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bookishperseus'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
4.0
Graphic: Racism, Emotional abuse, Gore, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, Death, Blood, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Physical abuse, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Genocide, Grief, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Racial slurs, Violence, War, and Xenophobia
Moderate: Torture and Fire/Fire injury
good_names_dont_exist's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Violence, Blood, and War
Moderate: Child death, Genocide, and Suicidal thoughts
Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, and Sexual content
amschelly153's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Moderate: Blood, Classism, Death, Grief, Child death, Violence, War, and Injury/Injury detail
lizzie24601's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Graphic: Grief and War
Moderate: Blood, Child death, Death, Fire/Fire injury, and Violence
Minor: Confinement
ethuiliel's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: War, Death, and Violence
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Murder, Blood, Death of parent, Deportation, Grief, Physical abuse, and Torture
Minor: Sexual content
sweetchocolatez'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
4.5
Graphic: Racism, Racial slurs, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Violence, Murder, War, and Death
Moderate: Toxic friendship, Slavery, Torture, Genocide, Blood, Body horror, and Child death
Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Sexual content, Death of parent, and Alcohol
strawhat_kd'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
4.75
Graphic: Violence
Moderate: Gore and Blood
jlemms87's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
SO well done. I had to pace myself because the darkness and hate were so well written that I needed breaks. My heart is still aching for each of the characters, and for how desperately I just wanted them to listen to one another.
Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Hate crime, Colonisation, Panic attacks/disorders, Child abuse, Child death, Abandonment, Emotional abuse, Murder, Toxic relationship, Blood, Toxic friendship, Cancer, Racial slurs, Death, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, Suicidal thoughts, and Violence
ginalucia'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
4.0
Graphic: Blood, Genocide, Classism, Racial slurs, Body horror, Death, and Hate crime
pacifickat's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
In truth, I was a bit baffled by Inan's chapters, as he repeatedly experienced horrific realizations regarding his family's past and the corruption of the monarchy, and yet (for the most part) continued on their side in spite of feeling sick about it. He is truly a slow-turning vehicle, and it felt unbelievable to see him continue to believe in his corrupt institution. A bit on the nose in today's political climate? Perhaps.
And Amari, my favorite character through the bulk of this story, arguing for a future with peace for all Orïshans, had an enormous, disappointing twist. I'm not sure the author did enough to develop Amari to then make her murder of civilians a believable course of action, but she did sprinkle in Amari's (violently abusive) father's voice in Amari's head throughout the book as she becomes increasingly desperate to succeed. It's a clever use of POV to capture internal monologue that I am unsure will translate well into movie form should they decide to do a live action version of this series. Ultimately, she learns that peace at any price is too high a cost to pay. The author makes it sound like Amari could have a path back to grace following this murderous episode, but that will be a difficult pill for some readers to swallow after she massacred an entire village (even if the author copped out of it by conveniently resurrecting everyone...but this is YA after all).
Ultimately, it turns out that Roën, the mercenary side-character without a POV chapter of his own, displayed the most character development of anyone. He pulls a Severus Snape, going from a grey area of working for both sides for personal gain to finding a reason to fight for something better, a transformation nearly entirely driven by his love for Zélie. While I remain skeptical that two highly-volatile characters who have been primarily fueled by rage and pain can make for a successful long term relationship (perhaps one of the Healers can invent cognitive therapy), their story still felt like one of the few satisfying elements of the entire book.
So, in the end, it turns out war, genocide, structural racism, and governmental overthrow are messy. Everyone involved has mixed motivations and violence is a near a guarantee. Are vengeance-fueled teens frustrating and a little scary? Yes. Can idealism turn dark? For sure. Are child warriors disturbing? Absolutely. All in all, this is a book with complicated plot and subject matter that meanders so much I wasn't sure how the author would wrap it all up. An abrupt, cliff-hanger, twist ending may not be what we, the faithful readers, disserved after hanging on through this entire book. But what did we expect? I guess we'll have to wait for the third and final installment to see if we get any real resolution to what has been a wild ride of a series.
Graphic: Grief, Injury/Injury detail, War, Racism, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Murder, Physical abuse, Death of parent, Hate crime, and Violence
Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Blood, Child abuse, and Child death
Minor: Slavery, Sexual content, and Vomit
This book contains child soldiers.