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anjasshelf'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
Graphic: Gore, Chronic illness, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Body horror, Cannibalism, Child death, Violence, Blood, Terminal illness, Child abuse, Suicide, Vomit, Death of parent, Murder, Self harm, and Death
kodi_rae's review against another edition
- 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? Yes
4.0
I think my one critique is that it moved so fast that the way the relationship between the two main characters fluctuates over time did not feel totally believable to me. But I will still read the other books in the series because it was so interesting and fun.
Graphic: Cancer, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, Chronic illness, Gore, Violence, Death, Injury/Injury detail, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Blood, Bullying, Child death, Physical abuse, and Emotional abuse
Minor: Cursing
readingwithcoffee's review against another edition
- 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
3.5
Muir’s character dynamics and character multidimensional and the way she writes women so central though is incredible.
Graphic: Murder, Child abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Toxic friendship, Infertility, Body horror, Cursing, Gore, Death of parent, Cannibalism, Bullying, Suicide, War, Emotional abuse, Chronic illness, Child death, Death, Blood, Cancer, and Body shaming
bohboh'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
5.0
Graphic: Chronic illness, Injury/Injury detail, Religious bigotry, Violence, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, Cursing, Death, Infertility, Gore, Grief, Child death, Suicide, Terminal illness, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Blood, Body horror, Cancer, and Vomit
Minor: War
nefariousbee's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Murder, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Child death, Confinement, Cannibalism, Chronic illness, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Body horror, Cancer, Gore, Terminal illness, Toxic friendship, Cursing, Vomit, Death, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Gore, Cancer, Cursing, Murder, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Vomit, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Bullying, Chronic illness, Infertility, Suicide, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Violence, and Emotional abuse
athenian_frog's review against another edition
- 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? It's complicated
4.25
The experience was DEFINITELY made better by putting on the YouTube audiobook as I read (at around 1.75-2x speed). Moira Quirk gave everyone pretty distinct voices, and writing is casual enough to lend itself better to someone reading it/enunciating conversations.
If you have the means I recommend annotating and/or maintaining post-it’s with your predictions. I found it pretty fun, since the lore and the plot itself were ensconced in mystery ★彡
POSITIVES:
+ Main characters have distinct personalities and voices. Supports and side characters feel interesting in their own respects
+ character exchanges are pretty fun to read. Gideon and her necromancer did a good job of this overall, especially.
—-> it’s made extra impactful because you get a taste of their intense relationship dynamic in a strong way by ch 3.
+ Gideon herself comes off very strongly off the page. Doesn’t feel like she’s just being shuffled by the plot without a say which can be an issue sometimes
+ the entire cast, in some way contributed to the plot and they felt very much present through the story.
+ really cool applications of necromancy, necromantic magic, spirit manipulation etc.
+ thoughtful construction of a necromantic religion, varied forms of cavalry-necromancer relationship
+ you need more interesting women characters in your life? Here take several
+ lesbians being cool! I mean there’s no mystery to Gideon being wlw but don’t expect people to start pairing up in this book at least.
+ it seems like this necromantic society is queernormative, even the house the other necromantic houses deem “most religious” which is always nice to see
+ mysterious elements of the plot done pretty well. Highlights the world/relationships between necromancer houses. You have a lot of fun theorizing.
NEGATIVES:
- the lore is interesting but you have to do some mental floundering at the beginning. I felt like I was tossed into the metaphorical ocean for the first chapter or two.
- (minor) Yes, Gideon and her cavalier have really solid relationship development but it did feel a tad bit rushed towards the end. I think it’s still pretty good overall though.
-some repetitive writing towards the beginning. If you’re familiar with the sentence subject repetition you find often in fanfiction:
“One day, (statement A). One day, (statement B). One day, (statement C)”
“Act accordingly meant (A). Act accordingly meant (B). Act accordingly meant (C)”
Once, this kind of repetition happened like twice on the same page. Personally, this got pretty annoying. Thankfully it only happens around 4 times within the first 60pgs, and very, very sparingly throughout the rest of the book (around 7 times total for the whole book).
- some characters die, and while they have distinctive personalities and issues going on I felt like they died too quick to really get that punch in the gut. A bit of missed potential there.
—-> some of this is improved by book 2 but I think book 1 still could’ve done better here, for the standalone reading experience.
- some really corny humor that might work or might not. It usually landed for me but sometimes it didn’t.
-the epilogue felt a little weak, especially when the climax was actually pretty good
Overall a fun read. It made me continue the rest of the series which I am enjoying so far!
———————————————————
“When [Harrowhark] spoke again, she made her voice quite calm and normal: ‘Why?’
‘Probably because you asked.’
The heavy eyelids shuttered open, revealing baleful black irises. ‘That’s all it takes, Griddle? That’s all you demand? This is the complex mystery that lies in the pit of your psyche?’
Gideon slid her glasses back onto her face, obscuring feelings with tint. She found herself saying, ‘That’s all I ever demanded,’ and to maintain face suffixed it with, ‘asswipe.’(224)”
Moderate: Murder, Chronic illness, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Body horror, Child death, Cursing, Grief, Terminal illness, Death, Violence, and Suicide
(Straightforward statement, little to Jo description) Several children die by poisoning en masse before the story takes place. Detailed descriptions of wounds, flesh and bone crafting (in part due to necromancy focus) (Descriptive) More than one child character is killed. (Semi-Described) A character kills themself by throwing themself upon an iron spike. It is pretty brief. Two parents and another character kill themselves by hanging, and pre-arrange for their child to do the same. The child does not. (Described) A reoccurring character suffers from a terminal illness that is associated with their necromantic house. They often cough up blood or appear very sickly.wogslandwriter's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Child death, Child abuse, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Confinement, Bullying, Chronic illness, Blood, Body horror, Emotional abuse, Murder, Self harm, Cancer, Cannibalism, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Cursing, and Religious bigotry
Moderate: Grief
Minor: Sexual content
kaiyakaiyo's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Graphic: Gore, Genocide, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Chronic illness, Death, Terminal illness, Blood, Child death, and Child abuse
nixieba25f's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Terminal illness, Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail, Bullying, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Gore, Murder, Body horror, Medical content, Slavery, Blood, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, and Violence
latashman's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Blood, Violence, Terminal illness, Death, Suicide, Death of parent, Gore, Chronic illness, and Child death