The synopsis of this book really sparked my interest, but I should really have read some of the reviews on the German original before going into this, because then I would have been better prepared for what was coming.

It surprised me that the book is only 300 pages long but had 8 main characters (plus two additional characters that only appear in the very beginning before being killed off, but they get just as much back story as the other eight). If an author wants to make that work, they better be brilliant or choose a narrator that fits it - and definitely not switch between ten (!) points of view that all try to drive the plot forward while at the same time give some insight to the characters‘ backgrounds.

The result of that was frankly that I did not feel any kind of connection with any of the characters. I didn’t care for them one bit, and neither did I care for who would win in the end.

Which brings me to my second major point of criticism (SPOILER ALERT): in the end, none of the six teenagers chosen were necessary to the plot or even played any major role. In the extremely short and poorly written final battle, most of them are killed off quickly and it essentially boils down to Martha and Tristan again. That Martha is killed by one of Tristan‘s allies (who is then killed off by one of Martha‘s allies) is not very believable and the conflict between the Zoe and Fynn doesn’t add any more to the story than a well written conflict between Martha and Tristan would have been.

So to sum it up, take all of the unnecessary characters out of the equation or let them actually have an impact on the plot, develop Martha and Tristan‘s past much better and work on the mindnumbingly repetitive writing style - and you might actually be left with a pretty good book. As it is, the pointless sex scenes and the amount of gore and violence is just off-putting and not balanced by any kind of character development or nuanced plot.

1.5/5 stars.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with this arc in exchange for an honest review.

Overall fast paced and a poetic writing style; however, the ending fell flat. Other than that the format of switching between each character was well thought out as it kept the story engaging. The characters were interesting and different - they did not feel like just cardboard cut out one dimensional characters. My personal favourite was Isobel. The stand out of the novel was definitely the setting. The setting of the Black Forest was immersive and compelling while also being set in a modern day time.

To be frank, I did not finish this book. The story did not start out very compelling, but I was somewhat drawn in after a few chapters. Unfortunately, it was not compelling enough for me to want to finish the book. I did not care for the author's writing style and found their adjective use wonting.

Queer epic fantasy is so needed in the YA space. This one had a great enemies-to-lovers plot, although there are several content warnings associated to antisemitism, racism, and xenophobia that readers should be aware of.

When the book description says this is fast paced- it's not exaggerating.

This book is not the type I normally read- I went into it not quite expecting some of the content. This is a story of a battle between good and evil. The story is told in small snippets, switching from character to character. Occasionally I came across wording that didn't quite make sense (which is expected as it's a translation). I did find that certain parts of the book seemed a bit too rushed- especially at the end.

If you like EXTREMELY fast paced stories that can be read in short bursts about the battle between good and evil- this is for you. Definitely google trigger warnings as well as check other reviews for trigger warnings.

This was a very quick read with really short chapters, it was so easy to just dip in during a lunch break. This was an ambitious concept and I gave this book 3 stars.

I thought that the premise of this book was just so exciting, I am a huge fan of fantasy novels and quests. It was a battle between good and evil, bother against brother, lover against lover. I enjoyed the gathering of the allies but it felt like there was maybe more behind the selection of the allies that wasn’t mentioned

While there were eight fighters, there were more than eight characters in this book, there were 10 important characters. I did find myself getting confused between some of Tristan’s cronies as they were so similar that it was easy to forget that they were different characters. I enjoyed that the allies weren’t the typical sort of hero characters. With so many characters, I found it difficult to warm towards many of them but I did really enjoy Isobel and the lovely old man with the dog

This book was set in The Black Forest which provided a really atmospheric environment, I am a huge sucker for a story that includes a forest and The Black Forest is possibly the most famous forest I can think of (other than Sherwood). While the book took place in some almost fairytale-like settings, the book was set in the modern era which was an interesting mix. I very much enjoyed the setting of this novel.

I really enjoyed the flashbacks which allowed me to learn more about the relationship between Tristan and Martha. Martha’s history felt unnecessarily violent and abusive. I was very annoyed at the reference to the sexual assault of a character to only existed in reference, it provided nothing to the storyline and wasn’t needed.

I honestly thought that this book was the first in a series. This was because the book took a quite leisurely pace for the first 80% of the novel, the pacing of this was fine as it really let me get into the book. The last 20% felt a little rushed and I was surprised because I thought that this book was building up to the climax which was over very quickly.

I did enjoy the twist in this book, I hoped it would happen and was pleased when it did!

I liked this book, it was ambitious but felt a little rushed in places and I felt like there were a lot of missing explanations. This book included scenes of sexual assault, spousal abuse, racism, xenophobia, violence and anti-semitism, so please bear this in mind if you are picking this up-please look after yourself. I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to the publisher for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review

This book was really good in principle and lee-way for language has to be given as it is translated from German. There was some really poetic lines and good characterisation - I particularly liked the 'lovers-to-enemies' trope that was explored in a really unique way - and the novel was fast-paced so I was always engaged, but overall the premise felt under-developed and a lot of things went unexplained. There were also references to Nazism which made me, as a Jewish person, uncomfortable and due to the nature of this book there are also references made to graphic racism, xenophobia, sexual assault and murder so I would definitely check the trigger warnings before reading.

This story about a man and a woman who come to current time from long ago . One represents good and the other evil. They are set to fight each other for the continued existence of the human world. They are looking for a chosen few to help them in this battle. I enjoyed the story but felt that it was too rushed and concluded too quickly. I think the story could have been more fleshed out . The final battle, which the whole story is leading up to, was over too quickly. For me, the storyline was good but it did not live up to its full potential.