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4.1 AVERAGE
4.1 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Murder, Classism
Moderate: Confinement, Violence, Kidnapping, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Fatphobia, Gore, Sexism, Slavery, Vomit
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I'm really enjoying this series. Love the relationships and personalities that develop in this book, love Briar's relationship with plants. The baddie could've used more character and motive development, the story was a little flat there. Still, a fun read.
Man round two is DARK! Yeah, they are now the ripe old age of 14 as opposed to ten or whatever it was during the first quartet, but they don't mess around with death and just the right amount of "wow, that more descriptive that I was expecting" on the whole people dying thing. It's still awesome and I love these kids and the magic system, but especially the ending when he does that one thing at that one point... yeah, that was really freakly hardcore - just like in the first one of this quartet actually. I'm curious to see what happened with the other two.
adventurous
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:
Yes
adventurous
hopeful
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:
Yes
Okay, so firstly, if I would have read this book first in the series, my reaction would have been something like YEAHHHHHHHHHH. But since it was second and made clear the fact that this series is Pierce's most formulaic yet, it sort of soured it for me. Individually this book was rock solid.
Briar was such a badass. He's fourteen now and officially a plant mage. He and Rosethorn are traveling the world seeking out new plants and such. In the city of Chammur, they happen upon a street urchin named Evvy who is an untrained stone mage, and because no stone mage can be found to teach her, Briar as the mage who discovered her is obligated to do the teaching. But he's not the only interested party in Evvy, as gang warfare actually begins to spring up around her, the gangs thinking they can use her talents to find hidden gems in the stone mazes of the ancient city and profit from her talents. Evvy and Briar have a really nice bond, and their relationship prompts him to finally push back the barrier on his own gang-related past and grow up. The final setpiece with Briar doing all kinds of awesome plant magic to rescue Evvy was seriously so cool, and I wish I could see it on film somehow.
It was soured at first by the fact that Sandry's book immediately preceding it also featured her finding an untrained mage and conveniently being the only one available to teach that mage. It also featured her coming to terms with being the teacher now instead of the student. It was also markedly inferior to this one. Sandry's struggles just aren't as interesting as Briar's. She's a noble with almost no personal struggles of her own. I am almost positive that the second and third books will also follow this formula, which is very disappointing. Even if they are great on an individual level, they will be cheapened by this adherence to a formula which Pierce has inexplicably decided to bust out mid-career despite never having written like that previously.
But Briar is still a badass.
Briar was such a badass. He's fourteen now and officially a plant mage. He and Rosethorn are traveling the world seeking out new plants and such. In the city of Chammur, they happen upon a street urchin named Evvy who is an untrained stone mage, and because no stone mage can be found to teach her, Briar as the mage who discovered her is obligated to do the teaching. But he's not the only interested party in Evvy, as gang warfare actually begins to spring up around her, the gangs thinking they can use her talents to find hidden gems in the stone mazes of the ancient city and profit from her talents. Evvy and Briar have a really nice bond, and their relationship prompts him to finally push back the barrier on his own gang-related past and grow up. The final setpiece with Briar doing all kinds of awesome plant magic to rescue Evvy was seriously so cool, and I wish I could see it on film somehow.
It was soured at first by the fact that Sandry's book immediately preceding it also featured her finding an untrained mage and conveniently being the only one available to teach that mage. It also featured her coming to terms with being the teacher now instead of the student. It was also markedly inferior to this one. Sandry's struggles just aren't as interesting as Briar's. She's a noble with almost no personal struggles of her own. I am almost positive that the second and third books will also follow this formula, which is very disappointing. Even if they are great on an individual level, they will be cheapened by this adherence to a formula which Pierce has inexplicably decided to bust out mid-career despite never having written like that previously.
But Briar is still a badass.
challenging
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
fast-paced
Strong character development:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
adventurous
lighthearted
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No