(3.5 ★’s) This free Hawke’s POV can be found HERE—just subscribe to JLA’s newsletter.
And now it is time to display, in a very convincing manner, that (3.5 ★’s) This free Hawke’s POV can be found HERE—just subscribe to JLA’s newsletter.
And now it is time to display, in a very convincing manner, that I’m quite capable of resisting the urge to turn into gushing mush over this inhuman being—
*coughs* *straightens shirt* Where were we? Oh yes, reasons why I loved this little piece which you should make sure to read after book one and not before it:
➸ For one thing, well, obviously Hawke duh. This has me craving more Hawke POVs I’m just saying. His conviction that no vile act of his will surpass what his enemies have done, his odd sense of honour, and his adorably lacking ability in expressing his emotions makes reading events from his eyes way more enticing. He is definitely a selfish son of a gun and we just cannot (and yes here comes the dreaded double negative I can’t resist using) NOT stan.
You know what? Throw all that out the window. What really made this a worthy read was witnessing his initial reaction to Poppy overflow with immediate delighted surprise and disarming curiosity, and seeing sense creep into the senseless decision he made at the beginning of From Blood and Ash.
Whatever game this girl was about, I was done playing it without knowing what cards I’d been dealt. I tugged the hood back, exposing her face— Holy shit.
➸ I personally love it when a character we’d only read from one perspective is seen from the outside, and JLA just made that possible for Poppy. Honestly, this might be a small detail no one cares about and which I weirdly do, but I had no idea what Poppy even sounded like. Naturally, a person rarely describes their own voice, and it’s even more rare for that description to match what others hear. So reading Hawke listen to Poppy and comment on her voice was strangely satisfying—I was simultaneously as shocked as Hawke and yet not surprised at all, because that earthy voice fits her.
And that’s it. It was also hot as hell but that’s not new information. I’m done.
If you value your sanity, don’t read this book unless you also hold the sequel—but if you’re my friend, you probably never valued your sanity(4.5 ★’s)
If you value your sanity, don’t read this book unless you also hold the sequel—but if you’re my friend, you probably never valued your sanity anyways. So allow me to give you a breakdown of what is currently going on in my obsessed brain:
✦ Am I too biased to even attempt to rate this objectively? Definitely. ✦ Isn’t the rating ultimately about my thoughts and emotions and, besides, can’t it be said that if the issues did not obscure my enjoyment then they don’t truly matter to me anyhow? I believe so, yes. ✦ And did I love this? Love? I am dead. ✦ Did that love have everything to do with the romance and characters which are, in the end, the entire point of this paranormal-fantasy romance? Undoubtedly. ✦ Were the characters and romance everything I, the aromantic dark-loving I, look for when picking up romance? Unequivocally ✦ Are they particularly healthy? Not really. ✦ Do I care? Not even a little bit. ✦ Will you now be assaulted with me “level-headedly” gushing over this romance and trying to explain why it’s so special to me? You got it. *winky wink*
To put it simply: if you, like me, crave from time to time a disarmingly seductive and feral new adult romance of enemies to lovers in an engagement of convenience, overflowing with deliciously addictive drama, delightfully humourous banter, easy-to-love side characters, and wickedly creative steam, a recurring theme of real or play-pretend deftly woven throughout its every thread, and want it to be unique and make you feel and cheer and bleed, A Kingdom of Flesh and Fire will provide even better than its predecessor, with a young woman who will never again be a passive pawn, a prince who is more mad than man, and a war of love where neither side is afraid to fight to steal a heart and keep their own.
“Beauty, my sweet child, is often broken and barbed, and always unexpected.”
I’ll admit, this series feels like a mix of so many pieces plucked from other bestsellers, namely Twilight and A Court of Mist and Fury, except it’s somehow not a bad reminder because the pieces are turned on their heads. Where Twilight had a problematically romanticised dynamic of a cat and a mouse, AKoFaF has two cats playing chase. Where ACoMaF was too sweetly romantic for me, AKoFaF does it more ferociously. Honestly, what is more captivating than two savage souls tearing into one another, taking pieces and denying that the other holds too many of theirs?
Now to put it not simply:
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➸ AKoFaF Vs. FBaA: Fave or Not?
Let’s let get the whining out of the way before I can get to the level-headed gushing. AKoFaF is, technically, better than FBaA. Which is only natural, as the tension is already there, the scale is grander, the world is vaster, it’s even smuttier (and I do not say this lightly because I was murdered), etcetera etcetera, you know how this goes. BUT, while I’m giving both books the same rating, while they are both predictable and I don’t mind, while both are not good at building mysteries in a way that it makes sense before unravelling, FBaA was a fave (an all-time fave) and AKoFaF was not. Why?
✧ What made FBaA iconic is no longer there: It doesn’t matter that the first book was smaller in scale—bigger scale does not automatically equal a better book. And From Blood and Ash did what it did just right, focusing on the iconic dynamic of a secret-warrior Maiden and her shameless flirt of a guard; but AKoFaF did not. With a bigger scale comes a bigger responsibility, and you just can’t take the same approach and unceremoniously dump it into a wholly different type of book. JLA did capture the grandness rather well at the very end, and she evidently stole my heart again. And yet.
✧ Someone explain to me why people found FBaA to have a slow start and not AKoFaF: With FBaA, being stuck in a keep was understandable and expected; there was no urgency to move from the MC’s home. But in AKoFaF you turn every page waiting for them to get off your asses and move already. And yet they don’t. Don’t get me wrong, I loved all the small drama and the new enemies to lovers romance, but it needed to happen on the move dammit not in a keep no one cares about.
✧ There is no conclusion what the fuck: I’m just gonna go ahead and question my and everyone else’s sanity who thinks this is a complete book. Spoiler alert, it’s not. Or maybe I just misplaced the last chapters where the build up and the mysteries raised through the entire book actually got even a semi answer. My bad. Please move on to my incessant gushing now.
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➸ Romance: The Heart & Soul of It All
“You’re beautiful when you’re quiet and somber, but when you laugh? You rival the sunrise over the Skotos Mountains.”
In all the vast, wild world, there are different kinds of relationships; there are cute partners who give each other sweet whispers and kisses, there are steely partners who provide peace in their steady embrace, and then there are playful partners whose very dynamic is a cat and mouse chase. All relationships have a little bit of the three, but yours magnanimously naughty soul gravitates, unsurprisingly, towards the ones with a dominant playful side. That’s why I live for Poppy and Cas.
In all the aforementioned vast, wild world though, there are also different kinds of understanding; when we hear the word, don’t we usually think of sympathy for another’s pain, comradeship in compassion, or acceptance of different beliefs? Well, what about rage or hate? What about understanding one’s vengeance and seeking no sympathy? Understanding is, as a rule, crucial to us living side by side as varied humans, but yours raging truly gravitates, you guessed it, towards the latter the most. That is also why I live for Poppy and Cas.
“Retribution is yours, if you want it,” he said. “And if not, I will be your blade, the thing that ends his miserable existence. It’s your choice.”
Readers keep comparing these two to Feysand from A Court of Mist and Fury and they need to stop. Stop this madness right this moment! Feyre and Rhysand are, as a rule, sweetness seeking people. Yes, they have their playful side, but the core of their relationship is being cute and adorable and romantic and whispering sweet nothings. That doesn’t make them any less of a great couple (I do love them), it just makes them less of a my type of couple. Whereas Poppy and Cas, despite occasionally being romantic and adorable and making declarations of love, operate on a bloodsport-type of dynamic (seriously, Raleigh Ritchie’s song Bloodsport exists for these two no kidding; you can find it on my playlist), baiting, circling one another, looking to draw first blood. It’s a constant, neverending challenge, a game of who will best whom, and it killed me and revived me and dug a den deep into my abandoned heart and no I’m not dramatic you’re dramatic.
Their repeated scenarios of stabbing-threats and pretending-promises aren’t JLA being out of ideas (her banter and, obviously, drop-dead steamy scenes are signs of her creativity), what they are is an accurate, in-character core to their bond, the type of which you’d usually find in well-developed partnerships with too much history. What they are is a cycle: he teases, she brandishes dagger, he in enticed, she is enticed, so he teases, so she brandishes dagger, so he is enticed even more, and you know how it goes. That most likely sounds like a very dysfunctional romance, but to quote Cas, “You can’t spell dysfunctional without fun, now can you?” He wants a fight, she wants a fight, it’s a win-win. And them both being vengeful, ruthless creatures and experiencing a blooming development to embrace the other’s darker side is only a plus. Stop criticising them for not being a sane, boring, logical matching please and thank you.
“By the way, I’m not yours,” I told him. “I don’t belong to anyone but myself. Nothing changes that.” “What if I just wanted a piece of you? A tiny piece that belonged to me? [...] Tell me what piece of you I can have. It can be any piece of your choosing. Whatever it is, I’ll take it.” His chin grazed my cheek. “It will be my most prized possession.”
Three further points to note in response to criticism of AKoFaF: ❶ the issues and possibly problematic aspects to their dynamic are not glossed over and instead acknowledged, ❷ he is clearly insane, and she wants him not as in the body-betrying kind but the I-want-you-even-as-I-hate-you, I-love-you-even-as-I-shouldn’t, and I-might-be-a-little-insane-too one, there is a difference, and ❸ even as Cas perpetually teases Poppy, he is not dismissing her and laughing at her but in delight of how she is serious about her threats, all because he loves the challenge she is.
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➸ Casteel: I Will FiveEver Be Swooning
“That was a temporary loss of sanity.” “That’s my favorite kind.”
You see, the reason I’m in love with Cas is not because he is devilishly charming, irresistibly handsome, and willfully princely (though that helps), neither is it because he is impossibly insufferable, unbelievably challenging, and endearingly ridiculous (though that came close); it’s because he is an unhinged, vicious, murderous tyrant next to all the above, having gone through horrors, changing, and then carrying out his own horrible acts, effectively earning the title of the Dark One (unlike SOME hero-or-villain supposedly dark YA love interests *cue eye roll*). Casteel is mad, but all the best people are.
One of the main reasons for why AKoFaF slayed as it did was the delve into Cas’s character, deadly dark side and lonely vulnerable side all unleashed on the reader. I can only beg JLA to not ruin him in the sequel because finding a character I stan this much is rare and scary—too many times have authors chosen to step back from the madness, efficiently breaking my heart of ice. I still bear the bruises.
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➸ Poppy: I Agree With Casteel on This One
“Fearing what you’re capable of doesn’t mean I fear you.”
I know Cas has said it enough times but...she is rather violent, isn’t she. I realise that coming at things like a battering ram is not the best strategy (it’s actually one reason why Gryffindors, despite being a huge part of me, annoy me every now and then) but I, to put it simply, adore her. Maybe it’s because I relate to her impulsive randomness, maybe it’s due to how hilarious her living-to-snap way of life is (I would sacrifice anything for a good laugh—even you); or perhaps it’s based on her aching for freedom or how she remains clever and rather wise when she’s not overwhelmed by her emotions; mayhaps it has to do with her deserving the “badass female lead” description, her rashness pointed out as she proceeds to provide me with a queenly character development. I have no idea.
What I do know is that Poppy spent too long trapped in silence as her future was chosen for her, her life discussed around her with only being on the recieving end of an order, and she will no longer wait to be rescued or controlled. I cheered with every breath in and every breath out for her to show them all that, “forcing a warrior to don a veil of submission was never going to last.”
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➸ Kieran: A Moment of Appreciation, Please
I turned to him. “Were you injured?” “Would you fret with worry if I was?” The corners of my lips turned down. No? Yes? “Not particularly.” “Ouch.” He pressed a hand to his chest. “You wound me yet again.” “He’s not wounded,” Kieran answered. “At least, not physically. Emotionally, I believe you left him shredded.”
This is naught but a short paragraph of me telling you of how thoroughly my baby Kieran snatched my heart with his semi-bored constant sarcasm, his growing friendship with Poppy rooted in his imparting of wisdom, and his precious bromance with Cas. Move along now.
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➸ World Building: Do I Need To Rant Again?
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Fortunately for you, the answer is no. Yes, there were still parts of the mythology that were poorly explained (e.g. everything that has to do with the deities and heartmates) but the missing glue creeped between the jumble of picked paranormal slash fantasy elements to turn the mismatched into a successful match, and the world expanded tenfold. So, you won’t hear me complaining. (I realise you just did, but shhhhh, go to sleep.)
The core ingredients in my fighting-depression arsenal:
➊ book with an i-am-dying level of hilariousness ➋ book with an i-shall-overdose level of adorabThe core ingredients in my fighting-depression arsenal:
➊ book with an i-am-dying level of hilariousness ➋ book with an i-shall-overdose level of adorableness ➌ book with an oh-my-rainbow-heart level of LGBT+ rep ➍ accordingly chosen music for playlist ➾ Spotify link Or, you know, in short: this book aka Boyfriend Material.
“I’m in love with you, Lucien. But it seems hardly adequate.”
You need to understand, the humour in this book shines quite blindingly through every scene, be it awkward, sweet, or emotional, making it less a hot and sexy adult romance and more a lethally cute and funny one. Honestly, it’s just heart emoji if it had two covers and 400+ pages.
So if you’re looking for a rolling on the floor laughing my ass off type of book about fake dating going horribly wrong (or right, depending on your perspective), sprinkled with life as adult gay men, clueless posh English nobles, relationship drama that is extremelyreal and different, being haunted by rockstar parents, some insight to life as a vegetarian, work as a barrister, and a job at a charity (I mean insights into getting people to give you their money without shouting “give me your money you potato burger”), dripping with too-adorable lessons on the complications of relationships and trust and generally oh my god I have feelings what do I do for a hedgehog main character...you’ve come to the right place.
I loved it, not least because it was not set in America thank you lord?
“You really do own your illiteracy, don’t you?” “Yeah, I’m thinking about moving to America and running for public office.”
Guys I swear I made an effort to keep it short this time I swear but then I started writing, and I have no idea what happened next.
CW ➾ homophobia, abandonment by parent, narcissistic parent, emotional abuse
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The Humour That Be
You all know me, I’m a clown, I admire clowns, and I value humour most in my books. And I realise that I’m also an unstable weirdo who laughs at worldwide disasters and a crack in the wall (which in reality is funny but that’s another conversation) BUT, oh my god this book is absolutely hilarious. Like, asphyxiation, suffocation, choke you till you die hilarious (which is not as grim as it may sound—a worthy end to a life, really).
The writing is so witty and absurd; it makes jokes the way you chat up ab attractive lady slash dude slash whocaresaboutgender—rather smooth and disarming, is what I mean. The banter is only the start of it; what’s most unique about Boyfriend Material is its creativity in creating iconic and persistent patterns and brands of humour and weaving them all throughout the pages from one cover to the other, so that many jokes connect but also diverge and pop up in unexpected places in the most perfect way. And that is why I had a blast with every page.
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The Representation That Be
Anybody can put together a cast of lesbian, gay, bi, etc characters and call it a yay-day, but it’s quite something else for the baggage they drag into the page to make them feel less like boxes ticked off a grocery-like list and more like, you know, actual human beings. With Boyfriend Material, even though the aforementioned baggage is not fully and deeply opened and stifled through, it’s constantly present and considered in the character’s everyday lives and conversations to be real rather than fake or overwhelming.
“You should never let anyone tell you it is wrong to be how you are.”
Too many LGBT+ books are about only the most painful and/or prominent moments of a person’s life, and while there is never enough books on stepping out of the closet and finding yourself and your place, this community also needs easy rep of everyday drama.
What if you’ve come out to all your friends and family and have a healthy relationship of love and acceptance with all the people in your personal life? What’s next? How do you live a normal life and deal with all the different people out in the world, having their own understanding, ignorant, or (veiled) homophobic opinions? Those are the exact type of questions Alexis Hall tells a story about.
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The Characters That Be (this got long whoops)
★ Protagonist:
Luc is the human equivalent of a hedgehog. You might want to hug him but as soon you get remotely near you should pick up a shield because ohmygod ohmygod vulnerability alert cannot deal i repeat cannot deal ready for launch. I’m not even kidding.
“It’s just…it’s going to be all hard and messy.” “Lots of things are. Many of them are still worth doing.” It was a sign of quite how fucked up I was feeling that I didn’t try to make a joke out of hard, messy or, indeed, worth doing.
He’s such a haunted, wounded, pessimistic, self-deprecating, miserable, sarcastic, paranoid mess of a drama queen (rightfully so because, when all you see of yourself is what the tabloids show you, what else do you expect) who’s rather fond of his teenager mode that I just want to hug the 28 yo bellend, damn being impaled. His growth was handled so deftly and smoothly, with the necessary bumps in the road of course, and it was so heartfelt and precious to see him learn to communicate and trust.
✯ Love Interest:
I have zero idea what to do with Oliver because oh my god this dude. Really, as Luc put it, “Normally I didn’t do sweet but, well, Oliver.” He’s the very definition of a gentleman, ugh. Respectful and considerate yet opinionated and ethical (I mean jeez only Oliver could turn a brownie into an ethical quandary), clean and serious yet secretly funny and rebellious, soft and delicate yet protective and slightly controlling. So patient, so caring, so outrageously thoughtful (master of logistics and being careful, if I say so myself).
And he’s trying so hard and, ugh, dammit, it turns him into such an adorable secretly anxious lion-looking puppy—which makes no sense, what with one being from the dear old cat family and one the loyal dog one. I just cannot resist sharing his texting panic:
I was unexpectedly de-sleeped by a buzzing from my phone at 5:00 a.m.: My apologies. Next time, I’ll send a photograph of my penis. And then several further buzzings. That was a joke. I should probably make it clear that I’m not intending to send you any pictures. I’ve never sent that sort of thing to anybody. As a lawyer, it’s hard not to be aware of the potential consequences. I also realise you’re probably asleep at the moment. So perhaps if you could just delete the previous five messages when you wake up. Of course, I should emphasise that I am not meaning to imply any judgment about people who do choose to send intimate photographs to one another. It’s just not something I’m comfortable with. Of course if it is something you’re comfortable with, I understand. Not that I’m suggesting you have to send me a picture of your penis. Oh God, can you please delete every text I’ve ever sent you.
He had me frustrated yet amused and drowning in adoration, shaking my head and going awwwwwww every other chapter while, frankly, if I met him in real life there would probably be less amusement and adoration and more devising an evil plan to shake his life to the core, driving him right over a metaphorical cliff questioning all his beliefs and messing up all the meticulously ordered aspects of his life. Don’t look so surprised, you already know I’m evil.
Now that I really think about it though, I’m starting to come to the conclusion that I have, indeed, met him in real life. He’s my eldest brother *insert poker face* I...I don’t quite know what to do with that information.
☆ Sidekicks:
You know that friend (or maybe not friend, maybe it’s yourself) who is so absurd or weird or different that they end up always standing out like a sore thumb, whenever and wherever, for good or worse, and has people whispering that one is such a character? That’s all the characters in this book.
Like Alex The Posh And Incomprehensible Co-Worker who, if you held an exam on puns with scores from 0 to 100, would get a pretty minus with adorable bunny ears. No, scratch that, he’d receive a full mark and forever ruin all kinds of jokes for you—I honestly don’t think I can listen to the knock-knock joke or the elephant ones without thinking of his take; which is a good thing, I believe, since it would drive me to laugh harder than asked for by the dear joker. Seriously, the man uses hashtags like this:
Or Priya The Only One With An Automobile AKA Truck who, even in her short scenes, managed to steal my heart with her ice-thorny attitude and steadfast support. Not gonna lie, it might be because she unbelievably reminded me of Amren from my other current read.
Or Bridget The Group’s Token Straight Girl and her publishing industry dramas, sweeping in with a you are not gonna believe what happened and an I can’t really talk about it but and a I’m definitely gonna get fired. I was literally sitting with my eyes glued to the metaphorical door waiting for her to make a hasty entrance and steal the stage.
“Either you never trust anybody ever again, and pretend that stops people hurting you when clearly it doesn’t. Or, um, don’t do that. And maybe your house will burn down. But, at least you’ll be warm. And probably the next place will be better. And come with an induction hob.”
Or even Sophie The Evil Lawyer From The Other Gang who I immediately became obsessed with. Or, truly, Tom who was the rare sensible one among them and I have no idea why he would bother to hang out with these nut-houses except if he’s got a secret weird fetish for their weirdness and needs them in his life the way you’d need puppies. Or Dr. Fairclough whom I can’t begin to summarise in one sentence—I mean I could, but I don’t want to.
I’ll be honest, at first I felt as if the friends and family coming along for the ride all sounded the same, but that is so not the case. Yes, the MC and most of his group of friends do have constant banter that feels on the same wavelength, but of course it makes sense that birds of a feather flock together. Most of their gang and even his, duh, mum speak the same language (seriously, I have the same out-of-nowhere back-and-forths with folks who share my crazy or are compatible with it) while that very humour applied to people outside of their circle could invite amusement, bewilderment, or nothing, falling flat with a loud, awkward thump. It was when I could say which of the two James Royce-Royces (yes they’r married, don’t even ask) was speaking that I saw how real these words on a page had become to me.
The way I see it, what makes these characters remarkable and tangible is their small quirks, annoying habits, and persistent figures of speech and thought—I know that’s not an actual thing but, please, bear with me. Such as the way Luc’s mum could say such well-meaning clueless things that would be possibly harmful but are not because she succeeds in getting her wisdom and actual meaning across. Somehow.
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The Relationships That Be
This was why relationships sucked: they made you need shit you’d been perfectly happy not needing. And then they took them away.
I don’t think I’m actually in fit condition to discuss this...beautiful, unforgettable, filled-with-endearing-arguments, so-palpable-it-was-about-to-step-out-of-the-page-and-murder-me...matter, seeing as I’ve had a couple of peculiar near-death experiences from cuteness overdose. So forgive me as I skip this step and just very calmly thank the author for having the characters quickly address problems arising from lack of communication. Mature relationships and drama that seeks to identify other challenges in people’s psyche instead of the same old same old formula of miscommunication and panic will forever be what I would sell my soul for (I should stress that I did not mean that literally; my soul is not up for sale Ms. Hall, for I do not have one).
The wholesome, fully developed friendships and familial bonds despite—or should I say because of—complications were also nothing short of marvelous. And I wholeheartedly appreciated how the family struggles were concluded realistically, if not happily, or in one case only began to be dealt with—it was refreshing, so there’s that. And I’m done. Shoo, now.
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The Themes That Be
(If you were not wondering whether I’d misplaced or forgotten my let’s dig deep and see what the book really had to say and generally overanalyse everything part, that you do not know me my dear—which is for the best, really. Do say a prayer of thanks.)
“I’m coming to the conclusion I might be unbelievably terrified.” “Me too,” I said. “But let’s be terrified together.”
With all its jokes and fun times, Boyfriend Material is about dealing with and facing life head on because the more we try to hide from something, the more power we give it. It shows why you need to accept that you need help, and realise that no one else is going to sweep in and suddenly turn your life upside down; no matter how much they help you move forward and see your path more clearly, it’s you who walks it. And more importantly, it’s about understanding and taking the first step and the second step and the third one, rather than finishing a journey that doesn’t really have an end. That, in the end, the world is not going to become heaven populated by nice and kind people.
And that, really, it’s not about the three words, it’s about everything that came before it and everything that comes after it....more
Lo and behold: the Middle Book Syndrome strikes again. Sigh. Made for a great playlist (Spotify URL) but oh the mess that this was...
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B&HLo and behold: the Middle Book Syndrome strikes again. Sigh. Made for a great playlist (Spotify URL) but oh the mess that this was...
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B&H was both better and worse than its predecessor—no longer underdeveloped yet bearing a plot that is hot mess incarnate, sprinkled with lots of filler aaanddd not much of anything else, plus daring to reverse all arcs back to ground zero.
I mean, Reid was practically intolerable.
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I enjoyed it (thus the 3 stars that, according to GR, translate to “I liked it”) because (a) I loved seeing Lou finally live up to her I’m dark claims and (b) the writing was fantastic and much improved and (c) world, relationships, and concepts were better developed and of course (d) Beau is bae.