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sabinehunter'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? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Classism, Death, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Violence, Blood, Child death, Domestic abuse, Grief, Murder, Kidnapping, Cursing, and Vomit
thecandiegirl's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
Minor: Murder, Vomit, Death, Cursing, Violence, Child abuse, and Blood
booksandstardust's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Physical abuse and Child abuse
Moderate: Murder and Gun violence
Minor: Vomit, Death of parent, Ableism, and Kidnapping
lunep's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
5.0
Graphic: Alcoholism, Murder, Alcohol, Death, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Classism, Self harm, Blood, Child abuse, Death of parent, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Suicide attempt, and Violence
Moderate: Toxic friendship
Minor: Vomit
trintrin'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
4.0
THE CHARACTERS. I love the characters. I can't stress how much I love the characters. I would willingly read a thousand one-shots and spin-offs about them even though it's only been one out of four books so far.
- Maura, Calla, Persephone, and the other psychic women were very interesting to read about. I hope to get to know them more in the future books. Especially Persephone, she's got me in her charms.
- Blue is such a refreshing character, I love her so much. I thought she's gonna be one of those whiny YA protagonists,
- I don't really have an opinion on Ronan yet, but I smell a character backstory/arc up ahead. I shall deliver my judgement after that :D
- Adam is probably the most realistic character out of everyone here. He was my first favourite character, I hope he pulls through all the way to the end.
- Gansey, oh Gansey. I have a soft spot towards Gansey. Something about the way he cares so much for the Raven Boys, and eventually, Blue, makes me want to not read this book anymore. Because I absolutely do not want him to die. He's such a FANTASTIC friend and he is the glue holding the group together. I genuinely cannot imagine how the boys would even survive without him. I want a friend like Gansey, and not just because he's filthy rich.
- And finally, saving the best boy for the last, NOAHHHH.
THE PLOT. The first 50%-ish part of the book had a very weird pacing, so much so that it nearly took me a month to finish it. I truly did not care about Glendower or the ley lines or Aglionby, but it was the characters that kept me going. Lucky I did, because after setting up the world and everything about halfway through, the book picks up the pace. One second you think you've got it, and the next second it goes poof. It keeps you guessing all the way till the end.
The amount of foreshadowing this book has?? Noah quite literally said that the reason he is always cold is because he's been dead for seven years in the fourth chapter AND NO ONE QUESTIONED IT? Every time Noah makes an appearance has some sort of clue to his situation (the way he threw up after seeing that car and no one bothered to think why?) and yet I never guessed that he was actually dead, just that he's sketchy. And the way it matched up with Gansey's hornet death backstory and Whelk's Czerny backstory, it's incredible, really.
Whelk, I thought he's a weirdo who turns out to be a good-ish guy in the end. The psychopath straight up murdered Noah. Little bitch deserved every bit of his stupid death. Noah's funeral actually made me kinda teary eyed, but I didn't expect them to commit literal grave robbery wtaf 😭 we stan.
One thing that made me feel so relieved in a way was when Adam's father (he can go to hell) slapped him, he actually lost his hearing in a ear. That's it. It's gone. No partial hearing loss, or temporary deafness that will soon be back to normal, or magical abilities to heal his condition, or super hear with his other ear. Nothing. It's just an injury that can never be fixed. This is one thing that I never really liked about fantasy. Like why make the characters lose something as important as a body part only to immediately fix it in someway that its loss is not a big deal at all? I really hope Adam stays this way at least for a good long time, and that his partial deafness affects and slows him down every once in a while. (I understand how sadistic this sounds, but we really need more disabled characters who are actually disabled)
Overall, if only the pacing in the first half hadn't been dogshit, I would've given this five stars. As it is, I hope we can rectify that in the next one :D (although I still don't really care about Glendower, I'm just here for the lovely people and some vibes)
Jan 2024 reread:
This has been my favourite book ever to reread, easily 5 stars! I remember thinking there was a lot of foreshadowing immediately after finishing this book and just flipping back through the pages. Now, with the knowledge of the other three books and the Dreamer Trilogy combined, I can safely say THERE'S SO MUCH FORESHADOWING!! I was sitting here with my jaw dropped for some of those. So many of them evaded my attention, even the things that happen within this book. Maggie, you big-brained genius.
Another thing that I somehow forgot about is
I remember struggling with the pacing so much that it took me nearly a month to finish this book because it took forever to get to the main plot. After flying through the book at record-speed during this reread, I realised it's probably because I didn't know that the main point of this series is not finding Glendower, it's the friendships, and it's always been there at the core of the book. Not justifying the book or invalidating new readers who might feel the same way, just a curious thing to point out.
Graphic: Child abuse, Murder, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, and Violence
Moderate: Blood, Body horror, Grief, and Gun violence
Minor: Classism, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Vomit, Alcohol, and Self harm
emohell'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? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Murder, Cursing, Child death, Physical abuse, Child abuse, Death, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Classism
Minor: Vomit and Alcohol
ifoundcallie's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
Graphic: Child abuse, Blood, Classism, Death, and Murder
Moderate: Gun violence, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, and Child death
Minor: Kidnapping, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide attempt, Grief, Death of parent, Suicide, Vomit, Cursing, Suicidal thoughts, Domestic abuse, Alcohol, and Alcoholism
friendly_neighborhood_grandma'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? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Death, Classism, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Murder, Physical abuse, Violence, Bullying, and Child abuse
Moderate: Cursing, Gore, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Abandonment, Death of parent, and Kidnapping
Minor: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Body horror, Car accident, Vomit, and Self harm
sunsorbit'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
5.0
Graphic: Cursing, Domestic abuse, Child abuse, Death, and Violence
Moderate: Death of parent and Gun violence
Minor: Vomit, Alcohol, Animal death, and Murder
Heavily features ghosts, spirits, a scene of something akin to possession, and a scene of finding the dead body of a teenager in a severe state of decompositionparisreads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Moderate: Death, Violence, Murder, and Child abuse
Minor: Gun violence, Suicide attempt, Vomit, Physical abuse, and Death of parent