Reviews with content warning for Drug use - De gouden enclaves

Reviews tagging 'Drug use'

De gouden enclaves by Naomi Novik

17 reviews

kelisabeth's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous emotional tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Content Warnings

blacksphinx's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

What the hell, Novik did it again.

I was getting really frustrated with the first half of the book. At least three times, a character would say a couple of sentences and then El would explain a ton of inferred details to us for several pages. We had some important plot threads established, and pages were ticking by with no progress being made on them. El spent a lot of time not doing a damn thing, thinking for pages about how she didn't know what to do. There was a decent chunk spent on her wanting to accomplish something I thought was extremely stupid and didn't understand her motives - and then, at almost the 50% mark, the chess pieces were finally all on the board and the game began.

I kept saying to myself "there's no way she can solve [plot thread] in [pages left]" and then she DID over and over again until I had every answer I wanted. I actually want to go back and reread the prior two books knowing what I know now, because the reveals in this book were set up long before she started drafting it, there's just no way. It is a little bit of a spoiler to say this, so just skip over it, but watching El walk away from Omelas made me cry. In this present moment of multiple genocides and an ongoing, stubbornly-ignored pandemic, it hit me just right. "You got us all out for good, and they're trying to start a war over the bones. There's a better way. We know there's a better way. And you're trying to find it."

Content Warnings

wickedgrumpy's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix

4.0

It's been a while since I read book 2 in the series and I contemplated re-reading before picking this volume up because when I initially tried to read it I was overwhelmed. Book 2 leaves on a cliffhanger and book 3 starts right after and so you see the immediate events and it was a little difficult to jump right it.

I thought that the series was quite solid. Book 3 really tied it all together and bits that were resolved were introduced in book 1 so it was quite good closure to see actions that have consequences and a resolution all together.

Some of the reveals were also top notch, since there's (in hindsight) a lot of foreshadowing but to be able to put it all together wasn't something I managed. I don't know if it was because of the gap between the books and it would have been obvious if I read them in closer succession but I was satisfied with how it came together.

Content Warnings

flyintothestorm's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous challenging dark emotional tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Me ha gustado, pero hubiese preferido un final distinto.

Hay veces que la muerte de un personaje importante encaja más que que se salve.

Content Warnings

kadtide's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark hopeful medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Content Warnings

icarusandthesun's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark funny mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

i am utterly disappointed.
such a shattering cliffhanger in book two, and for what?

this book has 400 pages and i kid you not, around 300 were horribly uninteresting. the whole first half of the book was useless rambling - boring, uninspiring and devastatingly dry.

the twist and reveal and all that were fun and had potential, the delivery however was super unexciting and the wow-moment shadowed by the absolute nothingness the whole rest of the book was. great concept, such poor execution.

and don't even get me started on the ending.
the ending was the most frustrating thing ever. like yeah, we all love a happy ending, but

just how did orion survive? and i'm not saying that out of spite or malice, i liked him as a character. i just think he seriously should've died, because that would've been the most realistic and sensible outcome.

also, watching all the conflict and problems get solved in a little godlike act 20 pages before the end made me want to claw my eyes out.

there were a couple of scenes and happenings that hooked me for a few pages, a chapter at best - for example

the little liaison thing with liesel which surprised me BIG TIME, in a good way,

but the rest was absolutely not it.

i loved book one and two, and the author's catchy and quick writing style didn't disappoint in this one either, but the story - tragic.

Content Warnings