Reviews tagging 'Outing'

Chain of Thorns by Cassandra Clare

7 reviews

annakh16's review against another edition

adventurous emotional

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.25

First things first: I love this world and these characters. Which is why this was still an enjoyable book. And finishing this trilogy and saying goodbye to the longer Infernal Devices story was sad, too. But I had my gripes with it. 

I thought the plot was too slow for the first part of the book, whereas in the second part it felt somewhat sloppy. 

Christopher and Grace were very sweet and I was rooting for them. In light of that,

Christopher’s death was terribly done. The fact that the description of his death itself was cut could maybe be excused with the need for a shock factor. But then, no funeral scene, not much time spent with Anna & Thomas grieving and especially: no scene or mention of Cecily and Gabriel finding out? It made this feel like a cheap kill mainly done for the unpredictability of diverting from the family tree.

Tatiana’s death and even Belial’s felt very trivial as well.

The stakes were so high, but it didn’t really come across how meaningful this was. 

The Paladin plot also felt weak. It didn’t seem like Cordelia was nearly scared enough of Lilith, or maybe it was that Lilith seemed quite bland all things considered?

The connections between books is always a joy. That said, I was a little sad to not see more of the Infernal Devices characters. The Clave drama scenes were fun, partly because they were more about them. (Yes, these books aren’t actually about them. But that makes me sad, okay?) And while the family tree excuse was quite funny, I did ultimately think it was a bit lazy. I don’t really care if stories are spoiled or predictable, as long as they’re good, and like I said, it often felt like she diverted from the tree just for the sake of it, without really pulling it off. It put somewhat of a damper on the Clockwork Princess ending that the family tree was suddenly false. 

The love triangle didn’t really get me in the feels. I think in general, there were too many things happening off the page for this book to be as emotional as it could’ve been. There were some nice quotes and bits of wisdom though, especially around the Matthew situation and the value of supportive friends. 

I’m also  just tired of

sacrifice plots.

They feel so 2014 YA, and not in a good way. 

All of this doesn’t mean I didn’t enjoy the book, but I enjoyed it less than I could’ve. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction and Alcoholism

Moderate: Grief, Murder, and Child death

Minor: Outing and Pregnancy

the_true_monroe's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child death, Pregnancy, and Murder

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Toxic relationship, Outing, Kidnapping, and Lesbophobia

Minor: Miscarriage, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Gun violence, and Confinement

cait's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective 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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Minor: Gun violence, Abandonment, Addiction, Child abuse, Confinement, Grief, Blood, War, Alcoholism, Dysphoria, Vomit, Alcohol, Biphobia, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Homophobia, Outing, Panic attacks/disorders, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Violence, Death, Death of parent, and Gore

emsavors's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful inspiring 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: Mental illness, Misogyny, Murder, Sexism, Alcoholism, Child death, Child abuse, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Outing, Death, Emotional abuse, Ableism, Confinement, Grief, Lesbophobia, Addiction, Sexual content, Torture, Toxic relationship, Alcohol, Blood, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Miscarriage, Racism, Slavery, Toxic friendship, Violence, Vomit, and War

kayanoelle's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious sad 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? It's complicated

3.75

I'm conflicted.
I love the whole shadowhunter universe and these characters but I don't know.
First up, I didn't like the love triangle and the unnecessary drama it caused, I couldn't help but think that

Matthew

is better than that, it felt so out of character for him.
I also noticed that there wasn't really much of a storyline because there were so many scenes with all the couples or friendgroups/ friendships which I didn't necessarily hate BUT it really took away from the plot tbh.
Considering that there were so many scenes where people just talked, I was a little disappointed that we didn't get a Tessa×Will or Jem×Will (!!!) scene (I know that it's a trilogy about their kids but still..) especially because this was the last book in which Will is alive (😭).
To be fair, there were a lot of times when Will and Tessa were mentioned or Will said something funny.
I would've loved Tessa as a single character to be more present as well but we can't all get what we want😔🤩 and I was thinking that maybe she's gonna be more present in the wicked powers (🤞🏻🤞🏻).
I was disappointed in the ending as well. Even though the atmosphere Cassie created was positively creepy (and I loved that), the conflict was too easily resolved in the end and everything just worked out???

Belial was supposed to be a Prince of Hell but he was incredibly stupid which seems a bit unlikely.

Another major aspect is that we didn't get to see the family of a certain someone who died (😤) grieving at all and the merry thieves' reaction was a wee bit weird/ downplayed imo but okay.

Now the things I loved. This book was FUNNY. I laughed out loud a lot. As mentioned before, there was lots of development for the couples which, as a long time fan of this universe, was exciting.
Christopher was my favorite character this book and his storyline with Grace plus the Thomas×Alastair one was the best one by far!!
Alastair had amazing character development throughout the whole series and to see the "result" in this book was amazing!!!
I LOVE Grace, she's such a complex character and I was glad to see her incorporated into the story and into the friend group as well.
I'm also a big fan of Eugenia, I was so happy every time she tagged along on a mission<3

Overall, I'm very happy with the character and relationship aspect of this final book but feel that the plot had much more potential.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Death, Alcoholism, Addiction, and Outing

Moderate: Grief

Minor: Miscarriage and Homophobia

taryn_g's review against another edition

adventurous emotional 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

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Alcoholism, Violence, and Grief

Moderate: Kidnapping, Sexual content, Miscarriage, Lesbophobia, and Homophobia

Minor: Pregnancy, Outing, Death of parent, and Confinement

stxrlightreaderxx's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny mysterious slow-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? It's complicated

4.25

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Violence, Death, and Grief

Minor: Outing and Injury/Injury detail