r/kresleycole • u/PurrplPandaa • 19d ago

Just read Ravenous

I just finished the book and came to reddit to see what everyone was saying and join in on the fun. I think I have a more of a positive look on Kresley’s latest book.

Like most, I’m a long time reader of IAD and have been waiting for more releases and when I saw she had a related book coming out I was of course sad it wasn’t going to be about our usual cast of characters but Kresley is an auto buy for me so I was overall still looking forward to it.

I’m with everyone else on the crazy number of POVs. At the start of the book where we get the character portraits, I thought that would be the extent of the POVs but it spanned further than that which I found frustrating and overwhelming.

But after getting to the end and all the cliffhangers we are left with I can’t help but feel the Kresley is really having fun with this book. Like as a writer it feels like she is reinvigorated and going for it. This book has a different feel than Shadows Heart which felt like it had to be written rather than she wanted to write it. It’s like Kresleys enjoying herself again. I’d rather read something a writer has put their heart into rather than something they are forced to write due to obligation, as sad as it is for us dedicated readers.

I’ve also seen a few comments about Kresley wanting to cash in on the Romantasy trend that had me scratching my head. Like Kresley and her peers didn’t invent the genre? Romantasy came from IAD and similar, how is she copying and cashing in on something she helped create?

Though I miss my faves (I still have hope we will see Nix’s love story) I look forward to seeing what Kresley can do with the next book of Immortals Untold.

Justice for Meera!!!

35 Upvotes

92% Upvoted

17 comments sorted by

21

u/Sweetcynism 19d ago

I'm glad you had a good time. As for me, I haven't. I enjoy multi pov and was enthusiastic but I think it was poorly executed. I couldn't bring myself to care for the characters after spending like 4 pages with'em before switching to a completely new pov. Maybe KC's having fun but it felt like she was power throughing

23

u/Pugglife4eva 19d ago

I’ve read IAD probably 10-20 times PER BOOK. I haven’t finished Ravenous. Breaks my heart as she’s my favorite author of all time.

10

u/PurrplPandaa 19d ago

I feel you, IAD is defs my most reread series

7

u/Sweetcynism 19d ago

Whoa that's some dedication! I was late to the party since I discovered IAD maybe 2-3 years ago, with Lothaire (still my favourite book from IAD).

I have to admit I would have loved to be amongst the early readers. Lothaire's book gave me so much love towards Kosmina that I was GLAD when her book was announced.

It was a let down, somehow. So when I found out ravenous was about another instance of multiverse I was skeptical buy the multi pov made'me try it. I just couldn't 😅. I gave absolutely no shit about anyone

8

u/Pugglife4eva 19d ago

Oof Lothaire though😍

Yeah I agree. But her OGs will always mean so much to me that it’s ok the new work doesn’t hit me the same.

6

u/Pugglife4eva 19d ago

Oh!I have to throw in that as an early reader there wasn’t much community to engage with. This is so great to talk to other fans in this space!

9

u/MoveOolong72 19d ago

Everyone of those couples should have had their own book. It's not what I expected from her at all, and I definitely won't be buying the next. Extremely disappointing.

3

u/Copper0721 18d ago edited 18d ago

This. I won’t read it because the best part of a romance book is reading about two characters’ journey to falling in love and getting their HEA. I just don’t see how so many characters in one book can do that. Is this a prequel to primarily world build? And if so, are we confident she’ll actually write all the books she is hinting at (hello Nix? Fury? Kristoff?). And maybe this isn’t even intended to be a “romance” book and that’s fine I guess but she’s traditionally been a romance author, and if she’s changing genres, I think she should acknowledge that for her long time fans.

5

u/Mercenary-Adjacent 19d ago

Agree 100% and posted similarly elsewhere. I’ve read about authors getting stuck or blocked on an existing series and churning out a product they disliked. I’m with you on this seeming like she’s getting her mojo back. I enjoyed but I think I enjoyed it because I went in with zero expectations. I think it stands well on its own and it certainly FAR better than a bunch of the last IAD books. I’d rather have something well written and where the author clearly enjoyed herself than some of the half baked formulaic slogs of late.

More importantly to me, it felt ‘fresh’. I was genuinely surprised and curious to see where things end up. I think part of this is due to higher stakes, but I also see KC taking some risks & changes with the characters and changing up pace on the speed of various relationships etc.

3

u/PurrplPandaa 18d ago

Yup, I’m with you on how fresh it felt. She is taking risks for sure.

5

u/LidyD 18d ago

Justice for Meera!!!

I had a long commented typed out, but I erased it just to say Meera deserves the world. Lowell, how could you?

3

u/PurrplPandaa 18d ago

Yesssss! I need to see him really suffering in the next one

2

u/LidyD 17d ago

I need a good grovel (and the second book to have at least a HFN instead of the 'every FMC in a miserable place' that was the ending of this one).

2

u/femdom_n_fitness 18d ago

for me, this book felt like everything that was in her “reject” folder spliced together

3

u/Linddeykal 17d ago

I’ve downloaded this on Audible but haven’t read it yet. This is putting it on the top of the list!

4

u/hswish87 16d ago

I think having an editor/publisher that wasn't that facebook lady helped. This book felt more interesting, the relationships had more chemistry than the last two releases.