bunny_herondale's reviews
925 reviews

Huge thanks to NetGalley and Andrews McMeel Publishing for the e-arc

This is a short compilation of mini comics and illustrations that range from comedy to inspirational quotes, I was feeling a little down at the moment and they cheered me up, so that's good!

The artwork is really pretty and I really love cats, I think anyone who likes cats is going to enjoy this book. Is really short but really cute

Huge thanks to NetGalley and Orion Books for the e-arc. All opinions are my own.

This is a book that I've been wanting for read for such a long time, a couple of years ago someone recommended it on booktok back when it was self published, and after it was picked by Orion I requested an arc and got accepted, thus, we are here.

The book starts really slow but I think that's essential for us to understand how the world is built and how it works. So, I'm not going to go into much detail but basically, let's think of two dimensions in the same world. One dimension mimics the other. The dimension in which humans live is called the Wake, this other parallel dimension is called the Reverie.

The Reverie is inhabited by dream beings. The humans in the Wake dream, and their dreams manifest in the Reverie, but don't be fooled, they are pretty much alive and sentient like any other human in the Wake.

We have 4 main characters:
• Wren (also known as Nightstrider) is the Hand of the Para, she's a nightmare and probably the most powerful one, manifested by Para Warwick himself, the tyrannical ruler of the Reverie.
• Alaric (previously known as Bonehunter) is a rebel, previous Hand of the Para and therefore, a Nightmare. No one outside of the rebellion knows that he's still alive
• Ila Enevoldson is the Queen of Galesborough and a weaver, this means she can safely travel from the Wake to the Reverie. She's stuck in an arranged marriage with Caine Fallon, the son of King Warwick Fallon, Ila knows that Warwick is both the ruler of the Reverie and the cruel King of Wolfhelm.
• Caine Fallon is the Prince of Wolfhelm, he's completely ignorant to the Reverie and the fact that his own father is Para Warwick as well.

We follow the story through this different characters. In my opinion, the book was mainly introductory, which is good, since it's the beginning of a trilogy. However I found the plot pretty interesting, but I think I found it more enjoyable with the little information I had from the official synopsis so I won't go into further detail regarding that.

What I'm going to talk about is how well Sophia Slade managed to treat different topics with respect and also gave us a ton of different LGBTQ+ rep. She gives us an insight on the harm of imperialism and how rape or a rape attempt can really affect a person without making the story focus on those two points. And also how anyone can be a victim of rape, no matter how strong you are.

She also managed to show us how there can be corruption in rebellion and even though you have a good cause, that doesn't mean you're good.

I really hope we can get a release date for the sequel soon since this was a really satisfying read. I'll make a longer review with some spoilers after the book is released, but for now you just have to know this is a really good dark fantasy that promises so much.

(Also, in case you're wondering, we have a bisexual main character).