10000bees's reviews
326 reviews

I've never disliked a main character so immediately. His energy is very "I have a big ego but pretend I don't. Please laugh at my jokes." and the fact that he's the one telling this story just got on my nerves. The mystery itself was intriguing and twisty and I respect the decision to have a very strong narrative voice. I just didn't like it and that's 100% a me thing. 

Didn't jive with the writing at all

 Beautiful prose, impactful themes, and imaginative stories all in one tight collection. This was one of my most anticipated releases for the year and it absolutely did not disappoint. While I did have favorite stories, there wasn't a single miss.  I would describe them as more surreal literary fiction than horror, though there was an underlying darkness.

What really made this stand out for me as a collection are the breaks between the chapters where the titular Devil usually makes his appearances. These were the perfect glue to bring it all together as a cohesive collection. The writer featured in these breaks writes the short stories we read, making the experience feel rather meta. I can't help but think the cover for this book is absolutely perfect because it's stories within stories all the way down. 

My favorites of the collection were Rapture, Tropicalia, Antropofago, Idle Hands, and Hasselblad: Triptych. 

I think this is going to be one of those series that just feels like it was written for me. Locke and Jean are such fantastic characters that I love because they're Not Good People and are so willing to fuck around and find out. The best way I can describe it is that Locke is just one of those guys I love watching suffer. He'll eventually find a way out of whatever hole he ended up in and he'll get the last word at the end of the day. And I'm going to eat it up the whole time.

The scheme this time around already started complex with another huge heist in the works, and then Complications had to arise and then there were more schemes on top of more lies until it was all one delicate house of cards about to come crumbling down. And I loved every second of it!!! The world is so interesting and the writing is so good. The worst I can say is that part 2 slowed down a bit by the nature of where the story went, but I liked those moments so I'm not complaining! From what I remember, I think I liked book one more, but I'd have to reread it to know for certain. As it stands now, both are great and I definitely want to read book three sooner rather than later.

I promise I wanted to like this book, but it was pretty clear from the start that it was going to be a struggle for me. I see what the author was doing and I respect what she was going for, but there was just a bit too much that hampered my enjoyment.

The writing was my biggest hurdle and it didn't get any better by the end. The prose is very basic, and I think it was exasperated by the audiobook. Listening to someone narrate "I saw x. I did y." levels of sentence over and over quickly got on my nerves. The plot itself has been done before and didn't feel like it tread any new ground. Keera was a character I could get behind, but there were moments that felt... not really inconsistent, but poorly communicated. And that just goes back to the writing issue.

Clearly there are lots of people who really enjoy this book (and I'm happy for them!) and I'll definitely keep an eye on this author for future releases because I think there's some real promise, but I don't think this series will be for me.

The key to these books is to not take them seriously at all. It's just a silly goofy time with a really engaging audiobook. That being said, I didn't like this one as much as the first because it tried to be a little more serious by the nature of Lark having more baggage. Which is fine, I actually liked her as a character, but their relationship felt like... idk, it wasn't as fun as the first book. The writing was both less and more cringey, just in different ways. The amount this man growls was absolutely unreal. I'm not convinced the last book in the series will be any better but I'll probably still listen to the audiobook because.... you know why lol.

This is one of the darkest and heaviest books I've ever read. At its core, this book is angry and visceral with hatefulness directed at hate. It is disgusting, graphic, and often hard to stomach. And that's the whole point. The prose is almost like a fever dream at points and it demands full concentration on all the trauma that is unfolding. Despite all of that, I still found it a worthwhile read, though I would hesitate to recommend it widely.

This was okay. The audiobook kept me entertained while I was working, but I found the story to be predictable and not very creepy. I liked April and Eddie's dynamic and thought they were good characters, but idk, the whole story itself wasn't super compelling IMO.

When I first saw the synopsis for this book, I was convinced Gibson looked into my brain and wrote it just for me. Summoning demons, deals with devils, and messy poly relationships? Yes please! And I will not lie, I did eat this up. The characters and relationships was the strongest part of this book by far. I loved how messy and toxic David, Rhys, and Moira were all together. It was a rocky but believable road for them to get where they ended up and I loved every second of it. I was a little disappointed by the demonic curse aspects of the plot, though. It all felt weirdly glossed over and vague and left me a little unsatisfied. It gave me the feeling of things being cut out to keep the page count down. But now that I know the story is more focused on the characters, I'll have my expectations in the right place for the sequel.

Thank you to NetGalley/Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine: Inklore for the e-arc! Major TWs for noncon/dubcon and historic physical/emotional abuse.

I was super excited to see this book being traditionally published and getting a definitive english translation after previously reading part of the manwha. It's been long enough since I read it that some details have slipped my mind, but I know I liked it for the same reason I persisted with this novel: I wanted to see Maxi grow. Don't get it twisted, this is a character-driven romantasy about someone recovering from a deeply traumatic upbringing. Her romantic interest does not always help!! I would argue he makes things worse most of the time!

Maxi and Riftan are both incredibly insecure and have a lot of trouble communicating as a result. This is literal for Maxi as she has a stutter, but is mostly derived from years of abuse that has left her meek, scared, and feeling worthless. Riftan is a lowborn knight who has earned the title of lord through battle, and he feels inadequate to be married to the daughter of a duke. This explains but does not excuse his actions, temper, and the way he speaks to Maxi. The dynamic ends of being pretty toxic, as Maxi grows dependent on him despite him treating her more like an object than a real person. It's not a relationship that I can root for, in all honesty, but there is reflection near the end.

Due to the nature of the book having originally been published as a webnovel, the pacing is a little slow and meandering. There's a fair bit of repetition and the inclusion of unnecessary details. The ratio of plot to sex is... unbalanced, to say the least, especially for many of the first depictions being non-consensual. The book as a whole gets a lot better in the second half, but it just ends without ANY conclusion. I really hope they consider smoothing that out in the final release because it's very unsatisfying to just cut off. But the translation and localization throughout was pretty good, it all read really naturally.

Overall, I'm not sure I would be able to recommend this book to the general public until the series is complete and I can see the full arc of character development with both Maxi AND Riftan. Until then, maybe stick with the manwha, or at least start there to see if it interests you.