***Warning!! This review may contain spoilers from the previous title in this series! Continue reading with caution, you’ve officially been warned!***

To see my review of book #1 – Broken Bonds – Click HERE

Total Star Rating: 4.25 Stars

Oh, my girl likes that? You want me to kill everyone who dares to look at you? I will. I’m not a good man, not like the rest of your Bonds. I’m good for you, and fuck the rest of them. If you want blood, Sweetness, I’ll give it to you. I’ll give you whatever you want.”
– J. Bree, “Savage Bonds”

What It’s About:

The Official synopsis:

With my gift coursing through my veins, the tables have turned on the Draven Campus.

I’m no longer the Giftless reject, no longer the girl who’s fair game to the other students for daring to run away from my Bonds.

But there are bigger problems heading my way.

With destiny pushing me closer and closer to each of my Bonds, I’m fighting tooth and nail against nature to keep my distance.

But they’re fighting harder to keep me in their grasp.

When it becomes clear that the Resistance is closer than we ever thought, I don’t know who I can trust.

Can I finally take control of my gift, or will it take control of me?

*Savage Bonds is a full length reverse harem PNR novel with material that may be difficult for some readers. This book will end on a cliffhanger. It’s recommended for 18+ due to language and sexual situations.

~~~

Alright, so now were getting somewhere!

This book felt like actually so much better than book one now that we’ve finally gotten some pages behind us, we’re familiar with the characters by now, and some secrets that have been kept hidden are finally coming to light. Not all of them, unfortunately, but enough to keep you wanting more and more and more as this series progresses.

Book 2 felt like it had some of the same issues for me, which was just a very slow midpoint and a lot of the conflict amongst Oli and her 5 bonded are just becoming a big miscommunication trope that’s getting incredibly repetitive…like part of me just wants Oli to finally come clean to the guys so they can stop being such d-bags to her because their fragile egos…but I also suppose the author is doing her job if she’s making me feel this strongly about the characters!

The big thing with this book are the shifts in the dynamics of the relationships amongst Oli and her bonded. You know exactly who she’s hanging around with because her relationships with Gryphon, North, Nox, Gabe, and Atlas are all so different from one another and so dramatically stand out. There is definitely no repetition with these, and the author does an amazing job of developing each individual relationship at its own pace. Some are warming up to Oli faster than others, and others have their reasons for keeping her at arms length way more than the others do, but we also don’t know all those reasons from their end either…there’s obviously secrets being kept on both sides of this battlefield, at it’s creating quite an interesting story to say the least!

~~~

If you burn, I burn with you. You’re not alone, Oli, not for one second. I told you before, I’m not afraid.”
– J. Bree, “Savage Bonds”

~~~

What I Liked:

FINALLY Some Romance! We Have Spice People!! It’s sparse, but finally we see something along these lines and at this point I’ll take anything!
Brutus! Oli has a NEW man and his name is Brutus! He’s actually a shadow puppy made by Nox who first appeared at the end of book 1 during that battle, but I guess he took a liking to Oli and sticks around…hey I’m all about animal companions so no complaints from me!
The Development Changes Between ALL Her Bonded! So book 1 was all about how Oli was keeping secrets and her 5 bonded were mad at her and had written her off as a spoiled, ungrateful brat, but then they realize that there is WAYYYYYY more going on than what meets the eye with her and that she is definitely holding things back from them in terms of information and just exactly how powerful her abilities truly are. So a big part of this book is all of them slowly taking her in with a new pair of eyes and slowly warming up to her, but each at their own pace. Some are able to do so faster than others of course too. It was impressive how the author made each and every relationship Oli had with each guy feel unique in this sense. These books seem to have a lot of repetition in some ways, but not when it comes to the relationships and how they develop amongst her cast of characters.

What I Didn’t Like:

Midpoint Pacing Continues To Be Slow and Repetitive…Once again the midpoint was just very repetitive in the same ways that book 1 was, luckily I’m invested enough in the characters by this point, but I will say if you’re not someone who’s very into character-driven stories like this one seems to be so far, you might struggle.
I Feel Like The Secrets Are Becoming A Miscommunication Trope By This Point…Okay so the secret keeping that Oli is doing worked for book 1, but now it’s starting to get on my nerves a little bit. These guys are putting you through the wringer and making you feel like an absolute garbage human being because they don’t know the full story because you’re not telling them the full story….shouldn’t you maybe clue them in to some degree? Like either Oli has a degradation kink with some of these guys, or I’m just starting to get miscommunication trope vibes from this. And maybe I’m also just impatient for them to learn why she’s holding out whatever it is on them, but by this point I’m starting to fail to see why she takes this abuse STILL by this point in the story. It’s kind of adding into the repetitiveness I’m critiquing in the previous point.

Conclusion:

Overall, book 2 definitely improved off of book 1 in terms of character development and the fact that there’s a glimpse of actual romance AND spice in this book! There’s definitely still some slower midpoints that I can see some readers really getting bored with, but if you’re really invested in the characters by now, this shouldn’t be an issue!

There’s another cliffhanger that you definitely don’t see coming, so also be prepared to want to jump IMEDIATELTY into the next book! Which is what I’m doing now…

Thanks for Reading!

— Nick Goodsell

Fantasy, New Adult, New Adult Romance, Paranormal

My Review: Broken Bonds (The Bonds That Tie #1): by J. Bree

September 28, 2023September 29, 2023 nicholasjgoodsell

Publish Date: June 28th, 2021
Number of Pages: 423 Pages
Publisher: Independently Published
Genre(s): New Adult Romance, Paranormal, Fantasy

Total Star Rating: 3.75 Stars

Or, I guess, she just wears her damage where we can all see it. I bury mine as deep as I can, as far down below my skin as possible, so I can pretend it’s not killing me slowly, painfully, constantly.”
– J. Bree, “Broken Bonds”

What It’s About:

The official synopsis:

After the death of my mother and her Bonded, I was relieved to find my own Bonds.
I was sure everything would be okay if I had them.
It wasn’t.
The fate of our people is in my hands and I know we’re better off if I’m alone.
After five years on the run, I’m caught and dragged back to face the men I ran away from.
I thought I was doing the right thing.
Now, I’m not so sure.
North, Nox, Gryphon, Atlas, and Gabe may never forgive me but one thing is for sure.
I won’t ever forgive myself.

*Broken Bonds is a full length reverse harem PNR novel with material that may be difficult for some readers. This book will end on a cliffhanger. It’s recommended for 18+ due to language and sexual situations.

~~~

Okay, this is a series that has been recommended to me for so long now, and it’s become a crazy popular book series amongst my social circles in the book community, so it was naturally only a matter of time before I started them myself…and for the most part, I’m happy I did! It’s only the first book in a 6 book series I have to remind myself, so while I see the potential in the story and the characters, it’s not quite there yet for me…

BUT, and its a pretty big but, I try not to judge a whole series based off just the first book—Throne of Glass and ACOTAR are both an excellent example of this—so I’ll have to keep reading on to really be able to judge!

These books have been described as like a reverse harem X-Men and yeah, I’d say that’s a pretty accurate description of it, just less comic-book style with the superhero names and the matching uniforms, and more gothic with a mix of X-Men and that 2006 movie, The Covenant, starring Steven Strait, Taylor Kitsch, and babies Sebastian Stan and Chace Crawford. Needless to say, but I’m digging the books based off these comparisons alone!

The story revolves around Oleander (love the unique name btw) or Oli for short, and she lost her parents at age 14, and its now 5 years later where she’d been found running from her own bonded for some reason we don’t know about. She ain’t saying anything to anybody, not even her 5 hot potential bonds who found her, and are all freakin’ pissed she ditched them all. They literally drag her ass back to Draven University where other bonded and their mates go to train and strengthen their abilities, and this first book is about her finding her place in this new surrounding, keeping her secrets, and figuring out who she can trust, and if they’re all truly safe from who’s hunting her…

Not too much to report other than what I have below on what I liked and didn’t like, but I can say I want to keep reading on to see how things play out, and not just because I have the urging from many bookstagram friends, I’m genuinely curious myself!

~~~

He has no idea of what I’ve sacrificed for him.”
– J.Bree, “Broken Bonds”

~~~

What I Liked:

The Mystery Surrounding Why She Ran Away! While a lot of the writing is pretty straight forward and easy to follow, one thing that really drives the story is the mystery surrounding Oli before the start of the story and she’s found by her bonded: where was she? what was she doing? who was she with? why was she trying to stay hidden? why did she run away in the first place? We don’t know any of these answers even after reading the first book, but there’s plenty of hints that wherever she was, it was nowhere good.
Oli is, Like, Scary Powerful! I love a badass, strong lead female character, and Oli is another one to definitely add to the list. She’s a great character, flawed and unapologetically herself, and you find out in the story that she has some wicked powers that she has to keep hidden because it will “bring destruction to them all” like its not a big deal…I’m definitely curious to see what happens here!
A Lot of Favorite Romance Tropes! We got forced proximity, bully romance, grumpy/sunshine, alphamales, touch her and die, reverse harem, protect her at all costs, and I’m actually just here for it all…like I’m actually asking God when is it my turn to have my own RH???

What I Didn’t Like:

There Was Hardly Any Romance…The spice was like a shriveled up half a pepper for this one unfortunately. I get it though, this book is setting the scene, and the guys are all pissed at her for ditching them and then they couldn’t get their massive power ups to stroke their dicks I MEAN EGOS! whoops!!!! But yeah, the romance was flippin’ nonexistent in this one and its a REVERSE HAREM…there’s 5 dudes and not one of them got any action! Not to worry, I am told good things come to those who wait with these.
Pacing Really Slowed Down In the Middle…As this book feels very character-driven in terms of plot, if you’re not feeling the characters by the midpoint, you’re gonna struggle. It gets a bit slow with the tedious and (kinda) childish mean girl drama, the bonds all being pissed at her, and Oli just being Oli which isn’t a bad thing, but she’s keeping secrets and she ain’t opening up quite yet…
I’m Hoping for More Worldbuilding…I want to know more about the history or lore of the bonds and like why they are around, how they came to be
Nox Draven is a DOUCHE…Well and so is his brother North in all honesty…they can choke. Nox just seems so petty and immature, and that’s coming from ME…Nox’s behavior doesn’t strike me as a college professor, so I’m sorry to say Lance Orion he is NOT.

Conclusion:

Overall, I liked but didn’t LOVE this book, but it’s also the first book in a 6 book series that everyone says is a giant slowburn, so I can’t judge too much about what didn’t happen. What I did enjoy was the cast of characters and the whole cast dynamics, the mysteries surrounding Oli and where she was, and the sexual tension that is peaking out from beneath the covers and (hopefully) wants to come out to play sooner rather than later!

I’m not wholly convinced yet, but I can definitely see hints of why so many of my inner circle of the book community consider this one of their favorite all-time series! Let’s hope I can soon join them…

Thanks for Reading!

— Nick Goodsell

LGBT, New Adult, New Adult Romance

My Review: Iced Out (Leighton U #1): by C.E. Ricci

September 26, 2023 nicholasjgoodsell

Publish Date: December 23rd, 2022
Number of Pages: 358 Pages
Publisher: Independently Published
Genre(s): New Adult Romance, Erotica, LGBT+

Total Star Rating: 4.25 Stars

Falling in love wasn’t part of the deal. Hell, I was the one who went and told him not to fall in love with me, yet here I am doing exactly that. Catching feels in a fuck-buddy relationship, like a goddamn amateur.“
– C.E. Ricci, “Iced Out”

What It’s About:

The official synopsis:

All’s fair in hate and hockey.

My path to success never included an enemy as a teammate, especially one as infuriating as Quinton de Haas.

Clawing under my skin is his favorite pastime, only feeding the animosity between us as the years pass.

We’re as completely opposite as two people can be; the golden boy and the black sheep.

Constantly at odds or at each other’s throats.

The only thing we can agree on is hockey is our true love, and we’ll do whatever it takes to come out on top.

I never imagined that drive would lead me to do the unthinkable: falling into bed with my not-so-straight rival.

But athletes are a superstitious bunch, and when our hook-ups lead to victories, we tell ourselves we can’t stop.

Besides, it’s all for the sake of the team, right?

*Iced Out is the first in a five book standalone college sports romance series featuring two misunderstood rival teammates, pages of snarky banter, and more secret spicy times than any book should be filled with. Not suitable for anyone under 18 years of age.*

~~~

My first ever CE Ricci book, and this one absolutely stole my heart! I absolutely loved Oakley and Quinton’s story here as they go from bitter rivals/teammates to steamy AF lovers….but of course the story couldn’t go so smoothly and had to have some bumps along the way.

This story is a duo perspective surrounding both Oakley and Quinton, two Leighton University Varsity hockey players, and even though they’re teammates on the ice, they can barely stand each other…call it rivals, call it enemies, either way there’s some major animosity between these two. Quinton is the team captain, but when a drug test suspiciously turns up positive, the tables flip and Oakley gets the spot…yeah, that’ll smooth things over…

Now one thing to know about hockey players especially, if not all athletes, is that they can get extremely superstitious. If they find one thing that helps them start a winning streak, they stick to it. So when a losing season starts to turn around after a random night when these two randomly get down and dirty together, what do they decide to do??? Keep doin’ it of course! Boy logic for you.

But hey, at least this means you’re guaranteed for some hot, spicy MM action in this book that involves sneaking around, secret hookups, library shenanigans, and just lots of heat in general!

BUT that’s not to say there aren’t some softer and more tender moments that happen between them that really make you swoon for them. Quinton is especially a total sweetheart who just wants to find somebody to love him. He’s just the snarky, dark haired blue eyed bad boy who hides his hurt beneath a smirk that I’m a total sucker for!

The beginning is definitely a little slower paced than I’m sure some readers would want, BUT it also sets the story up for later conflicts so while it’s not favorable, it’s definitely necessary in my opinion. One could also argue the 3rd act breakup that OF COURSE occurs–not really a spoiler because it ALWAYS happens–was overdramatized, but again I think that just comes down to the specific reader and their personal opinion.

The book tied together very well in the end, and even if you don’t want to read the next book in this series, it feels satisfactory enough with the ending and doesn’t leave a whole lot up in the air with any major cliffhangers, and yes there is a HEA for anyone wondering.

~~~

‘Oh, baby,’ he murmurs, sex and desire dripping from his voice as he layers his body over mine. ‘You know all’s fair in hate and hockey.’”
– C.E. Ricci, “Iced Out”

~~~

What I Liked:

The Spice! Lots and lots of flavor with this book…I’d give it 3.5 or 4 peppers overall for the spice meter. These boys get naughty on several instances in this book, and MM spice fans will LOVE every second of it.
Quinn is Total Book Boyfriend Material! Quinn is basically everything…he’s got blue eyes, dark hair, great body, tattoos, snarky whit, a temper, and a smirk that hides the hurt he wants to keep from the world except when Oakley sees a side of him that no one else gets to see. Quinn stole my heart in this book, and while he was cynical and moody, all he really needed was somebody to be there for him!
Parents Aren’t the Main Conflict! Usually in these college romances, parents play a big part of keeping the two apart or driving a wedge between them, and at the beginning it really looked like this story was going that route since Oakley is a legacy kid and Quintons parents are the typical rich, ice-cold waspy types who don’t approve of him playing already. Luckily, this isn’t a huge conflict that keeps popping up in the story, THANK GOD!
There’s a Decent Amount of Actual Hockey Playing! Sometimes “sports romance” novels involve very little actual sports being actually played. This is not the case here, and a big chunk of the plot has to do with their hockey season and them playing games. I just can actually appreciate when the plot/conflict of a sports romance actually includes sports related issues.

What I Didn’t Like:

The Beginning Is A Little Slow…Maybe I was just impatient for the spice to happen, but yeah I can agree with some readers that the beginning could have been maybe a little condensed? Maybe not involve as much going on, especially if they ended up not being issues later on in the story?
The “Betrayal” Wasn’t Entirely One’s Fault…So the big third act breakup involves an act of “betrayal” and that’s all I’ll say about that, but part of me always felt like one kind of unfairly put more blame on the other when the other couldn’t fully even control that what happened had actually happened. I know that doesn’t make a whole lot of sense if you don’t know the context, but I don’t want to spoil…

Conclusion:

Overall, I am now a HUGE fan of CE Ricci after reading this MM hockey romance she wrote! and even better that it’s a part of a series of standalone MM college romance novels! I will certainly be getting my hands on many more CE Ricci books now I can definitely confirm!

Thanks for reading!

— Nick Goodsell

Fancasts/Dreamcasts

My Fancast/Dreamcast: The Empyrean Series by Rebecca Yarros

June 19, 2023February 26, 2025 nicholasjgoodsell

Hello fellow riders/readers!

Here is my post with my fancast/dreamcast of the romantasy series that literally dropped like a gigantic dragon onto the scene in the summer of 2023, the Empyrean series by Rebecca Yarros!

I’d known about Fourth Wing way before it was released, but WOW it is actually insane to see how much this book had blown up since its release date on May 2nd, 2023. It’s literally took over the bookish community, and its had so many people talking!

We loves to see it (for the most part)

The story is about a girl named Violet Sorrengail, who’s off to war college! This war has been going on for over 600 years, and there are four quadrants one can go into for the cause: flyers, scribes, healers, or infantry. As someone with a chronic illness, she’d been under the impression she’d become a scribe like her long lost father, BUT her mother is the head general and surprises her when she’s actually sent off to become a flyer! And to make matters worse, the son of the rebel leader her mother executed back in the day is one of the first people she runs into there as well…

Obsessed. I am obsessed with this book like so many others!

***Also a friendly reminder that these are how I VIEW the characters in these books…I never said you have to agree with me, but you definitely don’t have to be an internet troll and trash my opinions on here. Please keep things respectful, or by all means go make your own website and share your own fancast choices over there! I promise I would NEVER return the favor if someone was rude to me on here…

Warning:: This post does contain MAJOR SPOILERS so read on at your own risk!

To see my review of book 1 – Fourth Wing – Click HERE

To see my review of book 2 – Iron Flame – Click HERE

~~~

Here’s my Fancast/Dreamcast of the Empyrean Series so far:

~~~

Violet Sorrengail: Sophi Knight

Image courtesy of the actress’s IMDB profile

Sophi Knight is exactly how I pictured our FMC of this book series. She’s a young Canadian actress who’s so close to the actual age of the character, but she is 5’7” so maybe a little taller than Violet, but I still stand by this choice! If they can make Tom Cruise look taller than he actually is in his movies, they can do the opposite for her I’m sure!

~~~

Mira Sorrengail: Phoebe Tonkin, or Lyndsy Fonseca

Phoebe Tonkin, image credit not available

Lyndsy, image courtesy of the actresse’s IMDB profile

Both of these actresses are pretty recognizable I’d say; we know Phoebe of course from The Vampire Diaries and The Originals, and Lyndsy has been in so many shows like Kick-Ass and a list of CW/Free form shows too! They’d both be great choices to make a great older sister in Mira in my opinion.

~~~

General Lilith Sorrengail: Rebecca Ferguson, or Lena Headey

Rebecca Ferguson, Image courtesy of facts.net

Lena Headey, image courtesy of yahoo! movies UK

Whoever plays General Sorrengail has to be cold, ruthless, and have a resting bitch face that can shake you to your core. Rebecca Ferguson can for sure do just that. She’s played powerful women before in the new Dune movies and has a calculating, ruthless presence that would be perfect for Violet’s mother! Another amazing choice would be Lena Headey, aka the iconic Cersei Lannister from Game of Thrones.

~~~

Rhiannon Matthias: Keke Palmer

Gotta give this character to my girl Keke Palmer, I would absolutely love to see her as Violet’s bestie and fellow dragon rider!

~~~

Ridoc: Taylor Zakhar Perez

I don’t remember a whole lot of Ridoc’s looks being described, but I’ve seen some fanart of him, and it seems people are viewing him has Hispanic/Latino. I’m all for it! He’s kind of the comedic relief of the friend group, and I adore Taylor who was in the movie adaptation of Red, White, and Royal Blue! One of my absolute favorite books

~~~

Jack Barlowe: Alexander Ludwig, or Arthur Becari

Alexander, image courtesy of mensfashionpost.com

Alright when we met the psychopath Jack in this book, I was having total flashbacks to “The Hunger Games” and pictured Alexander as him. I couldn’t help myself, and it’s didn’t help that Jack was described as blonde 🤷🏼‍♂️ The next guy is a model with probably no acting experience whatsoever, but MAN does he look like Jack Barlowe to me!

~~~

Xaden Riorson: Flamur Ukshini

Xaden has been confirmed by Rebecca Yarros herself that Xaden is POC, and so I pictured this gorgeous guy I’ve been following on Instagram for some time now! He just needs to maybe pack on a little more muscle, but hey, Taylor Launter did it for Twilight!

~~~

Dain Aetos: Leo Suter, or Kilian Isaak

Leo, Image courtesy of the actor’s IMDB profile

This guy is the singular reason why I want to watch that Vikings: Valhalla show…I mean, LOOK at him! And as a grizzly, hairy Viking warrior?! *swoon* he also seemed to fit the character of Dain when he’s all cleaned up, like in this pic. Kilian is a model I discovered on Instagram who’s also got the looks of how I imagine this…..wonderful character.

~~~

Amber: Sydney Zmrzl

Image courtesy of the actress/model’s IMDB profile

This one could honestly be anyone, Amber was a very minor character. So honestly this could come down to just personal preference.

Liam: Chris Bednarik, or Leo Woodall

Chris Bednarik, Image courtesy of the models Instagram profile

Leo Woodall, Image courtesy of Forbes.com

Alright, I would be TOTALLY fine with either of these cute guys playing Liam, and yes, I made sure they both have the dimples too. That was like a requirement! Chris is a fitness model, and Leo was actually in season 2 of “The White Lotus”

~~~

Imogen: Cheree Crowley

I always have at least one WWE person in my fancasts because WHY NOT? When I got the description of Imogen having pink hair, it reminded me when Cheree (aka “Dakota Kai”) had a similar hairstyle as well!

~~~

Garrick: Wolfgang Novogratz

By the time we reach book 3, we have a somewhat decent idea of what Garrick looks like! Rebecca Yarros is stingy with the character descriptions so it’s hard to come up with folks until physical descriptions are dragged out to help describe these characters…

~~~

Bodhi: Zayn Malik

The guy I picked for Xaden kind of looks like Zayn, and since Xaden and Bodhi are actually related, I thought this made sense! I mean, Harry Styles is trying to be an actor…why not Zayn too?

~~~

Tairn (Voice): Chris Hemsworth

Image courtesy of encyclopedia Britannica

If not Liam Neeson, Chris would be an excellent voice actor choice for Tairn! I just imagine him with his deep, booming Thor voice would do wonderfully at this!

~~~

Sgaeyl (Voice): Charlize Theron

Imma give credit to my friend Kat for this pick, and when she suggested it I was immediately like YES. Charlize has such a sexy voice, I remember how she did a crazy good job as the evil queen in “Snow White and the Huntsman” (or literally anything she does), and thought she’d make an excellent voice actor for a dragon like Sgaeyl as well!

~~~

Andarna: (Voice): Mandy Moore

Picking a voice for Andarna was difficult….would you pick an actual child to voice her? I was wondering Ariana Grande for a hot second, but nawww. I love Ari, but she wasn’t who I imagined Andarna sounding like. Then it hit me: TANGLED! Mandy Moore did such a great job as Rapunzel, I think she’d also make a great choice to voice Andarna!

~~~

…now for book 2 – Iron Flame – Here Are New Additions:

~~~

Brennan Sorrengail: Sam Claflin, or Oliver Stark

Sam Claflin, image courtesy of the Wallstreet Journal

Oliver Stark, image courtesy of The Wrap

Honestly, both these actors I could totally picture playing the Sorrengail brother whom we believed to be dead all this time! Both just give me the vibe that Brennan also gives off.

~~~

Syrena Cordella: Lauren Cohan

Lauren has been a WB/CW actress for many, many years with being on shows like “Supernatural” and “Vampire Diaries” so she’d definitely fit in with this new fantasy setting with dragons and gryphons! I think she’d be an excellent casting choice for the lead gryphon rider

~~~

Colonel Aetos: Christian Bale

Christian Bale could crush absolutely any role he plays, and I absolutely know he’d do amazing as Dain’s evil father in this series. Christian has such a wide range of characters under his belt, and some are downright twisted in the head, so I think I’d really enjoy seeing him as the villain in these books.

~~~

Sloane Mairi: Scarlett Leithold

Scarlett is a model, and her statuesque looks totally remind me of Sloane! I’m not sure about her acting abilities in actuality, but as far as looks go, she’s exactly how I pictured this important character whom we meet in book 2, Iron Flame!

~~~

Sawyer: Daniel Portman

Image courtesy of the actor’s IMDB profile

This choice I’m not 100% about in all honesty…but I also don’t think there’s much physical description of Sawyer in general in the books, or I’ve missed it when it’s mentioned. Since its a dragon riding college, why not have the guy who played Podrik Payne in the number one dragon show ever made so far, “Game of Thrones” also make an appearance in here?

~~~

Aaric Greycastle: Alexander Breck, or Cody Christian

Alexander Breck, image courtesy of the model’s Instagram profile

Cody Christian, Image courtesy of Bello Mag

Aaric was probably my favorite of the new characters introduced in Iron Flame, especially when we learn his big secret! I pictured him looking like either of these guys or maybe even NASCAR cutie Charles LeClarc!

~~~

Burton Varrish: Christoph Waltz, or Michael Keaton

Christoph Waltz, image courtesy of the actor’s Wikipedia page

Michael Keaton, image courtesy of Deadline

This character was like Umbridge and Joffrey level horrible…an absolute menace who made your blood boil whenever they popped up in the book. Christoph Waltz has a way of playing wonderful villains that are both obnoxious but still absolutely terrifying, just like in “Inglorious Basterds” and “007: Spectre” and who I pictured as Varrish. I could also see Michael Keaton too though, who I feel is more physically intimidating.

~~~

Viscount Tecarus: TBD

~~~

Jesinia Neilwart: Josephine Langford

She looks so sweet and innocent! just how I pictured this silent scribe who always is willing to help out Violet in tight spots.

~~~

Catriona Cordella: Elizabeth Gillies

Ever since she iconically played Jade in the Nickelodeon show “Victorious,” Liz can SLAY the mean girl role and even just has that mean girl look to her (sorry if she’s an actual sweetheart, it’s the eyebrows and she’s just that good of an actress).

~~~

Professor Devera: Rosario Dawson

I saw someone else propose this fancast choice and LOVED it and immediately agreed with it!

~~~

Professor Kaori: Daniel Dae Kim

Despite recently playing the ruthless Firelord Ozai in the live-action version of “Avatar the Last Airbender” I see Daniel playing this professor in all honesty too, who gives me the total opposite vibes of the Lord of the vicious Fire Nation.

~~~

Commandant Panchek: Daniel Brühl

For some reason, this actor from Captain America: Civil War” came to mind for this slimeball of a character, but I say he could definitely look the part!

~~~

…So there you have it for now! Expect more characters and fancast choices to be added as the series develops because this is going to be a 5-book series!

Thanks for Reading!

— Nick Goodsell

Fantasy, New Adult Romance

My Review: Fourth Wing (The Empyrean #1): by Rebecca Yarros

May 22, 2023May 25, 2023 nicholasjgoodsell

Publish Date: May 2nd, 2023
Number of Pages: 512 Pages
Publisher: RedTower Books
Genre(s): Fantasy, New Adult Romance

Total Star Rating: 4.5 Stars

A dragon without its rider is a tragedy.
A rider without their dragon is dead.”
– Rebecca Yarros, “Fourth Wing”

What It’s About:

The official synopsis:

Enter the brutal and elite world of a war college for dragon riders from USA Today bestselling author Rebecca Yarros

Twenty-year-old Violet Sorrengail was supposed to enter the Scribe Quadrant, living a quiet life among books and history. Now, the commanding general—also known as her tough-as-talons mother—has ordered Violet to join the hundreds of candidates striving to become the elite of Navarre: dragon riders.

But when you’re smaller than everyone else and your body is brittle, death is only a heartbeat away…because dragons don’t bond to “fragile” humans. They incinerate them.

With fewer dragons willing to bond than cadets, most would kill Violet to better their own chances of success. The rest would kill her just for being her mother’s daughter—like Xaden Riorson, the most powerful and ruthless wingleader in the Riders Quadrant.

She’ll need every edge her wits can give her just to see the next sunrise.

Yet, with every day that passes, the war outside grows more deadly, the kingdom’s protective wards are failing, and the death toll continues to rise. Even worse, Violet begins to suspect leadership is hiding a terrible secret.

Friends, enemies, lovers. Everyone at Basgiath War College has an agenda—because once you enter, there are only two ways out: graduate or die.

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I absolutely love it when a book, at least in my opinion, gets as much hype as this one did AND it actually lives up to it all! It may not be the most poetic, or the next literary masterpiece…hell, it may not even be the most original concept to some, BUT there’s no doubt that Fourth Wing will go down as one of the most popular books of the year AT THE VERY LEAST!

I can already sense the Goodreads award being polished for this one!

This had to be the most fun fantasy I’d read in awhile! So many things just worked for this story; all the characters together made a great cast, the vast array of dragons, the forbidden romance, the war college, the four different quadrants people could join for the cause, the bits of history we get of the war….it all just comes together to form such an engaging and addictive story that you won’t be able to put down!

The story revolves around Violet Sorrengail, youngest daughter to General Sorrengail, who’s been raised her whole life to be a Scribe; a historian, a record keeper, librarian, keeper of books and records, etc. She has a chronic illness that made her content to never be a rider like her mother and older siblings, but PLOT TWIST……

Her mom makes her sign up and go for the riders quadrant of the college! and no, that’s not a spoiler…

It’s there where she also meets Xaden Riorson, son of a rebel leader who killed Violet’s older brother, and then his father was executed by Violet’s mother….so yeah, things are about as smooth as the edge of a dagger’s blade on that whole relationship…

This book gave me Eragon meets Divergent meets Hunger Games vibes and it was so much fun overall!

The beginning started off a little slow for me as fantasy books usually do…for some reason I’m just terrible at getting to know the world and the characters, I much prefer when you’re halfway through the story and already familiar with it all. For me, I just thought the book felt very YA, and despite my reading history, I’m just really veering away from YA fantasy as of late. It’s just not doing it for me like it used too. I mean, it’s totally normal for your reading preferences to change over time and as you get older.

BUT, the danger of this war college becomes apparent even in chapter one, and plenty more happens throughout that draws your attention and gets you excited because there are people dying left and right, and they’re not even in the actual war yet!

Once the dragons became a bigger presence in the book, that’s when things became so much more interesting for me! The magic system the author created puts the dragons at the center stage, and is truly a major highlight. It’s definitely one of the most unique concepts of this world by far.

The romance was also a highlight of the book, although that doesn’t really take off until much later than I’m sure a lot of us were hoping…but at least that means no insta-love! Things also got a little spicy, but not as spicy as I personally felt the book was advertised as. “Spicy AF” it was not….but what you got was pretty good I will say! There wasn’t as much as a “Spicy AF” hype term made me think there’d be! Hopefully this means there much more in the next books.

The last chunk of the book………..whoah my gods……so much happens. SO much all at once. Major twists revealed, feelings are shared, and of course there are epic battles in the skies! Your heart will absolutely wrench for some of it too, don’t you worry! You ain’t getting off that easy!

And the final sequence……

Oh look! A picture of me at 1am when I finished the book! I’m fine….everything is fine…

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There is nothing more sacred than the Archives. Even temples can be rebuilt, but books cannot be rewritten.”
– Rebecca Yarros, “Fourth Wing”

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What I Liked:

Dragons! And New Dragon Lore! I loooooove dragons, I never tire of the giant lizards with wings in fantasy books. I mean, they’re the apex predators of any food chain, the top of the pyramid of any mythological creature biome in any fantasy setting. I liked that they had their own set of rules too in this world. Different Colors also meant different personalities and like cats, THEY choose their humans (if they even want to be matched with a human). They’re intelligent and have their own voices and personalities! There’s more to this, but that goes into spoiler territory and I don’t want to do that, but I love that the dragons are so integral to the magic system of this book!
Danger at Every Turn! There’s literally death in chapter 1, and there’s plenty more throughout. You felt the danger that anyone at the college could die, and some really did just as you met them too! It was like Game of Thrones, the stakes just feel so raised and elevated and makes it for a much more exciting book!
Several Twists That Shocked Me! Either I wasn’t paying close enough attention or these really came out of nowhere, but I didn’t see some of these twists the author threw in, and ooooooooooofda did they add so much to the story!!
Forbidden Romance! Like I mentioned earlier, I loved the whole “enemies-to-lovers/forbidden romance” tropes at play here!
I Actually Chuckled At a Few Parts! The author managed to sneak in a few comedic moments, kind of similar to Game of Thrones dark sense of humor, but also with the modern-esque dialogue in a few places too.

What I Didn’t Like:

Spicy AF?…..I mean, yeah there was SOME spice to this, but “Spicy AF” seems a bit of an over exaggeration here when it came to advertising this book. Well…maybe it is spicy to someone who’s never ventured over to the sexier side of reading? Honestly I’d rate this book 2.5 peppers on the spice scale. BUT at the same time, it was also a slow-burn romance. Maybe there’ll be more in the later books (which there will be 5 as of right now as confirmed by the author herself in a TikTok video)
Felt Kinda YA at the Beginning…The beginning was just slow for me to get into at first. Luckily that quickly changes once the dragons become more prominent.
The Question of Why Violet Becomes a Rider is Unanswered….part of me wonders why her mother had her switch from being a scribe to a rider last minute, and maybe that was explained in the book and I missed it, but surely this may have a bigger answer to give us from her mother later on?

Conclusion:

Overall, Fourth Wing was a book that came with a LOT of expectations and hype, and in my honest opinion, it was all lived up to. Surpassed? Perhaps not. but that’s A-Okay in my book! If the first book in a series starts off this strong, that means we’re in for a WILD RIDE as the plot thickens and everything changes and arcs develop!

I absolutely cannot wait for Iron Flame to come out later this year!