Scan barcode
emilyg0663's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
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? It's complicated
3.75
This book is dark! Be prepared to be at the edge of your seat the whole time, and be desperate for the third book afterwards.
Wayward Son shows Simon, Baz and Penelope in a new light, and a completely different world! If the first book, Simon and Penelope have magic and can hold their own in a fight, Baz too. But here, they are completely unmatched but extremely lucky!! Every situation, every fight, they are either completely defeated or won but beaten up to exhaustion. They are broken and depressed and dragging their feet as they travel through this book, which made me feel helpless. Even the finale was crazy because they completely got lucked out with the Talkers just randomly showing up. It wasn’t completely random as it’s all Agatha was talking about in the book, but damn! They are all bleeding and in pain at the end, which doesn’t make it feel like a victory at all!!
This makes me extremely nervous for the characters, as they are not good heroes anymore. They can’t do anything right, and even Penelope has no plan which is completely a left field! I actually don’t feel as strongly attached to the characters anymore compared with the first book. <Spoilers> Penelope is an arrogant ‘know it all’ who actually is just a child who knows nothing, Simon is a broken human who has lost his reason for life but is brash and jumps into trouble every second he can. I was absolutely furious with Simon for this, wanted to smack him and tell him ‘sit down!’ And Baz did the most growth as to finding about more about himself, but he’d tided down to my most hated troupe; strained relationships over miscommunication……..
Other thing that stressed me out was the fact that every group hates eachother for biases that they created. Everyone is doing wrong things and blaming the other groups for their misfortunes. It made me realised that there is no good guy in these books, that I don’t root for the vampires, the mages orange creatures. I don’t even root for Simon!
I can’t wait for book 3
Wayward Son shows Simon, Baz and Penelope in a new light, and a completely different world! If the first book, Simon and Penelope have magic and can hold their own in a fight, Baz too. But here, they are completely unmatched but extremely lucky!! Every situation, every fight, they are either completely defeated or won but beaten up to exhaustion. They are broken and depressed and dragging their feet as they travel through this book, which made me feel helpless.
This makes me extremely nervous for the characters, as they are not good heroes anymore. They can’t do anything right, and even Penelope has no plan which is completely a left field! I actually don’t feel as strongly attached to the characters anymore compared with the first book. <Spoilers> Penelope is an arrogant ‘know it all’ who actually is just a child who knows nothing, Simon is a broken human who has lost his reason for life but is brash and jumps into trouble every second he can. I was absolutely furious with Simon for this, wanted to smack him and tell him ‘sit down!’ And Baz did the most growth as to finding about more about himself, but he’d tided down to my most hated troupe; strained relationships over miscommunication……..
Other thing that stressed me out was the fact that every group hates eachother for biases that they created. Everyone is doing wrong things and blaming the other groups for their misfortunes. It made me realised that there is no good guy in these books, that I don’t root for the vampires, the mages orange creatures. I don’t even root for Simon!
I can’t wait for book 3
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, War, Blood, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Toxic relationship, Gun violence, and Death
Moderate: Classism, Emotional abuse, and Grief
Minor: Kidnapping
mysimas's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Zero character or relationship development.
Zero plot progression.
I still enjoyed the read, mostly thanks to the fondness that carried over from the first book. I like the characters (even if they mostly just annoyed me this time around). I’m invested.
I also appreciate how the book focused on Simon, Baz and Penny’s response to how their world fell apart.
I just expected them to start dealing with it.
At the end, they shouldn’t have ALL been where they’d started, or, as in Penny’s case, even worse off. Because then what’s the point?
Zero plot progression.
I still enjoyed the read, mostly thanks to the fondness that carried over from the first book. I like the characters (even if they mostly just annoyed me this time around). I’m invested.
I also appreciate how the book focused on Simon, Baz and Penny’s response to how their world fell apart.
I just expected them to start dealing with it.
At the end, they shouldn’t have ALL been where they’d started, or, as in Penny’s case, even worse off. Because then what’s the point?
Content Warnings
Graphic: Toxic relationship
Moderate: Confinement
annabella's review against another edition
adventurous
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
2.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood
Moderate: Animal death, Violence, Kidnapping, Gun violence, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Cursing, Grief, and Sexual content
nxclx's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
tense
fast-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Over all it was good, I didn't hate it. What I did hate was the ending. I liked how everything flowed together at the end but the prologue literally made me throw the book down in frustration.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Cursing, and Gore
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, and Violence
Minor: Gun violence, Medical content, and Toxic relationship
More...