Check your TWs. Seriously.

I wish Zander had focused more on the court politics than the... I don't even really want to call it spiciness. So much of it was SA, and not the CNC type. These characters were genuinely distressed. What really put me off is how Zander have every single one of her characters who were SA'd secretly like it. What an awful fucking message.

There's a line between dark romance and the romanticization of abuse, and this book crossed it.

It's really a pity because this book had so much potential in terms of court intrigue and its magic system.

I was going to rate this 3 for a majority of the book, but I was nearing the end I bumped it up to a 4 ⭐️. Such an interesting complex dynamic between our 3 main characters: Galantia, Sebian, and Malyr.
This is very dark so caution ⚠️ lots of dark heavy themes.
I had a hard time in some spaces of this read, but I really enjoyed the ending. It made me want to read the next one.
I love raven shifters.

This is an EXCELLENT dark fantasy/ paranormal romance. Well written, woven with the perfect balance of plot, spice and darkness. The author lures you in and then shatters you. Love that mmc's are ravens. Can't wait to read the next one!

Plot: .5
Writing: 1
World building: .5
Characters: .5
Themes: .5
3/5

Spice: 3.5/5
Audiobook: 4/5

This one was a good spicy read about raven shifters. All of the world building was kind of confusing. We didn't get much depth into the world or magic at all. The plot was ok, I think I'm just not a fan of it. The spice was ok, we have a sort of love triangle and some group scenes.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

Holy wow! This book had all the spice and steam! The world of this book was so harsh and cruel. I am in awe of how much I enjoyed this book and that twist at the end was the perfect way to end the book. I am in desperate need of the next book!

thank you to netgalley for the advanced reading copy. I really enjoyed this and will be getting copies for my shop.

I wasn't entirely sure what to expect going into Feathers So Vicious. I knew it was dark and had a MFM dynamic - which aren't things that are typically at the top of my what-I-want-from-a-read list; but the cover. THAT COVER. It spoke to me. Every time I scrolled past it on Netgalley, I stopped a questioned whether I was going to request it. Three days before it released, I gave into the cover and hit that request button. And I'm so glad I did!

When I dive into the darker side of romance I'm always a little worried I'm going to end up in the land of all sex and no plot - which is not my favorite place to be. While this story has spice in both quantity and quality (and admittedly a few suspension of disbelief moments worthy of eye rolls) it also has excellent world building AND a solid political fantasy plot between warring kingdoms.

My favorite part in the world building is that Liv Zander's has solved the age old question of "where does the mass go?" when humans shift into smaller animals by giving each of them their very own flock to shift into. Each shifter's unkindness is comprised of Ravens that hold a different part of their human's magic; and I just found it all very fresh and interesting.

Oh and EXCUSE ME CLIFFHANGER I DIDN'T SEE COMING. I mean... It's a duet, I knew there would be a cliffhanger, but I didn't expect it to be THAT. Definitely keeping my eyes out for book 2 in November.

If you love morally grey characters and shadow daddies, this is for you. If you're a romantasy reader looking to branch out into some darker romance, this could be a solid mix of the two for you to try out (but definitely check out the trigger warnings of Liv's site!).

"Feathers so Vicious is a full-length dark fantasy romance novel, and book one in the Court of Ravens duet."

I loved Liv Zanders duology of The Pale Court, and this first book of this duology did not disappoint! I cannot wait for the next installment!

Feathers so Vicious was the perfect blend of fantasy and dark romance and I ate it up! The progression of the plot and the characters was very well done, but I felt Galantias character was contradictory at times. Though described as sweet and innocent, she was incredibly vicious herself at times and I had a bit of difficulty connecting with her character. Otherwise, this was a very enjoyable read and I greatly look forward to the next.

Dark & steamy!

Galantia was taken captive by a group of Ravens, who are humans with the ability to shapeshift, as an act of retribution for the cruel treatment that her father inflicted upon their kind. Malyr, the leader of the Ravens, entrusted Sebian with Galantia's care while he deliberated on her ultimate fate. During her time under Sebian's guardianship, Galantia had the opportunity to explore the city and experience intimacy for the first time.

Although I found the MCs to be well-developed, I think it could have added more depth to the story if they interacted more with the secondary characters. Furthermore, I believe that some additional world-building would have made the reading experience even more immersive. Besides that, it was an entertaining read that I didn't want to put down!

Highly recommend for fans of darker romances and the captor/captive trope.

*Make sure to read all the warnings before diving into this novel. This is not for everyone.*

*** Thank you to NetGalley, Liv Zander, and Dreamscape Media for graciously sending me the audiobook to review. As always, all thoughts are my own.***

Thank you for the arc. I made it to 60% through the audiobook & dnf’d. I think it was the world building, it was distracting through out the audiobook. It just felt really random and distracting.

I found "Feathers so Vicious" to be absolutely egregious. I had to DNF at 33% because I found the content to be so distressing; I am genuinely shocked that this book has such a high rating. Let's dive into the plot.

"Feathers so Vicious" follows the innocent and neglected Galantia as she is kidnapped by our two love interests, Malyr and Sebian, who are part of a supernatural race of raven shifters. Galantia has been taught her entire life that Ravens are twisted and evil, that they rape and pillage for their own pleasure, and hate non-shifters above all else. Malyr and Sebian immediately prove all these rumors right when they steal Galantia away and each fantasizes about assaulting her starting from the moment they lay eyes on her. In the Raven stronghold, Galantia realizes how sheltered she has been and begins to discover what life is like for Ravens. She meets all sorts of side characters and begins to doubt everything she knew before.

I found the plot of "Feathers so Vicious" to be horribly predictable. At around 5% in I could tell that Galantia was going to learn that it was really the non-shifters who started the war, that everything she thought she knew was wrong, and that her kidnappers weren't really the bad guys and blah blah blah. The side characters were so one-dimensional, especially the women (they were catty and all jealous of each other, boring).

What I found to be even worse than the plot however, was the amount of graphic assult there is in this book. Big TW.

In the first few chapters of the book, Malyr begins a pattern of violently assaulting Galantia whenever he sees her - she says no repeatedly in every instance there is no dubious consent it's straight-up assault. Around 30% of the book, Sebian joins in as well. He is not as violent, but still Galantia says no repeatedly in those interactions as well.

The book also provides us with many flashbacks where we get to learn more about our male protagonists. These are even more violent and include graphic scenes of children being sexually assaulted as well.

It doesn't just include these scenes however, the narration is so forgiving of all the violent assaults, and the scenes of child abuse are used as justification for the male protagonists' enjoyment of assaulting women. I honestly can't conceive of anyone enjoying this. It's not a dark fantasy romance. I enjoy dark romance and I enjoy dark fantasy. It honestly reads like a sick fanfiction.

I don't recommend this book to anyone. I cant believe there are reviews that call this book "steamy." If I could give this book 0/5 I would, but I cant so I give a 1/5.

I received this book as an ARC in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher.

The characters are really well written, and make you want to slap the sh** out of them sometimes! Be mindful of the trigger warnings in this book and be sure you are prepared! It is SUUUUUPER spicy though and wonderful!!
Thank you NetGalley for the audiobook!

The narrators did w wonderful job bring these characters to life! I loved this dark twisted 3 way I found with in these pages. I can’t wait for the next book. Please listen to this book you will not be disappointed!

~My Book Obsession Approved~

“Feathers So Viscious” was fullllll of spice, from beginning to end. The spice level of this one is truly off the charts :)

Liv Zander did a great job of reeling you in with Galantia’s family story and teasing us with the fact that Galantia’s family perception could possibly be skewed. We soon start to discover that all of these characters have secrets to uncover.

I’m still trying to decide if I like Sebian and Malyr, but I know they added lots of “flavor” to this spicy dish :) I would recommend this story to those who enjoyed ACOTAR, but wished the first book was spicier. This is that story.

Thank you to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for the chance to read this early in exchange for an honest review. My opinions are completely my own.

Overall, I liked ‘Feathers so Vicious’ by Liv Zander, especially the multi-cast audiobook, but I had one major problem, even with the trigger warnings (which I cannot stress enough to pay attention to): the gratuitous SA scenes. Dark romance can get pretty twisted, and I’ve read some wild shit, but dark romance does NOT automatically equal copious amounts of non-consensual SA, especially of younger characters, which I think bothered me the most. I’m not shaming kinks, but in even the darkest romance I’ve read, there’s at least an allusion to consent. And that’s what was missing from a lot of scenes here.

Maybe it would have been better (if they absolutely needed to be included) had the scenes just been hinted at. Maybe. How violent and graphic those past SA scenes were—fully non-consensual SA’s, no hint of dubcon or CNC in sight—was just not necessary. They weren’t sexy. Even the barest allusion to consent in dark romance is what makes it hot. Outright, violent SA of young characters who are fully unable to consent, does not. There was nothing about the way those prison scenarios were presented that would have made any of it sexy. or even given the opportunity for the barest hint of dubcon/CNC. And making one of the male MC’s penchant for violent sex because he was SA’d as a young boy? Not the best origin story to explain his preferences. Fetishizing an SA survivor’s trauma is just not it.

These prison scenes almost made me DNF several times. Dark spice can be great, but not like that. I just started skipping these scenes. I never would have been able to finish this book otherwise.

With those scenes skipped, ‘Feathers So Vicious’ wasn’t a bad dark romance at all (which makes the inclusion of those scenes all the more frustrating). The politics were high stakes, the characters were multifaceted and their complicated entanglements emotional, hot, and twisty. The world building was atmospheric, the magic system was very unique and interesting, the ‘why choose’ element was well executed, and the angst was on glorious point. The constant game of chess between the three MC’s was thrilling and frustrating (in a good way), and that cliffhanger! Whew, that cliffhanger. How can something be thrilling and gut wrenching at the same time? It had me leaping out of my seat in excitement AND yelling at the book. 😂

I cannot wait to see what the next book holds—yes, I will be reading it and hoping there isn’t a repeat of those prison SA scenes—and have high hopes for some groveling and some major character growth for all the MC’s, especially Galantia. That girl really deserves a sense of security and self love/empowerment. Did I mention the hopes for groveling? It’s no less than Galantia deserves, and I hope she makes Malyr and Sebian work for it. They really need to after the way they treated her. I wanted to fistfight them so many times, haha.

The audio was what kept me going when I was about to DNF from those scenes. It really was a fantastic audiobook. I loved that each MC got their own voice, and the narrators—Shaina Summerville, Tor Thom, and Tommy Fuller—gave knockout performances. The audiobook was AMAZING.

If you’re going to read this, CHECK THE TRIGGER WARNINGS and proceed with caution. Aside from the problematic scenes I mentioned, this book really was good. And the audiobook will have you firmly in its grip.

𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘶𝘥𝘪𝘰𝘈𝘙𝘊 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘣𝘺 𝘕𝘦𝘵𝘨𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘶𝘣𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘩𝘦𝘳 (𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬-𝘺𝘰𝘶!). 𝘈𝘭𝘭 𝘰𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘷𝘰𝘭𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘮𝘺 𝘰𝘸𝘯.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Spice: 🥵🥵🥵 🥵
Format: Ebook
This dark a$$ fantasy romance is nothing short of amazing. This ain’t no cozy romance or will even turn super sweet and saccharin.. no! This was beautifully dark and for me unique in its story line. I’ve read so many Fae and Monster romances, but never one about a Kingdom of Ravens.

The story begins with Galantia and her sheltered life until there is a siege and she is taken to the Raven Kingdom, then it’s all wonderfully down hill from there.

Prince Malyr was prisoner once and a lot of sick shit happened to him at the hands of his wardens and if you really focus on him you may think he has a right to be every bit of sinnester and shattered as is he is, but it’s like damn you don’t have to be like that!
Malyr was beautiful written. He definitely shines through the pages his story both grabbing you at the heart strings and making you want to stab him with a pitch fork!

This story has some very dark and triggering themes so please be mindful of triggers before picking up this book.

In the end my heart broke for Galantia and Sebian for very different but also some of the same reasons.
Sebian definitely has a small piece of my book heart.

The ending left me salavating for so much more because I did NOT ever see THAT

Amazing! I really enjoyed the narrators. Also I couldn’t stop reading. I had to know what was going to happen next. This book is a dark fantasy romance. There are definitely some dark parts. I still really enjoyed it. The ending was absolutely mind blowing. I seriously can’t wait for the next one to come out.
Thank you to NetGalley for an audiobook arc.

I absolutely devoured this book, and by devoured, I mean I listened to this every day for an entire week because I couldn't stop and needed to know what happened next.

This book was brilliant and I fell in love with the audiobook and Liv's storytelling. This is another one of those fantasy books that are hidden gems and this is definitely one of those gems. It was a fantastic story that I couldn't put down and really loved how the characters were portrayed.

The only thing I will say to this book is that you must read the trigger warnings provided by the author because it does deal with dark themes that not everyone is going to like. So please, read those trigger warnings before enjoying this book!

Thank you NetGalley for providing me with an audio eARC in exchange for an honest review.

4.25/5 stars
5/5 spice

I reeeeealy had to think about this review because it was a total mindf***

It was deranged, unhinged, and explicit... but also had an intriguing story. Did this make me question my sanity? Yes, quite a few times. Did I enjoy this? Yes, and I'm on tenterhooks for the next book *nervous laughter...

When an author warns you that there are NO HEROS in this story, they are not lying. Plus, the trigger warnings are a huge clue. So please, PLEASE do not read this if you can not handle very dark romance with morally black MMCs. Yeah, not even morally grey... maybe just one... just Sabien. Malyr is the villain for sure. But even the FMC is a secret masochist... she didn't know until she was in their clutches...

Anyways, with that being said, here are the tropes/trigger/content warnings rolled into one list

Tropes/TW/CW:
Enemies to frenemies to enemies (basically enemies with benefits)
MFM
Marriage of convenience
Virgin FMC
Raven shifter MMCs
Captive/kidnapping
Sadism/Masochism
Degradation kink
Betrayal/Revenge plot
Shadow play
Blood play
Knife play
Fated mates
Multiple POV
Multiple timelines (include on page SA, murder, and rape)
Violence, torture, and injury details
Emotional manipulation
Cliffhanger (legit gasped with this one)

That's just based on what I remembered from listening to the audiobook. I will have to check out the ebook later to see what I can highlight.

Overall, I really loved the FMC. As naive as Galantia was because of how sheltered she was raised, she is actually a really strong character. She didn't break easily, and I have really high hopes that in the 2nd book, she's going to come back swinging. I hope this was just the beginning of HER villian era. And I'm DYING for the groveling... I can almost taste it. Anyways...

Thank you to Netgalley and Dreamscape Media for the ALC. All thoughts and opinions are my own and offered voluntarily.