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klamstrakvr's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
I appreciate sticking to buildup work in this one, instead of attempting to make it a perfectly balanced book. It’s heavy in many senses but the prose is free from clumsiness and pompousness which both tend to plague the genre.
Graphic: Body horror, Chronic illness, Death, Blood, Gore, Violence, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Alcoholism, Addiction, Suicidal thoughts, Ableism, and Torture
Minor: War, Slavery, and Trafficking
bitter_critter's review against another edition
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
There is a decently thick line between characters that are morally bad or questionable and characters that are just unlikeable. I found Logen and the Dogman kind of interesting but every other character whose POV we can read was boring and flat.
Maybe it's something you would like and could connect to, but this fell flat for me.
Graphic: Violence, Torture, Suicidal thoughts, and Xenophobia
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Racism, Ableism, and Slavery
Minor: Animal cruelty, Confinement, Death, Animal death, Blood, and Child abuse
da3m0nic'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
4.5
Graphic: Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Cursing, Blood, Death, Torture, Physical abuse, Gore, Domestic abuse, and Grief
Moderate: Kidnapping, Xenophobia, Suicidal thoughts, Classism, Sexism, Confinement, Mental illness, and War
lashette'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? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Torture, Suicidal thoughts, Murder, Misogyny, Blood, Violence, Vomit, Injury/Injury detail, Fatphobia, Physical abuse, Domestic abuse, Trafficking, Sexism, Death, Classism, Animal death, and Ableism
mikariah's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Because the thing that really sells this book for me is the characters.
And I can accept a LOT if the characters are great, which I believe that these are. Now, I'm a little biased because 'just-a-little-too-fucked-up' is exactly how I like my characters in the morning. Exactly. They are all problematic faves. Even the least terrible of them have some mess they're going through, and it sucked me in, which is good because there is not much plot to speak of. Yet.
The prose is straightforward and practical. Perhaps a little too much at times, and I wished there was less psychological distancing in the flow, but overall it read quickly and painlessly.
As a side note: the content warnings aren't necessarily expressing some sort of validation within the text. The characters are just... well, they have problems. And they experience problems.
Graphic: Blood, Domestic abuse, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, and Violence
Moderate: Toxic friendship, Misogyny, Ableism, and Classism
Minor: Fatphobia, Suicidal thoughts, Cannibalism, Rape, Slavery, Vomit, War, and Xenophobia
midnightrose_reads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
This first book is incredibly character and world-building focused. Wildly funny at times as well. Can’t wait to continue on with the series!
Graphic: Blood, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Cursing, Torture, Violence, Vomit, Death, and Alcohol
Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Cannibalism, and Child abuse
ratat0sk42's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
It has smooth and easy to read prose, and lots of style with a surprisingly funny edge to its narration. Every single character has depth and motivations that make you unsure if they're the good guy or the bad guy at any given moment.
One thing some people may take issue with us that the book doesn't really have much of a plot in the traditional sense, not much actually happens but I found the characters tso engrossing I didn't mind at all.
Another thing of note is that the book is part of the First Law trilogy, which is less three stories that fit together than one big story cut into thirds, as such it doesn't really end, it just flows into the next book. If you read this book, you're in for the long haul. it's a damn good though.
Graphic: Ableism, Death, Chronic illness, Violence, War, Torture, Suicidal thoughts, Slavery, Physical abuse, Murder, Kidnapping, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Injury/Injury detail, and Gore
Moderate: Child abuse, Sexual content, Colonisation, Body horror, Blood, Xenophobia, Trafficking, and Cannibalism
Minor: Death of parent, Alcoholism, and Grief
singalana's review against another edition
- 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
4.25
Graphic: Chronic illness, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Death, Physical abuse, Torture, and Violence
Moderate: Medical trauma, Xenophobia, Vomit, Dementia, Kidnapping, and War
Minor: Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Excrement, Animal death, and Toxic relationship
lidia138's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Animal death, Domestic abuse, Body horror, Classism, Dysphoria, Slavery, Gore, Physical abuse, Torture, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, and Violence