I loved the fantasy and adventure parts... 4⭐ for that.
The romance was unoriginal and formulaic and left a bad taste. I didn't even believe their feelings for each other were legit. Plus 2 pornographic sex scenes (chapter 20 and the last half of chapter 24). The book ending on that bit of 💩 is the memory I'm left with🤮 and the deciding factor for my rating.
If it had been fade to black or closed door my rating would have been much higher and I'd continue the series. This author is very skilled & writes an amazing fantasy that I'd love to read more of... Such a shame they had to ruin it with smut
This has been on my tbr since first publication. Figured I'd read it before checking out the movie. It's very different than what I was expecting. I'm so disappointed. And then the ending took all my problems I had with the book and slapped me with a giant "f*ck you, too". You couldn't pay me to watch the movie now.
Side note: the audiobook is just as awful. Thanks to Libby for making both formats accessible to me though❤