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kaz_brekkerrr's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- 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
Minor: Violence, Murder, and Cursing
bzliz's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
This installment is largely focused on the travel portion of their quest which I personally enjoyed but I can understand how some readers wouldn’t enjoy that. Gen is such a delightful little scamp and a lot of major players in future books are laid out in this one. I’m so excited to start the second book again.
Graphic: Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Confinement, Violence, and Murder
Moderate: Physical abuse, Classism, and Bullying
Minor: Death of parent
max_pink's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
So...this was a bit of an oddball.
Definitely well-written with great world-building and and great use of an unreliable narrator.
But the first half is absolutely miserable. It's just a prisoner being dragged around and kicked emotionally and physically. It's honestly really draining and I would have dnf-ed it if I wasn't reading it for a book club.
The second half is pretty solid, especially if you don't try to guess any plot twists (which I did and was more right than wrong.) And Sophos was a fun twink.
There is truly nothing inherently wrong with this book. It just was not for me.
Shoutout to Shane West for excellent audio narration.
Graphic: Violence
robin1010'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
5.0
Graphic: Violence and Confinement
Moderate: Death and Blood
atamano's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Graphic: Violence and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Confinement, Physical abuse, and Death
kingcrookback's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
That aside, I'm fascinated by this world Turner's constructed. It took me until about a third of the way through to realize that this world is less medieval fantasy like I'd--completely baselessly--assumed but more of an early modern fantasy. (Guns exist. They're not as accurate as crossbows, so firearm technology can't be said to be very advanced, but guns do very much exist. As do compasses.) Also--and this is not me saying I have a wide breadth of knowledge on this subject--I don't think I've ever read a fantasy story that was written fairly recently where the gods are both transcendent and immanent. The way they impact the world and the characters is super interesting.
Will be checking out the next book after I've taken a bit of a break from the world.
Graphic: Bullying, Confinement, and Violence
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail and Blood
Minor: Death of parent
mandkips'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? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Confinement, Bullying, and Violence
Moderate: Physical abuse, Death, and Blood
Minor: Death of parent
azrah786's review against another edition
2.5
CW: violence, blood, injury, murder, death, death of parent, confinement, torture, physical abuse
--
You know those moments when you feel like you’ve read a different book to everyone else… this is one of those for me. After seeing so many raving reviews for this series over the years I was really excited to finally get a chance to read it but it was such a disappointment.
To put it short this book is SO SLOW!
The characters are travelling for half of the book but alongside the leading protagonist getting dragged along on this quest he doesn’t do much else other than eating and sleeping. Some history of the world and a couple of folk tales are shared between the characters every now and again but other than that nothing happens?
It took me way over a month to get to the half way point - keep in mind this book is less than 250 pages - and then I took to skim reading the rest even when the slightly better parts kicked in.
I did start to find myself a bit more fond of the protagonist in the second half of the book but I had got to the point where I just wanted to see the end that even the big reveal didn’t wow me. In fact I feel like I half guessed it would be the case.
Debating on whether I should still give the next book a chance so if you’ve read it and would say it’s better than book 1 feel free to convince me.
Final Rating – 2.5/5 Stars
Moderate: Blood, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Murder, Physical abuse, Violence, Confinement, and Torture
szuum's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Graphic: Violence, Bullying, and Confinement
Minor: Death
saoreads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Graphic: Death, Violence, Blood, and Confinement