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mollysbooklist's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? No
3.0
It felt like an American author trying really hard to write in various British accents and Irish accents. I found it distracting and made the plot more convoluted than necessary.
The audiobook narration was okay. I think I would’ve enjoyed this more if it had been a physical/e-book vs. the audiobook. I think the narration highlighted the problems of the writing.
*Accents haven’t previously been an issue for me so it was surprising how distracting it was with this book.
The audiobook narration was okay. I think I would’ve enjoyed this more if it had been a physical/e-book vs. the audiobook. I think the narration highlighted the problems of the writing.
*Accents haven’t previously been an issue for me so it was surprising how distracting it was with this book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body shaming, Slavery, Violence, Fire/Fire injury, Classism, Gaslighting, Gore, Misogyny, Bullying, and Death
Moderate: Sexual assault, Torture, and Fatphobia
Minor: Cannibalism
phiiline's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
tense
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? No
4.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual assault and War
Minor: Misogyny
evandered's review against another edition
The plot & worldbuilding were trying too hard to be something they're not, and I found the main character's narration grating and tedious.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Rape and Misogyny
brook_price's review against another edition
adventurous
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.5
This book was definetely not for me. I've heard the sequels are better but yikes, the portrayals of women and any character other than the hyper-masculine, stunningly handsome, muscular main character were so lackluster and kind of insulting. Also, the treatment of rape was infuriating. I get that the characters discussing and analyzing the incidents are children and that the proctors watching over the games are indicative of the dystopia that hired them, but damn, the handling of assault was messed up. It was as if the women didn't matter. I got straight-up pissed off a couple of times reading this book. To make matters even more irritating, I thought the battle royal element was so boring. The stakes weren't outlined well and the pacing was way too slow. I don't think I'm the target audience for this story, so take my notes with a grain of salt, but ooofff, did not like this book. 1.5 for interesting character names at least.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Classism, Sexual harassment, Ableism, Blood, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Child death, Bullying, Misogyny, and Rape
I personally did not like this bookalvyv's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
inspiring
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
I enjoyed the world building and the social hierarchy is interesting.
Similar to the Hunger Games on how they do have a competition and there is a very specific social hierarchy with clear separation, but I think it’s unique on how it is written and how the story builds. I’m excited to read the next book.
Similar to the Hunger Games on how they do have a competition and there is a very specific social hierarchy with clear separation, but I think it’s unique on how it is written and how the story builds. I’m excited to read the next book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny, Rape, Alcoholism, Violence, and Suicide
Minor: Cannibalism
bratt713's review against another edition
Unnecessarily sexist
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Injury/Injury detail, and Misogyny
Moderate: Rape
danni_0412's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence
Moderate: Sexual assault and Rape
Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Cannibalism, and Misogyny
cindy_reads's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Forced institutionalization, Gore, Murder, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, and Torture
shaybro1728's review against another edition
dark
fast-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
4 out of 5 stars.
I have been thinking about how I want to structure this review. I should start by saying I loved a lot of this book. I think the action scenes were dynamic. I thought the main character of Darrow was amazing. His character arc just in this first book was beautiful. But I hated the discussions of rape and the characterization of the women in this book.
In one of the first major battles of this book, our main character heard one of Titus's side characters sexually assault a woman. For me, I do not like it when authors use sexual assault as a narrative tool. Those discussions need to be done thoughtfully, carefully, and provide some direct and thoughtful justice to the character. In this first instance, I thought that the author brought up a good point. Darrow's main character asks the group what he should do and if they would care about the assault of the victim was not gold (the highest-ranking race in this world). And I think that does point to some important problems when we talk about sexual assault. We only care about it when it is against someone we deem worthy of grieving. However, there is another scene in which a sexual assault happened. The assaulter receives 20 lashes, and Darrow makes his troop give him 25 lashes saying that any wrongdoing he will share in the punishment. And the assaulted gets to be a ranking member, and the victim fades more or else into the background for me. There was no justice. Yes, the author talked about how the assault was about power. But he didn't take away power from the assaulted. Everyone moved on, and all was forgiven. This issue is still a large barrier for me in reading the next book in the series.
But second, the female characters in this book felt like props. The male characters definitely had more in-depth personalities. For example, all we know of EO is that she is pretty, she picked who she wanted to love, and she sang a death song. But we don't know anything else about her. Darrow constantly talks about how pretty Eo was. But nothing about her personality. Nothing about her character. Mustang, the new love interest, we know, is smart, pretty, and is wealthy. But she lacked any depth for me. It was just so frustrating to see Darrow have such a deeply thought-through personality and story arch, and all the women were merely props to motivate his next moves.
I have been thinking about how I want to structure this review. I should start by saying I loved a lot of this book. I think the action scenes were dynamic. I thought the main character of Darrow was amazing. His character arc just in this first book was beautiful. But I hated the discussions of rape and the characterization of the women in this book.
In one of the first major battles of this book, our main character heard one of Titus's side characters sexually assault a woman. For me, I do not like it when authors use sexual assault as a narrative tool. Those discussions need to be done thoughtfully, carefully, and provide some direct and thoughtful justice to the character. In this first instance, I thought that the author brought up a good point. Darrow's main character asks the group what he should do and if they would care about the assault of the victim was not gold (the highest-ranking race in this world). And I think that does point to some important problems when we talk about sexual assault. We only care about it when it is against someone we deem worthy of grieving. However, there is another scene in which a sexual assault happened. The assaulter receives 20 lashes, and Darrow makes his troop give him 25 lashes saying that any wrongdoing he will share in the punishment. And the assaulted gets to be a ranking member, and the victim fades more or else into the background for me. There was no justice. Yes, the author talked about how the assault was about power. But he didn't take away power from the assaulted. Everyone moved on, and all was forgiven. This issue is still a large barrier for me in reading the next book in the series.
But second, the female characters in this book felt like props. The male characters definitely had more in-depth personalities. For example, all we know of EO is that she is pretty, she picked who she wanted to love, and she sang a death song. But we don't know anything else about her. Darrow constantly talks about how pretty Eo was. But nothing about her personality. Nothing about her character. Mustang, the new love interest, we know, is smart, pretty, and is wealthy. But she lacked any depth for me. It was just so frustrating to see Darrow have such a deeply thought-through personality and story arch, and all the women were merely props to motivate his next moves.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Kidnapping, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Grief, Gore, Genocide, Excrement, Emotional abuse, Death, Cursing, Child death, Cannibalism, Body horror, Blood, Animal death, and Animal cruelty
literarycavy's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Bullying, Death, Gore, Grief, Slavery, and Violence
Moderate: Kidnapping, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence
Minor: Cannibalism
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