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melissaslibraryy's review
Graphic: Classism, Injury/Injury detail, Confinement, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Police brutality, Murder, Violence, and War
prunechips's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Ableism, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Classism, and Confinement
Moderate: Murder
imcourtneymarie'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
All of the predictions I made as I was reading were wrong, which is a good thing! I didn’t find The Darkening predictable or cliche at all.
The last half of the book is especially thrilling with shades of Hell Bent and Red Queen.
Yeah, no complaints at all. Can’t for book 2.
Graphic: Death of parent
Moderate: Confinement and Grief
erks'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? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Graphic: Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Torture, Death, Blood, and Confinement
renaaria's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
Graphic: Violence, Suicide, Death of parent, Confinement, Suicide attempt, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Death, Classism, and Body horror
fromthefoxhole'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? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
I'm an unfortunate sucker for the chosen one girl in a YA trope (thank you, Katniss) and this one really hammers that into you.
1. Vesper (like even the name, come on!!)
2. lives in an area affected by The Storm, and her Region™️ is the last one on the outskirts closest to it, and it's the poorest region.
3. she's not trained in the Magic System™️ but she loves it
4. there's a rich boy who takes pity on her bc of something having to do with the Government™️
5. she has a family tie that creates a vengeance arc so she finds her way to the Capital™️
7. circumstances arise that lead to her working with the rich boy (she thinks that maybe she underestimated him)
8. they're thrown into the Gauntlet™️
9. Alliances are formed and broken, promises are stretched thin, betrayals - how could I ever love someone like You™️?
10. One of them either dies/falls into a coma and the last thing they see is their Enemy?™️
It's like, everything that is tired and we're supposed to hate. BUT- Truly I'm not sure if I'm just, like, giving the book more grace than it's due. BUT-
I think I always give more leeway to a first book, knowing that the author likely has planned arcs over the multiples rather than the individual, so I wanted to suspend my belief, y'know? I didn't mind the questions I had about the magic system, or the politics, etc. I felt like this book very intentionally only gave us the pieces that were given to Vesper. We're *supposed* to feel a little lost in a world we don't fully understand, because that's how Vesper feels in the Ven. I found myself tabbing something as important, then coming across a related thing and running back to the note like, proud of myself that I had called it. It was rewarding to piece things together with Vesper.
I ate up her friendship with the boys,
Something about the writing, the fluidity of the story, drew me in and held me for the two full days it took me to read this. Any time I had to stop reading, I found myself counting the minutes until I could pick it back up. I was fully entranced the entire time. Freaking witchcraft.
Graphic: Death of parent, Death, Emotional abuse, Suicide, War, Violence, Classism, Grief, Confinement, Blood, and Body horror
frantically'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
4.25
Yes, it's a bit basic at times — the different city parts relating to power, evil princes who aren't so evil after all but why change a working system? 😉 There is a lot of poc-rep and I spy mlm rep in the future 🤞🏻 Ikonomancy is an interesting power system and it doesn't rely on violence, more on academic wisdom. At first, I was a bit confused but it made more sense as the book went on and the explanations actually made sense for once, haha.
The ending made me feel like I was on drugs and it was all a bit crazy (and the characterisation went 🏃🏼♀🏃🏼♀🏃🏼♀) but I'm still really excited for the next book!
Graphic: Death and Death of parent
Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Classism, Confinement, and Violence
starrysteph'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
4.75
CW: death, child death, death of a parent, animal cruelty, classism, confinement, chronic illness, terminal illness, injury, possession, fire/death by fire, suicide, sexism, misogyny, grief
Graphic: Suicide, Blood, Classism, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Animal cruelty, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Terminal illness, Sexism, and Misogyny