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liteartha's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
it’s been a long while since i picked up a book quite as hyped as if we were villains, nor a book that had sat untouched on my shelf for quite so long. i've been intimated by it for ages!
i’ll first say that i’m immensely glad to have finally read it! and relieved, too, that my trepidation was largely unwarranted. while the story didn’t affect me quite as wholly as i think it would’ve if i had a background in shakespeare or a penchant for theatre, this is a hell of a novel all the same. it took me a couple of days to make it past the first act, but i absolutely sped through it once the messy, spiralling feeling of the book took hold
i split my time between the print and audio formats of the book and i have to say that the audiobook helped immensely in drawing me in, owed both to the narrator’s voice acting and evident experience with shakespeare (a relief, as i’d been butchering the many many quotes used)
i listened while i read along for act v and the epilogue, which was an excellent choice. i’d found certain things quite predictable but had totally misunderstood where things were heading in the end, which was so good! so good. love to be wrong sometimes
there is something i can’t quite put my finger on that i didn’t love here. a certain lack of attachment to the characters, maybe, or simply my aforementioned disconnect from shakespeare/theatre but all the same, quite impressed by this one. the hype may be a touch overblown but really, when isn’t it?
i’ll first say that i’m immensely glad to have finally read it! and relieved, too, that my trepidation was largely unwarranted. while the story didn’t affect me quite as wholly as i think it would’ve if i had a background in shakespeare or a penchant for theatre, this is a hell of a novel all the same. it took me a couple of days to make it past the first act, but i absolutely sped through it once the messy, spiralling feeling of the book took hold
i split my time between the print and audio formats of the book and i have to say that the audiobook helped immensely in drawing me in, owed both to the narrator’s voice acting and evident experience with shakespeare (a relief, as i’d been butchering the many many quotes used)
i listened while i read along for act v and the epilogue, which was an excellent choice. i’d found certain things quite predictable but had totally misunderstood where things were heading in the end, which was so good! so good. love to be wrong sometimes
there is something i can’t quite put my finger on that i didn’t love here. a certain lack of attachment to the characters, maybe, or simply my aforementioned disconnect from shakespeare/theatre but all the same, quite impressed by this one. the hype may be a touch overblown but really, when isn’t it?
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Murder, Violence, Physical abuse, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Drug abuse, Suicide, Homophobia, and Biphobia
Minor: Eating disorder and Body shaming
starrysun's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Body shaming, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Murder, and Suicide
stegosaurus_babe's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Blood, Toxic relationship, Suicide, Murder, Drug abuse, Drug use, Death, and Cursing
Moderate: Body shaming
annaluzia's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- 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
I don't quite know what to say. Sometimes when you finish a book you feel like you don't know what to do next - that's how I feel right now.
I've never been very into Shakespeare and I'm a miserable actress so these parts of the book probably didn't quite do for me what they did for other people. but oh god the rest.
I also want to say that I love the characters with all my heart and I don't care what others say. Filippa is awesome, Alexander is so freaking... interesting (or, a filthy hedonist), Meredith is so precious to me.
I've never been very into Shakespeare and I'm a miserable actress so these parts of the book probably didn't quite do for me what they did for other people. but oh god the rest.
I also want to say that I love the characters with all my heart and I don't care what others say. Filippa is awesome, Alexander is so freaking... interesting (or, a filthy hedonist), Meredith is so precious to me.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Blood, Body shaming, Bullying, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Grief, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Violence, and Vomit
fromjuliereads's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
I was already really nervous to read this book because of the hype, and now I am nervous to post my review...
I don't think this was a bad book. I just can't say it was for me. There were too many aspects of the novel that just didn't work for me. I'm going to attempt to explain my thoughts.
- the entire plot was predictable to me. There weren't really any twists that I didn't see coming in the murder mystery. It's quite clear very quickly who is going to be murdered, and I guessed who had done it pretty quickly after. It would have been nice to have a bit more mystery to it.
- the pretentiousness of the language. Okay, I understand that this is part of dark academia. But no one in their 20s uses the phrases "elite artistic and philological sodalities" and then turns around to curse and use Shakespeare quotes. The dichotomy of language was really weird to me. Especially because I also found a lot of grammatical errors... hard to sound pretentious when you mess up using 'than' instead of 'that.' A couple times it sounded a bit like a first year university student trying to cram in big words for extra points... and then she drops that part way through.
- alright. I enjoyed Shakespeare in my studies. I have read quite a few of his more well known plays and sonnets, and enjoyed them. (I am not a Shakespeare fanatic though.) But the entire blocks of copied text from his plays were a bit much for me. I liked when some quotes were sprinkled throughout, but the requoting of entire monologues and scenes? It was a lot. (And idk if it was just me or the text I had, but some of the direct quotes were missing proper line breaks in their quotations and it REALLY BUGGED ME.)
- let's chat about the characters. I didn't like any of them... HAHA. I am not generally a big fan of morally grey characters, and that's basically what all of them are. Seemingly chaotic good or chaotic evil. But so many of them weren't fully developed. We get no explanation or back story for why Richard suddenly becomes violent and belligerent. Wren and Filippa are barely developed, where they are both forgotten multiple times in the story (and it is repeated over and over that Filippa is forgettable). I think Filippa is the only character I came close to liking but I didn't have enough information about her... The female characters are just underdeveloped stereotypes and it was so frustrating.
- I cannot speak to the LGBTQ+ rep in the book. But the persistent internalized homophobia was difficult to read. I understand that this is something a lot of people struggle with, and it should be discussed. But I think we have passed the point where books that have it throughout are praised and hyped...
- perhaps the point that will get me the most slack on this review, I didn't like the ending. I guess it was mostly because I didn't care about the characters at that point.
Well this is really long now... I will say that I enjoyed the formatting like a play!
I don't think this was a bad book. I just can't say it was for me. There were too many aspects of the novel that just didn't work for me. I'm going to attempt to explain my thoughts.
- the entire plot was predictable to me. There weren't really any twists that I didn't see coming in the murder mystery. It's quite clear very quickly who is going to be murdered, and I guessed who had done it pretty quickly after. It would have been nice to have a bit more mystery to it.
- the pretentiousness of the language. Okay, I understand that this is part of dark academia. But no one in their 20s uses the phrases "elite artistic and philological sodalities" and then turns around to curse and use Shakespeare quotes. The dichotomy of language was really weird to me. Especially because I also found a lot of grammatical errors... hard to sound pretentious when you mess up using 'than' instead of 'that.' A couple times it sounded a bit like a first year university student trying to cram in big words for extra points... and then she drops that part way through.
- alright. I enjoyed Shakespeare in my studies. I have read quite a few of his more well known plays and sonnets, and enjoyed them. (I am not a Shakespeare fanatic though.) But the entire blocks of copied text from his plays were a bit much for me. I liked when some quotes were sprinkled throughout, but the requoting of entire monologues and scenes? It was a lot. (And idk if it was just me or the text I had, but some of the direct quotes were missing proper line breaks in their quotations and it REALLY BUGGED ME.)
- let's chat about the characters. I didn't like any of them... HAHA. I am not generally a big fan of morally grey characters, and that's basically what all of them are. Seemingly chaotic good or chaotic evil. But so many of them weren't fully developed.
- I cannot speak to the LGBTQ+ rep in the book. But the persistent internalized homophobia was difficult to read. I understand that this is something a lot of people struggle with, and it should be discussed. But I think we have passed the point where books that have it throughout are praised and hyped...
- perhaps the point that will get me the most slack on this review, I didn't like the ending. I guess it was mostly because I didn't care about the characters at that point.
Well this is really long now... I will say that I enjoyed the formatting like a play!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cursing
Moderate: Addiction, Blood, Body shaming, Bullying, Death, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Grief, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Vomit
Minor: Suicide
triptych_turning's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- 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
I absolutely adore this book. I literally cannot even articulate my feelings for this book because I love it so much. I absolutely, one-thousand-percent recommend it to anyone and everyone. Please read this book. It's so good.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Blood, Body horror, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Drug abuse, Suicide attempt, and Murder
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Medical content, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, and Body shaming
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