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samsearle's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Minor: Sexual content, Toxic relationship, and Violence
lindseyhall44's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
I will say, this might not be for readers who favor plot heavy novels. It is engaging, but focuses primarily on character development and psychological ponderings, with a majority of the higher stakes occurring during the last 15% of the book.
Nevertheless, I am excited to see how the series progresses:)
Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, and Murder
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, and Toxic relationship
hannahcstocks's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
Graphic: Bullying, Death, Infidelity, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Colonisation, Dysphoria, and Classism
rebecca_jt's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Death
Moderate: Toxic relationship, Death of parent, and Alcohol
Minor: Murder
anaisdai30's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.5
Minor: Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Kidnapping, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Abandonment
sweetjuicee_'s review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
After I bought this book, I only saw hate for the plot and the characters (other than Elizabeth). I can completely understand where this hate for this book is coming from, but honestly, I thought that this was a great book — especially in comparison to my last read.
~~~~~~
The main six characters (Parisa Kamali, Tristan Caine, Callum Nova, Reina Mori, Nico de Varona and Libby Rhodes) are selected to be in The Alexandrian Society and have to train their magic to make sure that they're one of the five that make it to the next year. This book was very slow paced, but since so much of the book was mainly focused on the characters learning from both the library and each other, I could excuse it. I think it sped up at the right places
I also like Blake's writing style: she's great at showing not telling; she can handle the multiple perspectives pretty well without repeating things in another person's point of view, and I love how well she can describe something for pages and pages. If she wrote a book with zero dialogue, I'm 90% sure I'd enjoy it. Her descriptions were interesting and the only thing that took me out of the book was an occasional piece of dialogue or the fact that I had to force myself out of the book to do a separate task.
That's not to say it wasn't without its faults.
There wasn't a lot of 'rigorous' study that's suggested in the blurb, since the book focused more on the characters' thoughts and feelings towards the others in the society and their lives back home. Furthermore, the magic system is quite confusing — how do you figure out who's a medeian? Do they need to have median family? It seemed like Libby didn't. Can all medeians cast a certain type of magic, or did they have to go to specialists for illusions? I have a bad habit of filling in the gaps in my head, so I didn't realise until I read a review pointing this out.
~~~~~~
I'm fairly conflicted on some of the potential romances in this book. I'm always partial to romantic subplots, but there's something a little off with most of the romances that have been hinted at in the book; it feels almost unethical to ship them.
Trislibby is one I can't get behind because of the age gap, and I don't really think there's much to say about it.
Novacaine really splits me. On one hand, their moments together are adorable and I've accidentally read spoilers about how their relationship develops in TAP
I personally haven't seen enough for me to support Nicolibby, but I get the appeal behind it, since they start to tolerate each other much more (and because Nico's the closest thing Libby has to a friend in the society). If their relationship is developed in TAP, then I could support it.
The only ship that is the healthiest (even though it probably isn't that healthy) is Nicogideon. It's obvious that both of them care for each other more than the other knows, and it definitely surpasses a normal "best friend thing" (I love my best friends, but I do not want their problems), but if Olivie Blake turns around and says that they're not meant to like each other then I won't scream and cry over it.
~~~~~~
To reiterate, I like how Blake's managed the six different perspectives in the story. I feel that at times their characters and thoughts blend into one, but the majority of the time, she does a great job at separating them and their thoughts and feelings.
My final thoughts on the characters are as follows:
Parisa: I like her. It's very interesting how she and Callum have similar personalities and they see each other as villains in each others' stories. Their abilities both rely on people not being truthful and manipulating them to get the information or reaction they want or need. I'm intrigued to see how she changes and develops (or doesn't) in the second book.
Tristan: The first thing that comes to mind is that he needs therapy, but he's the type of person to complain about how it disrupts his work life. He, Callum and Libby are probably my top three main characters.
Callum: I think he's an underrated character. I'm always drawn to characters that have complicated morals and those who very easily make mistakes when picking alliances in books like this.
Reina: I've never liked her. From the beginning to the end, I never liked her. I understand just how important she is
Nico: Honestly, I think he's a little weak as a character by himself. I don't remember his perspectives as much as the other five and it seems like he prides himself on being Libby's rival and being better than her. I'm interested to see how he has changed in the second book
Libby: I wanted to hate her, but she's too relatable as a character. Her constant need for everyone to like her hinders her as a physicist and as a person. She also dwells on things a lot. She felt a little like looking in a mirror, and I felt bad when the other characters spent their time talking about how they hated her. I think she was coming out of her shell a little and was much more confident towards the end, which was nice.
The other notable characters (Atlas, Dalton, Gideon and Ezra) were also really nice to read about. I like how nicely Blake tied up loose ends with Ezra's perspective and how neither Ezra nor Atlas could be seen as the villains immediately. I really like Dalton and Parisa's relationship, even though it's one-sided and Parisa benefits much more than Dalton. Gideon is probably my favourite character in the book.
~~~~~~
I really liked reading this, but there's something that prohibits me from giving it all 5 five stars. I had the same problem with TSHEH where I liked it, but it didn't have a 5 star quality. I may not reread it for a while, but I'm very excited to read the second book and I hope it's as good as this one.
Graphic: Death, Suicide, Violence, Blood, and Murder
Moderate: Toxic relationship
Minor: Abandonment and Alcohol
tomas_lw's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
The plot is simple and fun. Six magicians with exceptionally powerful specialities are selected to join a secret society. But only five can actually join at the end. Cue intrigue, sex, betrayal, magic weirdness, love, hate, death and other fun things.
Over all the book was a great read.
I do have som complaints though.
First of all the author seemed to almost forgot entierly about Reina for almost the entire book which was disapointing since her opening chapter made me really attached to her. I really hope she gets more to do in the next book.
And the ending of the book is very out of left field and exposition heavy. It felt like the author at the last time decided to turn the book into a trilogy and rewrote the ending to set up the sequels. It's a bit heavy handed and not entirely satifying. So lets hope it pays of in the next books!
Also, the book could have had a bit more things happening as most of the book is either characters talking with or thinking about the other characters. Don't get me wrong, I love all these characters and the talking and plotting is terrific, but the pacing of the book could probably have been better with some more action in the middle.
Overall, a great read as I said above and I'm definitely getting the rest of the series ASAP.
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Suicide attempt, Murder, Gaslighting, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Death and Alcohol
Minor: Pedophilia
caseymac's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Toxic relationship, Gaslighting, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Mass/school shootings, Death of parent, and Alcohol
Minor: Confinement, Drug use, Blood, Kidnapping, and Murder
vagrantheather's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Not to say it's an awful book by any means. I've certainly read MUCH worse. The writing quality is fine (if not beautiful), the characters are passably well developed (even if they didn't really grow at all), the concept is interesting (though the pacing needs work). The writing made me think of Erin Morgenstern, though less poetic, and I had similar issues with the pacing in her books.
Moderate: Toxic relationship, Kidnapping, and Murder
Minor: Child death, Cursing, Sexual content, and Alcohol
jadorelecafe's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Kidnapping, Mass/school shootings, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Death, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Kidnapping, Mass/school shootings, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child death, Chronic illness, and Car accident