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camigy's review against another edition
4.0
Things I liked:
- The world building is very detailed. Usually I don't enjoy world building, it seems overly descriptive and sometimes there are things I think I could have lived without, but not with this book. Samantha Shannon spent a lot of work creating a world where, not only do you get to discover new creatures and monsters, you also get to learn about their history and how different interpretations of it led to different religions and beliefs all around this world. I've never read a book with such detailed world building before, to the point where the author developed religions with their own rules, beliefs and practices. While it did take me some time to adjust and remember the details, I loved every second of it.
- The different narrators. This book follows 4 different narrators/perspectives and each of them comes from a different part of this world so they have different beliefs and customs so they view events and each other in such different ways and it was interesting to be in each of their minds and understand where they're all coming from.
- The dragons. I don't know what to say every scene with them won me over, it was just so interesting I love reading about fictional creatures.
Now, some stuff to keep in mind (NOT NECESSARILY BAD THINGS JUST NOT FOR EVERYONE):
- Because the story is told from the perspective of 4 different people, the beginning of the book is a little hard to follow. There are so many characters, places, stories to take in and remember that sometimes things might get mixed up.
- The world building is long. This is not a bad thing, I actually rather enjoyed the world building, I was very intrigued about all these different cultures, religions, ways to interpret the same history, learning about the difference between the dragons and the fire-breathers, while also getting to know the narrators and figuring out who they are and what they believe. <i> However, </i> it is long and a lot so the first 150-200 pages are difficult to get through because you're still learning and still getting to know the intricacies of this world, but I promise after these pages it's such a fast read I couldn't put it down.
- While I loved this book and thoroughly enjoyed the story, the world and the characters, this is not a revolutionary tale. I think it's a story we've all heard before: a world with dragons, kings, queens, magic, etc. with the end goal being to defeat the bad dragon. This is the reason I didn't give it 5 stars because, yes, it was interesting, but I wouldn't say it's this amazing adventure, unheard of and surprising.
- *SPOILER*
Also I thought it was a little annoying that every single character survived this "war". Around page 300 the author kills off around 5 people almost in a row and I just thought it was going to be this ruthless book where you shouldn't get attached to anyone because they're going to be killed off, but no. Don't worry about that, get attached to whoever you want because they all magically survive such an awful, world-wide battle... I just thought it was a waste of a really cool ending because, yeah it's sad, but also realistic in a scenario like this one (as realistic as a fantasy book can get)
Graphic: Death, Miscarriage, Violence, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Torture
Minor: Suicide
claudiamacpherson'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
5.0
Happy ending meter (no specific spoilers, just the general vibe of the ending):
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Violence, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Confinement, Gore, Infertility, Miscarriage, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Xenophobia, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and War
Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Gun violence, Vomit, and Alcohol
mollyfour's review
- 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? It's complicated
4.5
Moderate: Cursing, Death, Violence, Blood, Grief, and Murder
Minor: Confinement, Infertility, Miscarriage, Torture, Blood, Dementia, Kidnapping, Pregnancy, Alcohol, and War
strange_little_ranger's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Miscarriage, Violence, Blood, Grief, and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Death, Gore, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Dementia, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, War, and Injury/Injury detail
teijamitchell'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? No
4.5
Moderate: Death, Gore, Torture, Violence, Blood, and War
Minor: Infertility, Miscarriage, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury
anneroza'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? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Death, Infertility, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Xenophobia, Grief, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Alcoholism, Child death, Incest, Racism, Sexual content, Blood, Medical content, and Alcohol
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Incest, Infidelity, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Blood, Death of parent, and Alcohol
beforeviolets'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
5.0
I wish I could put into words just how much I loved this book, but I don't think I'll be able to. I have been craving so much sapphic adult high fantasy this year and, as most people are, was nervous to crack into this beast of a book. But the only disappointing thing about this book was that it had to end.
The prose constantly rendered me speechless, the world-building was just an absolute marvel to experience, the characters were so multi-faceted and compelling and perfectly rounded out the story.
This is the blueprint.
Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Infertility, Miscarriage, Violence, Blood, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Confinement, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, and Medical content
Minor: Infidelity and Sexual content
taleofabibliophile'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? No
5.0
Graphic: Death, Infertility, Miscarriage, Violence, Religious bigotry, and War
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Confinement, Cursing, Gore, Sexual content, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Murder, Pregnancy, and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Incest, Mental illness, Suicide, and Torture
charliebriggs96'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? No
4.0
Let’s talk about magic: I usually find magic systems either over-complex or utterly lazy. This, however, has a great magic system that makes complete sense. It almost gave me full metal alchemist vibes with the whole idea that your power is limited to how much you received to gave. I liked that also it heavily implied the yin and yang of energy. You cannot have one without the other. I enjoyed that.
Let’s talk religion: it’s a big part of this book, so it has to be mentioned because I think you can take this book and look at the world and see the similarities between the two. We as humans are prone to jumping the gun when it comes to faith, what is heresy and what is not and so on. Someone else’s religion, if not shared with your own is terrible, and evil, or at the very least a bad omen of sorts. Which is what this book shows, is utter bullsh*t. Every religion has the same underlined meaning and teachings, which can be said for the beliefs and faiths within this book. And I think Shannon did a great job at exploring that.
Let’s talk about the characters: Shannon did an excellent job at making an array of characters that you desperately love, come to love and then hate or despise right off of the bat. I have never in my life hoped for someone’s death more than I did with Niclays. As soon as he did what he did (when you read, you’ll know what I mean
Moderate: Death, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Sexism, Torture, Dementia, Grief, Religious bigotry, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, and Gaslighting
li_reading'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? It's complicated
4.75
Graphic: Chronic illness, Death, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Pregnancy, and Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Infidelity, Torture, Dementia, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, Abandonment, and Alcohol
Minor: Confinement, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Homophobia, Incest, Rape, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Forced institutionalization, Vomit, Medical content, Death of parent, Lesbophobia, and Toxic friendship