Scan barcode
mj1588'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: Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, Child abuse, Torture, Gore, Mental illness, Murder, Physical abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Pregnancy, Body horror, Death of parent, Slavery, War, Violence, Blood, Child death, Death, and Colonisation
tori_borialis's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Violence, Torture, and War
Moderate: Child abuse and Child death
leaflit's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Death, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Pregnancy, Slavery, War, Blood, Murder, Torture, Violence, Classism, Colonisation, Toxic relationship, Child death, Grief, Child abuse, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, and Physical abuse
madamenovelist'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? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Child death, Vomit, Torture, Racism, Grief, Genocide, Kidnapping, Fire/Fire injury, Child abuse, Misogyny, Medical trauma, War, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Death of parent, Death, Physical abuse, Body horror, Classism, Blood, Xenophobia, Sexual violence, Murder, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Pregnancy, Gore, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual harassment, Sexism, Rape, Violence, Domestic abuse, Cursing, and Confinement
booksthatburn'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
3.75
There's a revelation about one character's identity which ended up feeling very anticlimactic for me, as I'd guessed it when I read the first book. It felt a bit like nothing else would have made sense. That's good, since it means the writing up until the reveal completely supported the revelation and was reliably telegraphing the direction of the story. It reinforced a feeling of frustration with how this character does things and why, while also not adding much in the moment.
This continues some things left hanging from the second book, and the things it wraps up are interesting but don't feel as emotionally significant. As the third book of four, it moves a lot of things into place which seem like they'll be critical for the final book. Book one was slavery and escape, book two was a months-long journey culminating in a rescue attempt, but this third book focuses more on trying to make certain bad things not happen. Best case, it's a holding action, worst case it's a series of disasters, and either way it ends feeling strange. Laia and her brother are working with a new contact to make weapons and get those weapons into the right hands, but not everyone agrees over what the right hands are. Helene is trying to keep her pregnant sister alive, and to foil the Commandant wherever she can. Elias is learning his new role in the Waiting Place, finding out just what that entails and how much it will distort his original humanity. The pregnancy and the weapons-making are almost new storylines, but they did have their start at the very end of the second book. Laia, Elias, and Helene are the main narrators, with brief appearances from the Nightbringer at the beginning and end of the book. Their voices are consistent with the previous books, while feeling distinct from each other.
Several things are left hanging for the final book to address, including but not limited to Elias's and Laia's fates, the devastation of the cities, and the final stages of the Nightbringer's plan. I can't think of anything major that was both introduced and resolved. Most of the important things were at least mentioned as possible plans in the second book. It leaves this murky feeling that this book is essential for the overall arc of the series, with several extremely important moments within it, but the ebb and flow of the story itself feels very forgettable.
It would not make sense to start with this book and not have read either of the others. This is a narrative bridge to get from the second book to the finale, it's full of revelations and secrets which have lingered for a while. Once those things are brought to light, the characters can act on them in the final book, but encountering them here as the introduction would feel largely pointless. There's worldbuilding for the Mariners, who haven't appeared until now, but other than that a lot of the background is carried over from the first two books and only lightly re-explained.
The main plot is a tangle of overlapping threads, making of them picking up on things begun earlier, then culminating in one hectic night which synchronizes them in time but not necessarily in theme or purpose. Helene's story is the strongest for me, with clear goals, a specific enemy, and where it's easy to tell if she fails (if her pregnant sister or the forthcoming baby die, that's a problem). Elias is trying to find out how to do the seemingly impossible task of helping all the ghosts move on, and his path towards that answer is full of a lot of back and forth, exiting and re-entering the forest of the Waiting Place. Laia's goals keep changing, as she wants bad things not to happen and good things to happen, but is having trouble figuring out what bad she's willing to accept in defense of which good. Given that the world isn't perfect (and her particular slice of it is filled with a bunch of people willing to do a whole lot of murder for their own goals), that indecision is giving her trouble.
Overall this feels necessary to the arc of the series while being largely forgettable for long stretches. There's a lot of places in the middle where it feels like it's repeating an emotional beat that already happened, or drawing out something for way too long. The end is very strong and I like the story overall, but it's not my favorite in the series so far.
Graphic: Rape and Self harm
Moderate: Kidnapping, Sexual content, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Torture, Child abuse, and Blood
Minor: Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Pregnancy, Murder, Death, Child death, Violence, Physical abuse, and War
scandinavian_queen'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: Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Classism, Colonisation, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, and Genocide
Minor: Gore, Physical abuse, War, Child abuse, Misogyny, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Adult/minor relationship, and Child death
hannasnowmueller's review
- 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
2.5
Graphic: Child death and Child abuse
lee_6398's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Graphic: Blood, War, Violence, Death, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Slavery
Moderate: Child death, Child abuse, Genocide, Islamophobia, Murder, and Physical abuse
Minor: Suicide
destdest's review
- 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? Yes
4.0
And yet I can’t put this series down. I have come to enjoy these characters (Harper, Helene, Elias, etc) a lot though Laia can be irrational, often. But her heart is in the right place. I want more of Darin now that he FINALLY got his junk together. While Elias was seriously slacking at his job for 3/4s of the book, his new struggle with humanity and stoicness has my interest.
These novels are thick, but each one has been an easy reading experience. This dark, violent, and tragic mess of a story is enthralling. Everything's not perfect, but I want to read more.
Graphic: Violence, War, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, and Death
Moderate: Child abuse and Pregnancy
crazyrandom_music'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: Blood, Colonisation, Death of parent, Child abuse, Child death, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Sexism, and Violence
Moderate: Torture
Minor: Pregnancy