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sohma4uesugi's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
There is no immersion into this world. My eyes kept jumping forward begging it to be over with faster. I would reread sentences several times and still be confused in the next paragraph.
Interesting characters were largely ignored and the uninteresting characters were heavily focused on. The artwork, though beautiful, strangely did not match the characters each section was named for, which didn’t make sense to me.
It felt like whole chapters were missing and the ones that were there dragged on forever and a day. Anything interesting was just simply dropped the next page in infuriating regularity. The last two chapters of the book seemed like they were written for another work entirely, in that they were interesting and actually held my attention.
To go from talking in tiring detail about the complexities of stopping time to calling someone a useless fuckboi just because they could in the next sentence was jarring and not in a way to bring humor or relief from the vast complexities the text tried and failed to reach.
The concept was super cool and I wanted to love this book, but unfortunately, I did not.
Moderate: Addiction, Body shaming, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Infidelity, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicide, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Blood, Car accident, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Addiction, Child death, Confinement, Death, Misogyny, Suicidal thoughts, Stalking, and Suicide attempt
randi_jo's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
0.5
To start, the first 50 pages or so were good Spoiler(not good enough for an extra star though, I really am that upset) - the character introductions got me into it, but then it very, very rapidly began to stagnate and then go downhill fast.
Plot? In this book? Not as likely as you might think. About sixty percent of the book is just the characters fucking around and thinking about Spoilerthe fact that they have to kill someone instead of actually doing anything about it. Considering they're all so powerful; OP, even, I can't believe they literally just lay around until the very last second for the dues-ex-machina: SpoilerEzra, whose return was, if not predictable, unsurprising. Don't get me started on the idea of making him into a good guy for book 2 because that is 100% the set up; but also he's a massive asshole to Libby? Just because he "doesn't understand what she wants"? He's a walking red flag, jfc..
The book's setting is so vague it's frustrating. I only knew it was ~2010 at the end of the book because a character specifies what year he "teleported" to. But otherwise we're not really told how magical 'medeian' society works or even how magic works. I don't even understand how the characters are so strong compared to other magic users because there is no comparison nor explanation as to what made them extraordinary, simply that they were. Not that it really matters since none of the characters seem to have any kind of limits, including what magic they "specialize" in. Like a telepath reading the mind of a house? Ok... An Empath digging through and seeing memories? Sus... Everyone being able to summon bottles of whiskey? I'm so confused.
The writing itself leaves a lot to be desired. The descriptions were so poor I had no idea about where they were, what they were doing, hardly anything about what they looked like or acted like. There was an action scene and I very distinctly remember Nico picking up a man and aimed him at a group of intruders, and all the baddies ducked behind furniture. I am still wondering how he was aiming a man like a gun. :/
Otherwise it's filled with a lot of hypothetical questions and random jargon from poly-sci classes that have nothing to do with what's happening in the story. It's just there to make it look smart and it's very redundant. A lot of the "deep" tangents will literally say one thing in three different ways. It's annoying to read through.
Speaking of the characters. . . None of them were particularly likable, except maybe Tristan because he was literally the only one who had any modicum of growth. Nico and Parisa, in particular, are the worst. Why is Nico even a character? Literally his entire POV is focused on Gideon and Gideon's circumstances, even to the point were they talk about Gideon's penis rather than anything eventful. I don't know why Gideon himself just isn't one of the main characters instead. He's far more interesting, just give him a main character buff and to sort out his own shit.
And then there's Parisa, whose only schtick is that she's a whore. Not that that's necessarily a bad thing, and I can see where the author was trying to go with it. But she literally has no other traits and even her "breaking" scene was underserviced and bland. What even happened to her? Idk I just know she has a brother and a jealous sister. But I guess my largest qualm is that her relationship with Dalton (and obliquely the "relationship" between Tristan and Libby) started with her initiating coercion sex. He very clearly says "no" (in far more words, but it's definitely a negative) and she continues because "I know you want to". Even if true, if Parisa's character had been male, people would be shouting 'rape' from the rooftops. Dubcon, posed as something sexy and with 'female empowerment' is not really my thing.
Also, I know nothing about Callum except that he's a suicide baiter. And for what? Twisted morals? The token morally gray character? IDEFK. We learn literally nothing about him. Ever. I think he exists only to wax poetic about morality, or the lack thereof, in humans. Most of what he says/thinks has nothing to do with anything ever.
I am also THIS close to labelling this book as queerbait, but the book itself doesn't really talk about it being super inclusive, but rather the fans, so I won't. But there is SO LITTLE lgbtq in this book, which is mostly Parisa being bi (barely; she literally says she doesn't like to date women because they get jealous of her, but she'll sleep with women to get what she wants (and when she DOES "sleep with" Libby and Tristan, she does what? kisses Libby's neck and then... idk. No one says what she does, the author instead focuses on and recalls only things that Libby and Tristan did together and forgets about Parisa, who might as well had never been there)); and then Tristan thinking he might "love" Callum, which I find to be utterly facetious and out of nowhere. Like they literally just sit at the same table and sometimes talk together. There is absolutely NO indication that there's any warmth in their relationship. Even Callum describes Tristan, at best, as interesting because he's such a pessimist.
Nico and Gideon maybe might be a thing, but that feels more like wishful thinking on my part because the rest of this book is blatantly heterosexual.
The book's ending, the chapter literally labeled "END", was decent. The chapter before that was like 20 pages of the entire book being summarized but from Ezra's POV, which was so difficult to read through. But Huzzah! We now know that the entire story's villain is Spoilera British man and I can't decide if it's a coincidence or if I'm really being served with allusions to New-Age Imperialism.
Do not recommend.
Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, and Toxic friendship
maiahhtratchh's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Classism
Moderate: Suicide and Murder
queenie_ofthe_void'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: Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol
Moderate: Infidelity, Sexual content, Kidnapping, and Murder
Minor: Death of parent
kenzhart8's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Graphic: Death, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol
li_reading's review against another edition
5.0
I will say, I do think the new edition is an improvement to the original.
Graphic: Bullying, Death, Infidelity, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Kidnapping, Suicide attempt, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol
Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, and Gaslighting
Minor: Adult/minor relationship and Misogyny
ofbooksandechos's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
Even the character work feels unsatisfactory, as if it lacks something fundamental. The only highlight of the book for me was the relationship between Nico and Gideon.
All in all I do plan to read book two, I'm just in no rush to get my hands on it.
Graphic: Suicide attempt and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Violence and Murder
Minor: Alcohol
mjwhitlock18's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
4.5
Graphic: Murder, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Bullying
puttingwingsonwords'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: Death, Emotional abuse, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Murder, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Child death, Cursing, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Alcohol, and Classism
Minor: Drug use, Hate crime, Infidelity, Terminal illness, Antisemitism, and Mass/school shootings
phippsmr'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? It's complicated
3.0
Moderate: Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Sexual content, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism