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lunep'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
5.0
Graphic: Addiction, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Suicide attempt, Alcohol, and War
Moderate: Mental illness and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Biphobia, Child death, Sexual content, Blood, Death of parent, Pregnancy, War, and Pandemic/Epidemic
10stormlight's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
3.5
Graphic: Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, and Alcohol
qyanacurry's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
“A dreamer,” mourns her father.
“A dreamer,” warns Estele.
Most people only have ~80 years for growth and development. I don’t know, I’m 22 and feel like I’ve gone through significantly more character development than someone 3 centuries older than me. Also for someone that wanted to be free to see everything it seems only France, Italy, and Germany had memorable experiences. Even her being in mostly Europe, someone else mentioned that there were no Renaissance experiences. What was Addie’s experience with the Renaissance? The Reformation? The Age of Enlightenment? The closest thing to it was mentions of Voltaire. She could’ve easily spent a year in each country, just gone back and forth and built up a collection of the most amazing experiences instead of memories walking through Europe. At least I would’ve but I’m not her and maybe key to development is being remembered for the things you do and have done so people can guide you.
I enjoyed the writing although sometimes it got a bit corny and repetitive. It was both inspiring and heart-breaking. I looooved the relationship with the darkness and the manipulation at the end too. Henry was bland but I feel like sometimes people are actually just bland and that’s who he is.
Moderate: Sexual content and Grief
Minor: Sexual harassment
There’s a portion of the book where Addie does sex work out of necessity, she does not enjoy it. I wasn’t really sure what to tag this as.msradiosilence'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
4.5
Full review to come. :)
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Classism
Moderate: Biphobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Cancer, Confinement, Rape, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, and Stalking
lillieb130's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Moderate: Death, Rape, Sexism, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Grief, Suicide attempt, and Abandonment
dfram'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
4.5
Graphic: Death, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Suicide attempt, and Death of parent
Moderate: Kidnapping
kaziaroo's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
But then Henry appeared. I honestly think I would have enjoyed the book more if I'd just skipped Henry's chapters. The story would have mostly made sense without them and I would have those hours of my life back. Although I related to some of his struggles with choosing his career path and specialism, and his situation is also sad, Henry's chapters were just boring. He mopes around all day and whenever he feels a little worse he just downs a mixture of drugs with gay abandon and no consequences the next day. His and Addie's "love" was totally unconvincing; compared to the other lovers we see her meet, Henry is by far the most dull and she only likes him so much because he remembers her. She becomes the only interesting thing about him.
I wish the book had either explored the world and history a bit more or been a couple of hundred pages shorter. I had no interest in watching Addie and Henry having nice days out and going to endless bars and clubs, or sleeping with everyone they meet. The flowery writing desperately tried to make me fall in love with the characters and settings, but it was all style over substance. My overall feeling about this book is disappointment after the hype.
I would recommend this to fans of Matt Haig's "How to Stop Time" and who want nice, deep-sounding quotes to put in their Instagram captions.
TL;DR: it was well executed for what it was but the writing was flowery, the male lead boring, the female lead unadventurous, and there was too much sex, drugs and rock & roll for my tastes.
Graphic: Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, and Alcohol
Moderate: Cursing, Sexism, Sexual assault, Stalking, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Infidelity, Torture, Violence, Vomit, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and War
nym1013's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
5.0
Moderate: Death
Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, and War
rose_k's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Death, Toxic relationship, Grief, Death of parent, and Abandonment
Minor: Cursing, Suicide attempt, and War
brogancha's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Mental illness, Rape, Sexual content, Grief, and Suicide attempt
Moderate: Alcohol