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noellegrace8'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
5.0
I do not factor audiobook narrators' performances into in my overall star rating of a book, but I would give Rebecca Soler a 4.5/5. She did better with this one than the last, with a bit more variance in her emotion, although it still drones or falls flat in parts. Her accents were quite good, actually allowing me to know who was talking when. However, I started to wonder why Scarlet has a French accent (typically, though sometimes Soler forgets to use it) but Kai, for instance, has an American one even though he lives in New Beijing.
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Blood, Violence, Gore, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Pandemic/Epidemic, Classism, War, Emotional abuse, Abandonment, Ableism, Colonisation, and Grief
Minor: Genocide, Mental illness, Vomit, Child death, Rape, Sexual content, Child abuse, Gun violence, Sexual violence, Medical content, Torture, Physical abuse, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Car accident, Confinement, Gaslighting, Suicide, Addiction, Alcohol, Misogyny, Stalking, and Toxic relationship
The items I included in "Graphic" are mostly due to violence throughout the book related to themes and characters. This second book contained much more of that than the first. Items in "moderate" are either thematic in occurrence or are detailed enough to warrant more than a brief warning. I did want to explicitly inform the potential reader about my sexual violence/rape warning: it is only threateded/mentioned once in nongraphic terms. It never actually happens/happened.lawbooks600's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Score: Seven points out of ten.
Well. First I have a statement, the last book I read from Marissa Meyer (a hit or miss author), Cursed, was a hit so I headed in with high expectations when I picked up the book and finally read it. When I finished it, I enjoyed it but I didn't think this novel was a step up or a step down from Cinder (it was at the same level as Cinder, which isn't a bad thing) and I'm hoping Cress might be better. It starts with the new main and titular character Scarlet Benoit or Scarlet for short living in Rieux, France. The book cuts to Cinder in the Eastern Commonwealth from the preceding book. As with other long books (like 400+ pages long) it's slow paced but again that let me explore new and familiar characters e.g., Wolf (which I liked.) Speaking of, I liked all the people in this book except Levana but for some reason I couldn't connect to them which didn't ruin my enjoyment of the narrative in any way. The first three quarters of the book had nothing much happen except character dynamics except the last quarter, where the Lunars started a war on Earth, invading and causing human genocide (horrific but understandable; they're the villains after all) which ends the book. The bonus content at the end was intriguing as well including a short story and a sneak peek at Cress.
Graphic: Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Confinement, War, Pandemic/Epidemic, Fire/Fire injury, and Genocide
Full trigger warnings: Blood depiction, physical assault and injury, imprisonment, war themes, pandemic, fire, genocidethumbeleia's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Murder, Pandemic/Epidemic, Medical trauma, Toxic relationship, Confinement, Blood, Physical abuse, Racism, Violence, Vomit, War, Abandonment, Ableism, Classism, Death, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Colonisation, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Medical content, Slavery, Torture, Xenophobia, Gaslighting, Genocide, and Injury/Injury detail
aiplusyou's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Graphic: Kidnapping, Murder, Death, War, and Gun violence
Moderate: Body horror, Grief, Abandonment, Torture, and Pandemic/Epidemic
msradiosilence'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
Content warnings at the bottom. :)
I remember reading this like 4 times in high school. It was my favorite of the series. I love Scarlet and Wolf, I love the French setting, and I hate tomatoes but this book made me want to like them.
Wolf and Thorne are my two favorite characters, and I love them for different reasons. Wolf is the epitome of “I can fix him” and gentle with the people he cares about while being absolutely terrifying to everyone else. This is for sure what molded my love life, at least when it came to men. Thorne is just…he’s a himbo, no thoughts only crime, and he cracks me up.
Iko as the Rampion was fantastic, even if it was a little fatphobic. She didn’t have to talk so bad about how big she was all the time, but Meyer did an excellent job describing how she emotes while an actual ship.
Anyway. Once again, Meyer has a hard time with setting, but with Scarlet and Wolf visiting very specific French places, it’s a little easier to picture, but I wish she would allow herself to be more descriptive with the settings.
Rating: 5
Would I recommend? Yes, especially if you enjoy moon people, quippy robots, and sci-fi fairytale retellings.
Content warnings: Car accident, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Murder, Pandemic/Epidemic, War, Child death, Medical content, Classism, Death of parent, Gun violence, Ableism, Death, Fatphobia, Grief, Confinement, Alcohol, Blood, Violence, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, and Kidnapping
Graphic: Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Violence, War, Fire/Fire injury, Blood, Murder, Fatphobia, Alcohol, Classism, Confinement, Death of parent, Medical content, Pandemic/Epidemic, Gun violence, Medical trauma, Car accident, Child death, Gore, Ableism, and Death
pitchblackkoi'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
4.5
Graphic: Kidnapping, War, Pandemic/Epidemic, Death of parent, and Violence
Moderate: Torture
Minor: Alcoholism
strawberrytheauthor'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? No
5.0
Graphic: Death, Fire/Fire injury, Blood, Confinement, Death of parent, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Torture, and Violence
Moderate: War, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Racism
risten's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Graphic: Death, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, War, Pandemic/Epidemic, Death of parent, Blood, Medical content, and Confinement
Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, and Torture
Minor: Vomit, Sexual assault, Alcoholism, Alcohol, and Suicide