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doomluz's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
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
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood and Death
Moderate: Infidelity and Misogyny
Minor: Ableism, Rape, and Fatphobia
caramel_peaches's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Cultural appropriation, Cursing, and Misogyny
Minor: Rape
nick13's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.25
So this one was better than the last as it didn't deal with the boy drama filler that plagues most of the last three books, omg I have read four of these stupid fucking things. Anyways, even though the plot is absolutely atrocious because of the writing, I am still enjoying myself while reading it and also love how the plot has built to this moment where Neferet summons this rape god or whatever the hell, honestly the name of him has already lost me lol. I will say, however, that as much as I am enjoying how bad it all is, the series is starting to already feel like it running out of steam in some aspects and I just wonder how the hell they will continue this series for another, what, like nine books. It'll probably get really fillery - even more so than already - or something or maybe I'll start to enjoy it unironically.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder and Blood
Moderate: Infidelity, Homophobia, Misogyny, and Body horror
Minor: Rape
rachaelarsenault's review against another edition
slow-paced
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
0.25
Endless recaps and cultural appropriation: the novel.
This book is incredibly slow and agonizingly boring. For example, the authors manage to stretch about an hour worth of events into forty-four pages that consist almost entirely of dialogue. This is all exposition or "witty" banter. Though there is foreshadowing, we don't get to the actual plot until page 164 in the form of a prophecy - and then proceed to spend about thirty pages discussing the prophecy. And there's more endless recapping and over-analyzing of other plot points on top of that. This book probably could have been condensed into about 100 pages and it would have been way, way better.
Then again, some elements are incredibly rushed. Most notable is the introduction of a new character named Stark. SPOILERS! He appears on page 19, is introduced to readers so hastily that Zoey manages to intuit his entire personality from about five minutes of interaction, we learn his entire backstory between chapters eleven and twelve, Zoey randomly decides he's her soulmate during that conversation, and then he dies on page 100. However, his character is only actually present in scenes for 23 pages before his death. That means he only has 23 pages of development, but readers are expected to care about him as a major character and love interest.
The aforementioned prophecy is pretty awful, and not just because it's terribly written free-verse poetry. It's based in a bastardized version of Cherokee legend. In my review of "Marked", I commented on how characters would comment on folkloric ideas about vampyres and dismiss them as false. Everyone knows those elements of vampirism, so writing new interpretations of these creatures isn't really a big deal. Most people, however, know absolutely nothing about Cherokee legend. In this story, the legend of Raven Mockers is completely rewritten to the point of being almost unrecognizable and none of the characters ever comment on the fact that this is contrary to the traditional stories about these creatures. This means that anyone who reads this book will most likely take this bastardization as being the actual legend, perpetuating serious misinformation about a culture that receives little recognition within mainstream society and culture. This is pretty bad.
Moreover, the prophecy demonstrates a serious historical fail. SPOILERS! An evil fallen angel named Kalona (yes, the bastardized Cherokee legend includes Judeo-Christian angels) was imprisoned in the earth a thousand years ago and just so happens to be underneath a tree on the House of Night campus. There are two problems here. 1) The Cherokee as such did not exist back then. A thousand years ago, that region hosted the Mississipian empire. 2) The Cherokee people are not indigenous to Oklahoma, where the story is set, but were forcibly relocated there in the 1830s under the Removal Act as part of an atrocious historical event known as the Trail of Tears. Either the authors somehow never came across information about the Trail of Tears in all their research or they decided to ignore it. Both possibilities are extremely problematic, once again having the effect of perpetuating serious misinformation.
Honestly, there's not much else to say about this book. All the same problems as before persist in this installment, it just somehow manages to be even more drawn out and boring than the other books.
This book is incredibly slow and agonizingly boring. For example, the authors manage to stretch about an hour worth of events into forty-four pages that consist almost entirely of dialogue. This is all exposition or "witty" banter. Though there is foreshadowing, we don't get to the actual plot until page 164 in the form of a prophecy - and then proceed to spend about thirty pages discussing the prophecy. And there's more endless recapping and over-analyzing of other plot points on top of that. This book probably could have been condensed into about 100 pages and it would have been way, way better.
Then again, some elements are incredibly rushed. Most notable is the introduction of a new character named Stark. SPOILERS! He appears on page 19, is introduced to readers so hastily that Zoey manages to intuit his entire personality from about five minutes of interaction, we learn his entire backstory between chapters eleven and twelve, Zoey randomly decides he's her soulmate during that conversation, and then he dies on page 100. However, his character is only actually present in scenes for 23 pages before his death. That means he only has 23 pages of development, but readers are expected to care about him as a major character and love interest.
The aforementioned prophecy is pretty awful, and not just because it's terribly written free-verse poetry. It's based in a bastardized version of Cherokee legend. In my review of "Marked", I commented on how characters would comment on folkloric ideas about vampyres and dismiss them as false. Everyone knows those elements of vampirism, so writing new interpretations of these creatures isn't really a big deal. Most people, however, know absolutely nothing about Cherokee legend. In this story, the legend of Raven Mockers is completely rewritten to the point of being almost unrecognizable and none of the characters ever comment on the fact that this is contrary to the traditional stories about these creatures. This means that anyone who reads this book will most likely take this bastardization as being the actual legend, perpetuating serious misinformation about a culture that receives little recognition within mainstream society and culture. This is pretty bad.
Moreover, the prophecy demonstrates a serious historical fail. SPOILERS! An evil fallen angel named Kalona (yes, the bastardized Cherokee legend includes Judeo-Christian angels) was imprisoned in the earth a thousand years ago and just so happens to be underneath a tree on the House of Night campus. There are two problems here. 1) The Cherokee as such did not exist back then. A thousand years ago, that region hosted the Mississipian empire. 2) The Cherokee people are not indigenous to Oklahoma, where the story is set, but were forcibly relocated there in the 1830s under the Removal Act as part of an atrocious historical event known as the Trail of Tears. Either the authors somehow never came across information about the Trail of Tears in all their research or they decided to ignore it. Both possibilities are extremely problematic, once again having the effect of perpetuating serious misinformation.
Honestly, there's not much else to say about this book. All the same problems as before persist in this installment, it just somehow manages to be even more drawn out and boring than the other books.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood
Moderate: Racism and Misogyny
Minor: Fatphobia and Rape
Sex shaming
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