Reviews with content warning for Body horror - Children of Fallen Gods

Definitely gets darker than the first book, but in a way that adds to the story and characters, not just for shock. The romance was cuter and more enjoyable. Pacing was a little weird, especially with three or four POVs. It felt like long build up for a mostly off page battle. I did like actual character development, seeing Max

connect with his troops, but then struggle with what that bond means, and then at the end, choosing that bond over the idea of running

. Same with Tisaanah, who spent book 1 and a good amount of book 2 performing, putting on shows and great displays of power, but by the end

she finally goes to the people and is real and vulnerable with them

. Nura is interesting, idk if I necessarily wanted more time with her, but i wish there was more of A) an emotional impact of her discovering

fey still exist

, B) the change in her strategy to prepare for

the war she saw

, and C) the way

kidnapping and trying to extract powers from fey

impacts her mentally.

I did really enjoy Aefe's story. It was a bit of a leap in character for her to go from trusting, loving, and compassionate to

someone who murdered Max's whole family and was then confused about why he was upset (as Reshaye)

and then another leap to

sacrifice herself for Tisaanah after one "selfless act" to protect Max, when both of them have done a good number of selfless things across the two books

. Like I know she's been through a LOT, but it did feel a little disjointed.

Content Warnings

kristanjenkins's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Content Warnings

chasinggrace's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous challenging emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

This book reminded me of how I felt for the first half of Heir of Fire, or during Kingdom of Ash. Our cast is split up from the beginning, and that made it hard to be motivated to read the story. Plus, we’re introduced to an entirely new set of characters, seemingly out of nowhere.

However, once I was hooked, I was hooked.

reading about Tisaanah’s and Max’s experience in Zeryth’s war was what I thought the entire book would be about. Boy was I WRONG. the introduction of Aefe and the entire Fey storyline was intriguing and confusing and made no sense until the 80% mark but when it DID, it all fucking clicked. Also, Caduan being ALIVE??? Ishqa’s betrayal??? There were so many times in the last 25% of this book where my jaw was on the floor.

Also - Nura? Yeah, FUCK her. I felt so much sympathy for her during her POV chapter but that all fucking shattered when I realized what she did to Max. What she said about Max during his trial. Where she put him. That bitch is INSANE.

The entire world is about to feel Tisaanah’s wrath and I am so ready for it.

Content Warnings

ashleynp24's review

Go to review page

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

absolutely crying over the fact Caduan didn’t actually die and he went back for Aefe!!!! And now she’s an entire living being again which is crazy. I was really hoping for a Nura redemption arc but clearly she is the main villain. Max got the absolute dogshit end of the stick so I’m interested see how this plays out. Felt kind of like an idiot not realizing sooner that Reshaye and Aefe are the same person. I didn’t realize Aefe’s timeline was taking place years prior so when it was revealed it was like everything clicked for me.

Content Warnings