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abicaro17'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
4.25
Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Blood, Emotional abuse, Torture, Confinement, Alcohol, Classism, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Misogyny, Gaslighting, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Terminal illness, Murder, Pregnancy, Sexism, War, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, and Violence
yarisbooksandbevs's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
I love Cas. I love Kieran. I love Reaver. There are other characters I love but these are probably my favorites. They’re witty and sarcastic and also loveable. I feel like Poppy really grew throughout this book especially.
I do feel like Armentrout does fall into this cycle of repetition that kind of drags on but I really like the actual storyline so I look past the repetitive jokes that have lost their effect and the repetitive info for the general story that I’m really enjoying.
Graphic: Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Child death, Violence, War, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Torture, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Animal death and Classism
Minor: Sexism, Alcohol, and Pregnancy
midnacine's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Torture, Sexual content, Violence, Confinement, War, and Death
Moderate: Blood, Animal death, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail
lem0nbalm_'s review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Graphic: Violence, War, Sexual content, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Fire/Fire injury, Death, Animal death, and Blood
Moderate: Child death
Minor: Body shaming
josxphinchen's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
Graphic: Violence, War, Murder, Animal death, Genocide, Physical abuse, Torture, Blood, Child death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Death, Gore, Grief, and Sexual content
Minor: Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence
cassie12_21's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Death, Fire/Fire injury, War, Confinement, Gore, Grief, Cursing, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, and Violence
Minor: Animal death and Torture
cluckieduck's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.5
I’ll start with the actual book review before touching on the scandal that has grown.
In typical JLA fashion, this book is a bit overstuffed with info & description and could probably be 1/4 thinner, at least. As well, there’s so many redundancies between this series & the newer Flesh & Fire series; Poppy & the Consort are basically the same characters, so having two series practically repeating is a bit much with the double-info dumps, but I digress. The bulk of this was quite enjoyable! There’s a lot of action, tension, angst, grief, love, lust, surprise…everything you want in a fantasy novel. I just wish she were a better writer, or at least had a better editor.
The characters, both main & supporting, are appropriately loveable & hateable. Even more than Isbeth, Callum is a particularly despicable villain. And Reaver is a delightful addition to our core group of heroes and I am here for all his snark & dry remarks. I’m interested to see where the next book will take us after the ending we are given.
Id rather not address this, but I think it’s almost necessary at this point. I stayed away from social media after I saw grumblings of how JLA “ruined” the series with this book, so the whole time I was reading, I kept wondering what all the griping was about, then finishing to see it’s all linked to the Joining…get a grip people. The rise in vitriol that female authors of these kind of series receive is disgusting when a storyline or a “ship” doesn’t go a a particular way. Now, I was neither for or against the Joining. That’s up to JLA as a writer and I don’t think she was swayed by fan opinion. Could it have been written better? Probably. Did it detract from the story? No!
Everyone is welcome to their opinions and everyone has their own tastes, which means you can read or not read what you want to. Criticism is ok, but doxxing & threats are disgraceful. This is a fantasy series after all.
Graphic: Animal death, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Torture, Violence, War, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual content, Blood, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, and Gore