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thenovelmaura's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I read this a few months ago, and at the time I found it underwhelming. To be honest, I don't remember too much of it, so I guess that confirms my opinion? As far as YA fantasy goes, it wasn't outright bad, just predictable from a plot perspective. What I didn't expect were the descriptions of gore and how truly evil the villain ended up being. Like, the complexity of the magic system and the light world-building made me think this was for younger YA readers, until we're hit with a level of violence that's way more appropriate for an older audience. I also thought Finn's power was super cool and wanted to see it in action, and then she ended up not having access to it the entire book for "plot reasons." Oh well, I'm proud of myself for reading this backlist title, even if it didn't meet my expectations!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Gore, and Blood
Moderate: Child abuse and Torture
shoshin's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Gore, Self harm, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Blood, Vomit, Murder, and Gaslighting
Moderate: Colonisation
moonchildpages's review against another edition
adventurous
hopeful
fast-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
when your first read of the year is a reread of one of your fave reads from last year..... i'm coping okay yall leave me be
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Slavery, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, and Murder
sparky_young_upstart's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
tense
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
A strong read. The beginning is fairly slow, but picks up the pace in the important parts and fires on all cylinders by the second half. The worldbuilding is simple to understand established right off the bat, leaving most of the first act to focus on the characters. It’s not quite perfect because there are some characters here whose stories I feel could have been explored more, but the strength of everything else nearly makes up for that.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Death, and Emotional abuse
Moderate: Child death
A character has their tongue cut out offscreen.annalisaely's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I loved the magic system (three different types of magic, based on book learning, elemental affinity, and individual magic that manifests when you have need of it in childhood) and Finn's character. Alfie was only interesting for his relationships with other people, being Luka and Finn. I wasn't very interested in the plot, but that's a personal preference thing. I didn't like that the YA/MG Parent Problem (parents need to be either absent/dead or terrible people in order for young characters to get into life-threatening situations) by having the parents be perfectly lovely people and Alfie just not wanting to tell them the horrible trouble he has put the entire world into just because it would be embarrassing. It made it a lot harder to connect to his character. But, the world building and the actual conclusion of the story as well as dealing with past trauma of Finn's life really well up this book to a 4 star.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Suicide, Toxic relationship, and Grief