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briannagriffin567's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Genocide, Death, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Classism, Abandonment, Terminal illness, Sexual content, Religious bigotry, and Child death
clairew97's review against another edition
dark
funny
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- 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
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Gore, Grief, Hate crime, Panic attacks/disorders, Abandonment, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Mental illness, Misogyny, Murder, Religious bigotry, Violence, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Fire/Fire injury, Medical trauma, Medical content, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Sexual content, and Classism
headbangerhijabi's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
This book really does well at drawing out the intrigue. We start with Elspeth Spindle (also try saying that name aloud five times fast 😂) with her secret, and then immediately jump into the mystery of the Nightmare, who he is and how he operates, and...... i'm going to continue this in the spoiler section below 😂
I really enjoyed this book. If i could change one thing, it would be the descriptions. The world building was solid but descriptions of the world would have been nice. IIRC we don't get a full character description of Elspeth until around page 200 or so when she happens to look in a mirror. The landscape of Blunder is also a bit sparse. I think in the early chatpers we mention Elspeth going to a dock and seeing the water and then it's never brought up again.... IDK it took me a while to really get into the book so some of those early details are a bit blurry. I wish we got a bit more details about the society Elspeth lives in. It was some odd things here and there that just didn't line up. Elspeth never wears pants but at the same time she also wears her hair down and not in a bun/updo of some kind. There are some social norms that make sense but others that don't quite fit. Is this like a Medieval setting? Is this a twist on like 1800s setting? I'm not really sure, but a few sentences here and there would've fixed it. I'm one of those "Movie playing in my head" kinda readers and this lack of description made it harder for me to get the movie to settle in my mind.
I also wish there was a bit more description/information on the Cards, what they can do, and how powerful they really are. or if there was a list on the author's website. IDK it got a bit confusing after a while keeping the ones that the main cast don't regularly use straight in my head. That's why this book got a 4.5 not a 5 for me 🙂
Spoilers from here on out
Okay now for the more detailed review.
I loved Ravyn. The way they met in the woods, when he discovered her sickness and was just immediately like "Yes, I will protect you." He did start off a bit of a grump, which was fine, they all had other priorities. But then the "I was never pretending" ðŸ˜ðŸ˜ðŸ˜ðŸ˜ and when he fronted up to Hauth!!!!! *fanning self*
Okay if I'm picking between the princes, Elm wins hands down! not that that was a hard choice. Hauth is a POS. but even still, Elm was a fun character. He's got his own suspicions and sense of humor that just worked for the character. Cocky enough to sound like a royal, but also compassionate enough to really know when and where to be serious. His fight with Hauth over the infected family on Market Day was just a perfect depiction of how you can rule without being a complete tyrant.
Speaking of the Princes, Ione. I get where she was coming from, re: women in society having to figure out their own shit. but at the same time, GIRL pick anyone who doesn't beat you, cheat on you, and try to kill your family.
Emory was an interesting character. At the beginning I thought he was just another creeper and Ravyn was the one trying to reign him in. The degeneration of his mind and his body to the infection made sense, and I understand why he was drinking himself into a coma so often, but I'm glad that Ravyn and the others never made it an excuse for his actions. They would just step in and stop him from doing too much or actively hurting anyone. Elspeth's asking him about the Nightmare at the end was interesting... and the way that the magic impacted his life so drastically compared to Ravyn or Elspeth was interesting. I hope he pulls through this. He deserves to have a bit of calm after all of this.
I liked Elspeth (difficulty of saying her name aside 😂). Reading through it, you understand why she is the way she is. you understand that she's living with this horror in her head so she's spent the last 12 years focused on keeping her head down, but when she finds a possible cure and has the chance to help not just herself but everyone else in Blunder, she takes it. And the others never force her to be something she isn't. They make sure she's capable in a situation (wearing pants instead of a dress) but at the same time they aren't expecting her to just jump to it and start sword fighting like a whole bunch of other heroines I've seen. Sword play is useful in a situation like this, but it's not the only way to fight back. Her half sisters and her step mom were bitches, I hate that Ione turned into what she did, and Jespyr was very tom-boyish but at the same time they are all showing different sides of femininity, and it's not used against them in so many words.
The Nightmare was...... weird. At times he gave off a kind of Cheshire Cat energy, talking in rhymes and making no sense, at others he was just a viscous creature bent on getting his way. Which kinda makes sense. He and the Spirit of the Woods are like old gods in a way, human affairs don't matter to them at all. You can tell his fondness for Elspeth though, he does care for her, in his own way. When it was revealed that he was the Shepard King, I honestly can say I wasn't surprised. Shocked that it was confirmed, but not surprised. It really was the only thing that made sense, and I'm glad that the foreshadowing for that was well done. Sometimes authors try to bait and switch to throw people off of the foreshadowing and it just ends up falling flat. Following through on foreshadowing works so much better.
Some of the irregularities that I noticed, were the infection and how it manifests in each person. The infection supposedly makes those with it have black blood, but several times Elspeth, Raven, and Emory and a few other infected bleed and it's described as red. At one point, Prince Hauth poisons Elspeth and she "vomits a lake of blood" but she has the infection, and Hauth doesn't see the black blood until he chases her down later on and cuts her with a knife.... Idk if it was supposed to be only certain times when her adrenaline is up that her blood turns black or if it was just an inconsistency in the writing, but yea......
I WANNA KNOW ABOUT THE GHOSTS RAVYN MEETS IN THE FIRST LOOK AT THE NEXT BOOK. OCTOBER CANNOT COME SOON ENOUGH!!!!
I really enjoyed this book. If i could change one thing, it would be the descriptions. The world building was solid but descriptions of the world would have been nice. IIRC we don't get a full character description of Elspeth until around page 200 or so when she happens to look in a mirror. The landscape of Blunder is also a bit sparse. I think in the early chatpers we mention Elspeth going to a dock and seeing the water and then it's never brought up again.... IDK it took me a while to really get into the book so some of those early details are a bit blurry. I wish we got a bit more details about the society Elspeth lives in. It was some odd things here and there that just didn't line up. Elspeth never wears pants but at the same time she also wears her hair down and not in a bun/updo of some kind. There are some social norms that make sense but others that don't quite fit. Is this like a Medieval setting? Is this a twist on like 1800s setting? I'm not really sure, but a few sentences here and there would've fixed it. I'm one of those "Movie playing in my head" kinda readers and this lack of description made it harder for me to get the movie to settle in my mind.
I also wish there was a bit more description/information on the Cards, what they can do, and how powerful they really are. or if there was a list on the author's website. IDK it got a bit confusing after a while keeping the ones that the main cast don't regularly use straight in my head. That's why this book got a 4.5 not a 5 for me 🙂
Spoilers from here on out
Okay now for the more detailed review.
I loved Ravyn. The way they met in the woods, when he discovered her sickness and was just immediately like "Yes, I will protect you." He did start off a bit of a grump, which was fine, they all had other priorities. But then the "I was never pretending" ðŸ˜ðŸ˜ðŸ˜ðŸ˜ and when he fronted up to Hauth!!!!! *fanning self*
Okay if I'm picking between the princes, Elm wins hands down! not that that was a hard choice. Hauth is a POS. but even still, Elm was a fun character. He's got his own suspicions and sense of humor that just worked for the character. Cocky enough to sound like a royal, but also compassionate enough to really know when and where to be serious. His fight with Hauth over the infected family on Market Day was just a perfect depiction of how you can rule without being a complete tyrant.
Speaking of the Princes, Ione. I get where she was coming from, re: women in society having to figure out their own shit. but at the same time, GIRL pick anyone who doesn't beat you, cheat on you, and try to kill your family.
Emory was an interesting character. At the beginning I thought he was just another creeper and Ravyn was the one trying to reign him in. The degeneration of his mind and his body to the infection made sense, and I understand why he was drinking himself into a coma so often, but I'm glad that Ravyn and the others never made it an excuse for his actions. They would just step in and stop him from doing too much or actively hurting anyone. Elspeth's asking him about the Nightmare at the end was interesting... and the way that the magic impacted his life so drastically compared to Ravyn or Elspeth was interesting. I hope he pulls through this. He deserves to have a bit of calm after all of this.
I liked Elspeth (difficulty of saying her name aside 😂). Reading through it, you understand why she is the way she is. you understand that she's living with this horror in her head so she's spent the last 12 years focused on keeping her head down, but when she finds a possible cure and has the chance to help not just herself but everyone else in Blunder, she takes it. And the others never force her to be something she isn't. They make sure she's capable in a situation (wearing pants instead of a dress) but at the same time they aren't expecting her to just jump to it and start sword fighting like a whole bunch of other heroines I've seen. Sword play is useful in a situation like this, but it's not the only way to fight back. Her half sisters and her step mom were bitches, I hate that Ione turned into what she did, and Jespyr was very tom-boyish but at the same time they are all showing different sides of femininity, and it's not used against them in so many words.
The Nightmare was...... weird. At times he gave off a kind of Cheshire Cat energy, talking in rhymes and making no sense, at others he was just a viscous creature bent on getting his way. Which kinda makes sense. He and the Spirit of the Woods are like old gods in a way, human affairs don't matter to them at all. You can tell his fondness for Elspeth though, he does care for her, in his own way. When it was revealed that he was the Shepard King, I honestly can say I wasn't surprised. Shocked that it was confirmed, but not surprised. It really was the only thing that made sense, and I'm glad that the foreshadowing for that was well done. Sometimes authors try to bait and switch to throw people off of the foreshadowing and it just ends up falling flat. Following through on foreshadowing works so much better.
Some of the irregularities that I noticed, were the infection and how it manifests in each person. The infection supposedly makes those with it have black blood, but several times Elspeth, Raven, and Emory and a few other infected bleed and it's described as red. At one point, Prince Hauth poisons Elspeth and she "vomits a lake of blood" but she has the infection, and Hauth doesn't see the black blood until he chases her down later on and cuts her with a knife.... Idk if it was supposed to be only certain times when her adrenaline is up that her blood turns black or if it was just an inconsistency in the writing, but yea......
I WANNA KNOW ABOUT THE GHOSTS RAVYN MEETS IN THE FIRST LOOK AT THE NEXT BOOK. OCTOBER CANNOT COME SOON ENOUGH!!!!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, and Vomit
Minor: Death of parent
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