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juliapatt2007's review against another edition
2.5
I really wanted to like Cress because of her hacker background but she was just ok as a female lead. Thorne was a great lead and he reminded me of Eugene from Tangled. The fairy tale was easy to see in this story and I like how Meyer wound the story into the story of Cress and Thorne in her own unique way. I was disappointed how little we heard about Scarlet. From the beginning we knew that she was captured and taken away to Luna but there were only a few mentions of her throughout the book. While we heard lots from other characters (even Wofl!) there were only a few scattered mentions of her and coming off of her book I was disappointed. Overall not a bad book but there is still something I’m missing from this author. It’s hard to describe what it is but it’s possibly all the different POVs that the story is told from I’m not sure. I’m going to keep going however and finish the series.
Content Warnings
Minor: Sexual content
noellegrace8's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
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? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
The plot really saves this one for me. It's gotten so intricate at this point that it's impossible not to enjoy it! The epitome of a great storyline. So good. But I am going to rant about one piece that bothered me, but not enough to affect my rating much:
While I love Thorne SO much, and understand Cress and her lack of social interaction and therefore knowledge even if I personally find her to be a little exhausting, the *way* their romance is written really irks me. It's entirely limmerance from Cress and nothing from Thorne until random moments. These random moments are thrilling, with scenes written better than even Cinder+Kai or Scarlet+Wolf, but they're not enough to make up for the underlying underdevelopment of their actual romance throughout the rest of the book. The entirety of them crashing in the desert fell flat for me. My personal "I hate the miscommunication trope!" is, "I hate the 'I don't want to hurt her' trope!" And that's (sort of? It's unclear, and therefore infuriating, at times) what we're given from Thorne.
Hoping the 4th book quickly clears up the limmerance from Cress and intermittent apathy from Thorne. It's a WONDERFUL series.
I don't factor audiobook performance into my star ratings, but I would give Rebecca Soler a 4.5/5. At this point, I've gotten very used to her narration and voicing. As previously stated, she can be a bit too flat at times or have a tone that isn't quite right for what's described, but she's generally good at differentiating voices in scenes with accents and tones. I really like the way she voices Iko haha. It's perfect for that android! I don't understand why Soler wasn't asked to re-record a couple places where she says "kAY-toe" instead of "kEYE-toe" though.
While I love Thorne SO much, and understand Cress and her lack of social interaction and therefore knowledge even if I personally find her to be a little exhausting, the *way* their romance is written really irks me. It's entirely limmerance from Cress and nothing from Thorne until random moments. These random moments are thrilling, with scenes written better than even Cinder+Kai or Scarlet+Wolf, but they're not enough to make up for the underlying underdevelopment of their actual romance throughout the rest of the book. The entirety of them crashing in the desert fell flat for me. My personal "I hate the miscommunication trope!" is, "I hate the 'I don't want to hurt her' trope!" And that's (sort of? It's unclear, and therefore infuriating, at times) what we're given from Thorne.
Hoping the 4th book quickly clears up the limmerance from Cress and intermittent apathy from Thorne. It's a WONDERFUL series.
I don't factor audiobook performance into my star ratings, but I would give Rebecca Soler a 4.5/5. At this point, I've gotten very used to her narration and voicing. As previously stated, she can be a bit too flat at times or have a tone that isn't quite right for what's described, but she's generally good at differentiating voices in scenes with accents and tones. I really like the way she voices Iko haha. It's perfect for that android! I don't understand why Soler wasn't asked to re-record a couple places where she says "kAY-toe" instead of "kEYE-toe" though.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Classism, Pandemic/Epidemic, Violence, War, Terminal illness, and Death
Moderate: Child abuse, Medical trauma, Murder, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Medical content, Domestic abuse, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Xenophobia, Abandonment, Ableism, Blood, Body horror, Panic attacks/disorders, Torture, Colonisation, Emotional abuse, Genocide, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Bullying, Mental illness, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Cursing, Gun violence, Slavery, Adult/minor relationship, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Trafficking, Animal cruelty, Grief, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
As this series is very political and based around a clear power imbalance, the things I sorted into "Graphic" are fundamental in this book. "Moderate" listings have mostly to do with plotpoints such as the classic Rapunzel-and-her-abusive-guardian retelling, the events that led to Cinder's current cyborg state, Thorne losing his vision, the tortured nature of Wolf/ his genetic alterations, and the general tension between Lunars and Earthens. "Minor" labels are due to Scarlet and Cress both being taken (separate contexts), the push and pull between most of the relationships in this series thus far (but particularly Wolf+Scarlet), and our brief encounter with Princess Winter. Lastly, the only reason I warned of adult-minor relationship is because I believe most of the male love interests in this series are quite a few years older than their female, teen counterparts. More importantly, Cress is said to be 16, and Thorne is most definitely an adult, likely about 20 (has served in the military and is a well-known criminal at this point) so... a bit gray.
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