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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: Cursing, Sexual content, Alcohol, and Child death
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: Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Kidnapping, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, Death, Murder, and Mass/school shootings
Moderate: Death, Kidnapping, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, Toxic friendship, Death of parent, Mass/school shootings, and Murder
Minor: Car accident, Child death, Alcoholism, Bullying, Chronic illness, and Addiction
eule'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
Ps: Thank you to my friend Tyler for recommending and lending me this book. Love you ^^
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Alcohol, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Blood, Murder, and Sexual content
Minor: Child death, Suicide attempt, Fire/Fire injury, Kidnapping, and Death of parent
miaaa_lenaaa's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Minor spoilers?
‘How long would it have taken you to start a war, do you think? Or to end one?" He paused, and Callum said nothing. "Five minutes? Perhaps ten? How long would it have taken you to kill someone? To save a life? I admire what you have not done,"
‘What a relief it was, being a cog in something that actually turned for once.’
‘“Are you less guilty simply because you've been the one to unravel more?"’
Graphic: Toxic friendship, Death, Murder, and Violence
jaynovara'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
4.25
Moderate: Alcohol, Death of parent, Body horror, Death, Gaslighting, Mass/school shootings, Murder, and Sexual content
nikogatts's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.75
Likewise, there are interesting characters and arcs to be explored -- particularly in the case of Reina, who resents her immense magical power and sees it as a way for both nature and society to take advantage of her -- but these are sacrificed in favor of chapter after chapter of Callum, the Wish.com version of Patrick Bateman, toying with sad boy Tristan.
The most painful of this book's failures was the worldbuilding, which led me to create this non-comprehensive list of things that went un- or underexplained, in ascending order of how angry I get when I think about it:
-General story bits that weren't described well and/or weren't believable.
-How magic and magical people interact with and impact the rest of the world.
There is no information given on non-magical people, even though they're 99.9995 percent of the world. One of the book's (attempted) themes is the exclusivity of information and whether world-changing (albeit dangerous) knowledge should be kept siloed instead of available to populations who could benefit from it. This theme would have been much more powerful if there had been any perspective from the have-nots of this world. (I think it was a missed opportunity to not have Ezra, Libby's boyfriend, be non-magical, or to have a more prominent presence from the Forum, the magical-info-for-all organization.)
Oh, and magical creatures exist, but they're only mentioned in relation to one character, so they're barely relevant.
-How the magic system works.
I'm not even going to bother getting into Callum's empath powers, which often transcend sensing emotion and go straight into full mind-reading. Commander Deanna Troi >>>>>> this asshole, always and forever.
There are also overlaps in "rare" types of magic and casual magic that is done with little fanfare. One example is when two characters use physics magic to create a wormhole (for the first time ever, apparently) that can be used to teleport across physical space. But throughout the book, the characters travel internationally via magical portal, and the difference (if any) between this and the wormhole is never explained.
-Anything about the library.
And what do the readers get? About a paragraph and a half about a big room with some pneumatic tubes, and some scattered references to ancient texts. That's it. That's fucking it.
New rule I'm setting for myself: If a book sounds interesting but got a lot of hype on certain social media sites with consistently poor track records, I get it from the library.
Graphic: Suicide attempt and Suicide
Moderate: Blood and Murder
Minor: Colonisation, Terminal illness, Death, and Classism
inthearchive's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, Murder, and Death
Minor: Suicide attempt, Sexual assault, and Suicide
zareenj'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
4.75
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Sexual content, Death, Murder, and Violence
fronk10's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Gun violence, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Suicide attempt
rinku'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
2.0
Graphic: Alcohol, Suicide, Toxic friendship, and Infidelity
Moderate: Death, Gun violence, Blood, Violence, Kidnapping, Murder, and Sexual content