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browneyedbookworm's review
adventurous
dark
funny
tense
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I can not express how excited I am for book 2. This was my first Novik novel. She did an amazing job building the world around the story. I immediately enjoyed the snarky mc El. She had a, sometimes out of line, don't care attitude. Between the magic and the amount of danger in the school this is not Hogwarts. I loved so much about this book. I wouldn't say it's middle grade it is definitely more for high school age. There is some profanity.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Child death, and Blood
Moderate: Death and Cursing
Minor: Vomit
nerdybirdy101's review
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
3.5
The idea behind this book is fabulous dark academia in a magical world, but I do not think that it was presented in the best manner. I think the author needed to definitely have this book be reviewed more by the people she was representing. You could definitely tell that there were many scenes that were written as a white woman’s interpretation and not necessarily as what a person of color would see. I agree with the ‘controversy’ when this first book came out and that the author needed to do better. I think it is weird that the book had different enclaves of the students from the different regions, but that most (if not all) of the enclaves were stereotypically white areas. The students left out of the enclaves were the ‘undesirables’ and at least from the viewpoint we receive from the main character are people of color. If the author was using this as a way to break the mold and have an uprising to change the system, then cool do that. It seems like the author is not trying to do that, but I will withhold judgment until the series is completed. I give this book 3.5 out of 5 stars because the writing style is good, the magical proponents are fine, but the racial and ethnic representation is horrible.
Now I like the idea of an aggressive young lady and a chivalrous young man, I liked how the characteristics of the two ‘heroes’ were contrasting and somewhat went against gender norms. It was established in a nice way, where they were enemies and became friendly if not lovers. I am curious to see how the relationship goes.
MY PREDICTIONS FOR THE NEXT BOOK:
I have predictions for the next book. I think that El and Orion are going to become more of a couple where they either mirror El’s parent’s fate exactly or that Orion will die and El becomes a death machine in her grief. It would explain the warning that El received to stay away from Orion because someone knows more about the prophecy about El.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Child death, Animal death, Violence, Animal cruelty, and Cursing
Moderate: Bullying
angelareads's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Amazing book! Info-dumpy at the beginning, though.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Gore, and Violence
Moderate: Bullying and Vomit
Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide
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