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chronicacademia's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Moderate: Child abuse, Death, Gore, Hate crime, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, War, and Injury/Injury detail
olenvasynyt's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Self harm, Torture, Violence, and War
littletiramisu'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: Death, Physical abuse, Self harm, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic
artmuseam'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? No
5.0
Graphic: Cursing, Death, Torture, Violence, Blood, and Death of parent
Moderate: Sexual content
loxeletters's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Torture, Violence, and Death of parent
Moderate: Homophobia, Blood, Grief, and Alcohol
enbae'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? It's complicated
5.0
Also reading it was so worth it for Alucard alone 😍🥰
Graphic: Death, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and War
Moderate: Homophobia
incrediblemelk's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I read it in several long luxurious binges. It’s very dramatic and I enjoyed the worldbuilding. The ultimate ending was never in doubt but I found myself sometimes surprised by some of the plot twists. Schwab isn’t afraid to kill off characters to raise the stakes.
That said, this is a very chunky novel and I found myself noticing some of the schlockier moments that pad out the writing. eg people don’t have ‘hair’ when they can have ‘curls’
and there’s a lot of lavish description of the colours and textures of things, and that trope which always annoys me in fantasy fiction of people’s eye colours changing like mood rings.
I don’t think we really needed chapters from Osaron’s perspective as it (he?) was a dull character with only one motivation – consuming power. And it felt like several threads in the novel (to take up the ‘threads of magic’ metaphor that was riffed on again and again here, having never been a major focus of the previous two books) weren’t followed through, eg the Grey London plotline was squared away very briskly and the questions about Kell’s and Lila’s mysterious pasts were brushed over.
Which I guess is fine – I am always complaining that people need every tiny thing in a story explained away to them and so it’s good that some things are left mysterious for the reader to ponder.
Graphic: Death, Suicide, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Torture
Minor: Homophobia
bookboxbabe'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? It's complicated
5.0
too many people died. half of the deaths in the book were for shock value and didn’t serve a higher purpose.
a better ending would have been with maxim defeating osaron, but maybe that’s just me.
and i love kell. my sweet little baby. even though we didn’t even find out who he was before the palace.
Graphic: Death, Torture, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
s_teichman'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? No
4.75
Moderate: Death and Torture
greenrequiem'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? No
3.75
Graphic: Torture
Moderate: Violence
Minor: Child abuse