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actuallydawn's review
adventurous
hopeful
inspiring
tense
medium-paced
- 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? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death
Moderate: Grief
Minor: Confinement
gwynnfox's review against another edition
dark
emotional
hopeful
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
The complex relationships of war-time is very well written. The magic of the world is easy to understand and unique. They seem to keep forgetting that the main character, who holds thousands of lives in her hands is 16 years old, but the worst part is the supposed romance. There is 0 chemistry between Mare and Cal. Their feelings for each other is unbelievable. The most chemistry Mare ever had with anyone is Maven, and he's a douche and a half. Even Shade and Farley have no chemistry. The pairings don't seem to match up well.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Genocide, Self harm, Slavery, Child death, Death, Toxic relationship, Bullying, Racism, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Panic attacks/disorders, Mental illness, Classism, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Confinement, Grief, and War
shelbyslifer's review against another edition
dark
emotional
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Torture, Murder, and Medical content
Moderate: Confinement
julienicole1106's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child death, Gaslighting, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Blood, Classism, Cursing, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Torture, Vomit, War, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Fire/Fire injury, and Gore
micaelamariem's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- 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? It's complicated
4.0
I absolutely loved finally diving back into this world and seeing how Mare’s journey progresses. I’m always a sucker for YA fantasy and dystopians, so I probably will always rate them highly, but I didn’t want to stop reading this. Lately, though I’ve always loved a redemption arc, I’ve been loving the exploration of when it’s okay to do some morally gray things and when do we turn into monsters if that’s who we’re trying to defeat? Mare’s grip on her own morality and her learning to love and trust again are the biggest themes of this book. I loved meeting new characters and getting more depth in the old ones. I didn’t like Cal in the first book, but now I’m in love! And I don’t hate Kilorn anymore. And I have a deeper understanding of Farley. Though there may be animosity between characters, I’m sensing some found family vibes coming and I am so here for it. Though the ending was such a disheartening cliffhanger, that I’m almost scared to start the next book! (Good thing I don’t have it yet I guess eh?)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Classism, Blood, Bullying, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Murder, Violence, Child death, Torture, Vomit, and War
Moderate: Confinement
Minor: Abandonment, Animal death, Pregnancy, and Slavery
amanda_reads13's review
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- 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
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Xenophobia, Violence, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Child death, Grief, and Confinement
thecatconstellation's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
I definitely did not enjoy this as much as Red Queen.
I enjoyed learning about the new bloods and their powers. And I really enjoyed seeing Mare with her family again. But I honestly don’t think I can forgive Aveyard for killing Shade. We had already mourned his “death”, and then we got to know him even better and you kill him for real?! I feel like this was used to do something to Mare’s character but it fell short.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Murder, Death, Physical abuse, Violence, Blood, Confinement, Genocide, Grief, Torture, and War
Moderate: Gun violence, Confinement, and Gore
Minor: Abandonment and Child death
jadehusdanhicks's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0
Antisemitic - had a part v reminiscent of the tattoos that Jews were forced to have and that character had just escaped from a prison where the “reds” and “silvers” are segregated.
Also used an ableist slur. I will not expand further.
Disgusting to see and a shame as I enjoyed the general story just for it to be ruined by such acts by the author
Also used an ableist slur. I will not expand further.
Disgusting to see and a shame as I enjoyed the general story just for it to be ruined by such acts by the author
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Death of parent, Genocide, Grief, Gun violence, War, Antisemitism, Child death, Suicide, Toxic friendship, Xenophobia, Ableism, Toxic relationship, Violence, Confinement, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Abandonment, Emotional abuse, and Medical content
averyrembish's review against another edition
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Torture, Murder, Child death, and Death
Moderate: Confinement and Injury/Injury detail
kingrosereads's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Okay, I’m going to start by saying it took me 7 months to read Glass Sword after reading Red Queen. Both books took me about two weeks to get through. These books are pretty slow and this one in particular was a bit boring. I mean I liked the adventure around Norta and learning about the wider world, but that’s it. I think Maven could be a formidable villain with him killing children and having an obsession with Mare, but it’s not something seen in this book. I said for Red Queen that it reminded me of Hunger Games and Mare definitely reminds me a lot of Katniss. Mare has done a lot for her family from stealing to becoming a Silver princess to protect her family. Though it seems her mission to protect them is lost after being betrayed by Maven. It’s not that she doesn’t care about them, she just forgets they exist or their feelings. But here’s the thing: Mare is a seventeen year old child. Children, particularly teenagers, are naturally selfish and not in a malevolent way but just the way they are. Mare and Cal’s relationship also reminds me of Katniss and Peeta where they seek comfort in one another, both have an understanding of one another, and they end up sharing a bed but nothing more, though Cal isn’t anything like sweet baker boy, Peeta. (Kilorn is just as annoying and toxic as Gale though).
Mare is this reluctant leader, she didn’t choose this path and she sure as hell hates being in the position to lead. She struggles with the role and makes mistakes and struggles to control her anger and hatred which has led her to be ruthless and cold. These traits are important when going up against Maven, so the fear is her going too far and losing herself. Mare’s not a likeable person and that’s not a requirement to be a good story, in fact I started this series because I wanted to read a morally grey and slightly unlikeable main character, Aveyard just hasn’t quite gotten to a point with Mare that she’s a complex character who does questionable things for the greater good.
I think I’ll continue the series, because Aveyard does do a pretty good cliffhanger. I like gritty political fantasies that really get into the violence and the crimes an oppressive and tyrannical government commits. This is in no way a romance. There’s no romance at all. It’s not even a subplot and really there’s no love interest that is all that likeable right now.
I will say the slow pacing and kind of filler information about the world and recruitment of the new bloods is something I’d expect from a middle of the series book, not the second book in the series. The first is supposed to be the foundation and world building, the second book is meant to be exciting and filled with twists and turns. But that’s just my opinion. When you have a 4 book series I feel like books 1 and 3 can be just exciting enough but filled with information, but books 2 and 4 are where the really crazy and fun things should. Just saying.
I think this series could’ve been better if it contained multiple POVs to give more dimension to the other characters as we’re only viewing them from Mare’s POV and she’s currently absorbed with her actions. I’m not sure if I’m giving Aveyard more credit than what’s due if the confusing fighting scenes are meant to mimic actual confusion during battle which Mare as a first person POV would be processing it or when two significant people die and it’s a “what the fuck just happened” moment because it was mentioned out of the blue and quickly with little explanation, or if it’s genuinely bad writing? I guess I’ll find out in the next 2 (2.5?) books. I hated that one of these people died and got a little teary eyed (but not full on tears thanks to Mare’s numbness/indifferences to it) but I’m happy the other is dead.
I’d say this is probably a 3.25 or 3.5/5 stars.
Mare is this reluctant leader, she didn’t choose this path and she sure as hell hates being in the position to lead. She struggles with the role and makes mistakes and struggles to control her anger and hatred which has led her to be ruthless and cold. These traits are important when going up against Maven, so the fear is her going too far and losing herself. Mare’s not a likeable person and that’s not a requirement to be a good story, in fact I started this series because I wanted to read a morally grey and slightly unlikeable main character, Aveyard just hasn’t quite gotten to a point with Mare that she’s a complex character who does questionable things for the greater good.
I think I’ll continue the series, because Aveyard does do a pretty good cliffhanger. I like gritty political fantasies that really get into the violence and the crimes an oppressive and tyrannical government commits. This is in no way a romance. There’s no romance at all. It’s not even a subplot and really there’s no love interest that is all that likeable right now.
I will say the slow pacing and kind of filler information about the world and recruitment of the new bloods is something I’d expect from a middle of the series book, not the second book in the series. The first is supposed to be the foundation and world building, the second book is meant to be exciting and filled with twists and turns. But that’s just my opinion. When you have a 4 book series I feel like books 1 and 3 can be just exciting enough but filled with information, but books 2 and 4 are where the really crazy and fun things should. Just saying.
I think this series could’ve been better if it contained multiple POVs to give more dimension to the other characters as we’re only viewing them from Mare’s POV and she’s currently absorbed with her actions. I’m not sure if I’m giving Aveyard more credit than what’s due if the confusing fighting scenes are meant to mimic actual confusion during battle which Mare as a first person POV would be processing it or when two significant people die and it’s a “what the fuck just happened” moment because it was mentioned out of the blue and quickly with little explanation, or if it’s genuinely bad writing? I guess I’ll find out in the next 2 (2.5?) books. I hated that one of these people died and got a little teary eyed (but not full on tears thanks to Mare’s numbness/indifferences to it) but I’m happy the other is dead.
I’d say this is probably a 3.25 or 3.5/5 stars.
Content Warnings
Graphic: War, Blood, Murder, Slavery, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Grief, Gun violence, Torture, Confinement, Gore, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship