magic she's supposed to have.
First things first: I LOVE the concept of this book. The storyline is interesting and while not generally unique, fresh in the way it is told and spun. Especially the second half of the story kept me wanting more and hanging on to every word. The Characters felt diverse (Yay LGBTQ rep!) and multi-dimensional, with thought through histories and mindsets.
Due to the way the story is told (which is part of what makes it fresh and left me breathless) the first around 20 Percent of the book where very confusing. Things just sort of happened around Vien, with no real participation or motivation on her part. She made decisions that seemed sudden and inexplicable. This has a reason and is purposeful, which honestly left me in awe. I am, however, afraid this might deter a reader that decides wether or not to continue reading very early on. It was somewhat of a struggle to keep on reading at that point. Even later, Vien sometimes reverts back to the curt way of storytelling from the beginning. I wished more of Vien's inner monologue had been displayed here, as it would have given hints at the goings-on, thus making it easier to understand and removing the feeling of "WHAT? WHY?" without spoiling the plot-twist.
The Worldbuilding is interesting, if a little late in the story. This does have a reason though, and while I do still have questions (it would be rather boring if I didn't, wouldn't it?), a lot of the initial ones were answered by the end of the book.
I do wish there had been Trigger Warnings for sexual assault, coerced sex, torture, abuse and suicide at the beginning of the story. I have to say that I didn't feel like any of this was romanticised. If it couldn't be criticised by the character experiencing it themselves, it was criticised by an outside perspective. I thought this was generally well done. Still, the scenes depicting this spare no detail, so if any of this may hurt you, I'd recommend skipping this one.
All in all I think there are a few things that would have improved my reading experience, but I did have fun with it, so there’s that.
This review and a photo will appear on my Instagram @/flybybooks later today.
July 16, 2021
When I first read the summary of this book I was immediately intrigued. I love fairy books and badass women with awesome power and Vien is definitely one of those. At first she has no idea who she is and what this new world is that she's stumbled into. She's met by several men who call themselves her saviors, asking her to save their own world before the truth eventually comes to light.
I wanted to like this book all the way, I really did, but there were just some plot points that had me scratching my head and going "huh?". I know the author knows all of the twists and turns that happen in this book, but as the reader I was confused about 45% of the time. Vien's role in the world was unknown at first. She's supposed to be this person with all these awesome powers that can somehow open a door to the old gods of the world but we're never really told who these gods are and what opening the door will do. Her actions are a head scratcher as well. One minute she's this strong independent woman and the next she's falling for Baecos and eventually the character that is first introduced as the villain. It's not consistent throughout the book and it's clear that the author may not completely have landed on who Vien is.
On the other hand, the sex scenes? Chef's kiss. They were hot, steamy, and completely unexpected at first but I wasn't going to bat an eye at them. I liked how Vien is clearly portrayed as a bisexual woman who enjoys both men and women and that's never shied away from. Major props to that!
Overall, this was an easy read if a confusing one but I didn't mind it. I'm not sure I would read again, but I enjoyed it!
I wanted to like this book all the way, I really did, but there were just some plot points that had me scratching my head and going "huh?". I know the author knows all of the twists and turns that happen in this book, but as the reader I was confused about 45% of the time. Vien's role in the world was unknown at first. She's supposed to be this person with all these awesome powers that can somehow open a door to the old gods of the world but we're never really told who these gods are and what opening the door will do. Her actions are a head scratcher as well. One minute she's this strong independent woman and the next she's falling for Baecos and eventually the character that is first introduced as the villain. It's not consistent throughout the book and it's clear that the author may not completely have landed on who Vien is.
On the other hand, the sex scenes? Chef's kiss. They were hot, steamy, and completely unexpected at first but I wasn't going to bat an eye at them. I liked how Vien is clearly portrayed as a bisexual woman who enjoys both men and women and that's never shied away from. Major props to that!
Overall, this was an easy read if a confusing one but I didn't mind it. I'm not sure I would read again, but I enjoyed it!
July 7, 2022
cliff hanger has me reading the next
I loved this authors other series, so decided to read this one. Honestly, I have a goal to read so many books and didn’t want to waste time not finishing this one otherwise I would have stopped at 10-25% in. The only reason I am reading the next one is because of the cliff hanger.
I loved this authors other series, so decided to read this one. Honestly, I have a goal to read so many books and didn’t want to waste time not finishing this one otherwise I would have stopped at 10-25% in. The only reason I am reading the next one is because of the cliff hanger.
January 19, 2022
wtf
Wow. This book left me speechless. Every chapter was gripping and the plots shifts even at the very last
page. Thank goodness there’s a part 2!
Wow. This book left me speechless. Every chapter was gripping and the plots shifts even at the very last
page. Thank goodness there’s a part 2!
Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews