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ceruleanshelves's review against another edition
4.5
“Once, there was a girl who vowed she would save everyone in the world, but forgot herself.”
i'm starting to think there will never be a holly black book i don't love.
in a town that lives alongside faeries and magic in a wary truce, there lies a horned boy in a glass coffin never waking... until one day he does.
“They loved him because he was a prince and a faerie and magical and you were supposed to love princes and faeries and magical people.”
one thing i especially loved about this book was the camaraderie with the main cast. as black notes in her annotations, these are the nicest people she's ever written lol. hazel and ben are one of the best sibling pairings i've read (side-eyeing taryn), and even the parents in the town have some of the best examples i've seen in fantasy.
“You and your sister are very dear to each other. To show your regard, you give each other lovely bouquets of lies.”
it was also fun to see black write a friends to lovers romance, still with its Folk whimsy and tension. i could definitely tell she wrote this right after The Coldest Girl in Coldtown bc the horror influences were a little elevated from her usual writing, the Folk and the danger a little creepier.
“Children can have a cruel, absolute sense of justice. Children can kill monsters and feel quite proud of themselves.”
a holly black world would be terrifying to fall into, but also so wondrous.
“I need to stop fantasizing about running away to some other life and start figuring out the one I have.”
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Animal death, Grief, and Death of parent
sabinehunter's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- 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? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail