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banannafox's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Moderate: Blood, Child abuse, Abandonment, Sexual content, Gore, Pandemic/Epidemic, Physical abuse, Body horror, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, Bullying, Violence, Child death, Death of parent, Death, Dementia, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, and Medical content
Minor: Animal death, Grief, Classism, Confinement, Vomit, and Miscarriage
tifftastic87's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Drug use, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Chronic illness, Pandemic/Epidemic, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Violence, Death, Death of parent, Vomit, Blood, Child death, Body horror, Alcohol, Bullying, Confinement, and Cursing
Minor: Medical content, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, and Adult/minor relationship
panbread's review
- 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
4.75
Graphic: Hate crime, Gore, Body horror, Death, and Blood
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Religious bigotry, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, and Child death
Minor: Grief, Murder, Confinement, Pregnancy, Vomit, and Child abuse
Wasn't sure what tag to use for this, but there is a relationship where an adult takes advantage of a teenager sexually. Exchanging sex for intel. This continues for several years, going into adult hood. It's not exactly asault or rape since it's consensual but there's definitely something traumatic about it. There is only brief mentions of the actual acts but the book spends significant amount of time handling the psychological after effects.alphabetmafiamember's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
Graphic: Violence, Blood, Panic attacks/disorders, Murder, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Death, and Sexual content
Moderate: War, Kidnapping, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Xenophobia, Vomit, Sexism, Pandemic/Epidemic, Misogyny, Bullying, Adult/minor relationship, Infidelity, Grief, Confinement, Classism, Drug use, Dementia, Cursing, and Child death
Minor: Sexual assault and Slavery
wilybooklover's review against another edition
4.5
I am in DIRE need of the sequel though after that ending!! Also I wish we had the US cover in the UK, it's so much prettier.
Graphic: Sexual content, War, Blood, Body horror, Child death, Drug use, Death, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Violence
Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Death of parent, Dementia, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence
Minor: Classism, Infidelity, Pregnancy, Adult/minor relationship, and Animal death
fifteenthjessica's review
- 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
4.0
Rin Chupeco definitely knows how to craft an intriguing fantasy novel with complex characters that mix in the most interesting ways, but I'm still not sold on her skill at describing what is going on. Like the huas in The Bone Witch, the Breaker, Remy's main weapon, is hard for me to picture. It's called a scythe often, so I assume it has a more polearm like handle, but the way he's described as moving with it makes it hard for me to picture him doing it with a long handle. A picture on a variant cover suggests it is in fact a short handle and heavily inspired by real world weapons like Kusarigama, but it's never outright stated, probably because pre-modern Japanese weaponry is an obscure area of knowledge for most Western readers. Also, like when I read the Bone Witch, I found myself sitting there wondering "Wait, how'd that happen?" as a main character is described as having a serious injury.
Fair warning to anyone looking into book who are younger fans of Chupeco's YA novels, things get steamy. Most is completely consensual, but an important subplot is about Remy's affair with an older woman (possibly multiple) that is less due to any attraction Remy's feels for her and more because it's the only way to get information about vampire movement in Aluria that everyone admits should be given to him because he's a vampire hunter, but the woman's husband is a giant asshole. Nothing graphic, but characters definitely bang, and I know I would not have enjoyed that type of content when I was in my young teens.
Graphic: Blood, Violence, and Body horror
Moderate: Confinement, Violence, Cursing, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Child abuse, Infidelity, War, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual violence, Gore, Grief, Sexual content, Chronic illness, Dementia, Emotional abuse, and Murder
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Animal death, Kidnapping, Classism, Vomit, and Medical content
lilifane's review
- 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
4.0
I had a lot of fun, mostly because of the characters, their dynamics and the writing style. I liked the main characters a lot and the way they interacted with each other. They seemed kind of one dimensional on their own, but I loved all the messy and complicated relationships and character dynamics they had between each other and the ones around them. There was my favorite love triangle trope, where all three of them are equally into each other. And although I'm not the biggest fan of NSFW scenes, they fit the vibe. I'm also glad they were short and mostly faded to black. I just wish this relationship was explored in a more nuanced way rather than concentrating on the desire and sex aspect of it. I still don't know how and why Xiaodan and Zidan fell in love with Remy this quickly. I definitely prefer a subtler development with slow burn. What I really loved were the discussions about consent and abuse, about trauma and self-worth, though. And I feel like these were in the center of the story more than the plot itself.
The plot was probably the weakest part for me. I was in the mood for a vampire story and liked these aspects a lot. I even liked there was a vampire zombie pandemic. I liked that there was a murder mystery and other mysteries as well. I just don't think they were presented well. There was a lot of telling instead of showing. Most of the reveals were pretty predictable. There were repetitions and things happening off page. Things only being hinted at. I wish we got more of those instead of the action/fighting scenes because these were my least favorite part.
The world building is interesting, it just wasn't explored enough for my taste. I'm definitely interested in more stories from this world because there is a lot of potential.
Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Gore, Blood, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Child abuse, Violence, Murder, Pregnancy, Body horror, Confinement, Cursing, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Child death, Drug use, and Emotional abuse
vigil's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
i have my fair share of issues about this book, but everytime i wasn't reading it, i was thinking about reading it. i never had a bad moment with this book, despite many warning that it starts to hit it's stride 20% into it. i was invested from page one essentially.
for my critiques, i'll say there is the issue with repetitive word choice, (there's only so many times i can read the word attractive) prose that definitely has it roots in YA despite being an adult book, and too much telling rather than showing in the romance. i think was written for zidan and remy, along with what has been set up for them is great, both individually and character wise. the same unfortunately cannot quite be said for xiaodan, who i feel got the short end of the stick. i know that she likes remy, and her fiance, i know several objective facts about her, but very little beyond that. that lack of interiority unfortunately spread to the relationship somewhat, leaving me fine with her interactions with her love interests, but never truly satisfied in the same way remy and malekh's do. however, this is the first book in what i presume to be a series, and that i expect that there will be more on xiaodan, especially with the events of the ending, a part of the book that really stood out for me.
that's not to say i didn't enjoy the relationship, because i absolutely did. they were always engaging to have on page, and i don't have any specific complaints about them (aside from the issue with xiaodan above). more fantasy authors should include sex scenes in their books.
plotwise, i had a fun time. i think this book would work excellent in a graphic novel or animation format because of how high-action it was. the rot plotline was a good opener for the series,
Graphic: Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Dementia, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Blood, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, War, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, and Gore
ridesthesun's review against another edition
- 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
4.5
I'm a weenie so I skimmed some of the more gory sections, but this was such a fun story, and I'm really looking forward to the sequel!!!
Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Violence, War, Animal death, Death, Death of parent, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Physical abuse, and Sexual content
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, and Child abuse
ashlikes's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, Death, Gore, Violence, War, Alcohol, Grief, Blood, Body horror, and Cursing
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death of parent, Drug use, Panic attacks/disorders, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Mental illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Ableism, Chronic illness, Dementia, Domestic abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Infidelity, Kidnapping, and Medical content
Minor: Pregnancy, Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Misogyny, Police brutality, Vomit, and Pedophilia