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comebymoonlight's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.25
This book is difficult to review because I feel very differently about the first hundred pages compared to what follows.
Part 1 of the book is painfully slow. Almost nothing happens in the main plot, and even the nothing that is happening feels disjointed and unimportant, constantly glossed over with time skips or interjected with short chapters of (for now) completely unrelated snapshots of things happening elsewhere. Rather than break up the tedium they just made the nothing drag on. This author desperately needs to learn better pacing.
Parts 2-5 I thoroughly enjoyed. All those unrelated snapshots finally pulled together, the pacing picked up, and I happily read the last 200 pages in a single sitting. I am a sucker for good world building, and this was excellent, though darker than I expected. That said, it wasn't the book I thought it was when I picked it up. I was expecting a sort of Theseus-descending-into-Hades adventure which it very much was not.
[Spoiler-light thoughts on the conclusion]There were a couple unanswered questions throughout the story that I kept feeling would be ruined by almost any answer we were given, and I was pleasantly surprised that they were left as questions. Similarly, I was pleasantly surprised the will-they-won't-they romantic subplot didn't magically end up with a happily-ever-after that would have strained my suspension of disbelief.
In the end, I really enjoyed the 240-page story that started at Part 2. Do I think reading the first 100 pages to get there is worth it? I don't know.
Part 1 of the book is painfully slow. Almost nothing happens in the main plot, and even the nothing that is happening feels disjointed and unimportant, constantly glossed over with time skips or interjected with short chapters of (for now) completely unrelated snapshots of things happening elsewhere. Rather than break up the tedium they just made the nothing drag on. This author desperately needs to learn better pacing.
Parts 2-5 I thoroughly enjoyed. All those unrelated snapshots finally pulled together, the pacing picked up, and I happily read the last 200 pages in a single sitting. I am a sucker for good world building, and this was excellent, though darker than I expected. That said, it wasn't the book I thought it was when I picked it up. I was expecting a sort of Theseus-descending-into-Hades adventure which it very much was not.
[Spoiler-light thoughts on the conclusion]
In the end, I really enjoyed the 240-page story that started at Part 2. Do I think reading the first 100 pages to get there is worth it? I don't know.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Child death, Death, Physical abuse, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Abandonment
Moderate: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Torture, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Cannibalism
eloisecawley's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, and Kidnapping
aliteraryescape's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
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
4.25
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Blood, and Murder
Minor: Child death, Sexual assault, and Torture
gillothen's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Gripping fantasy, very dark. The central figures struggle with abandonment as well as physical threats and you are not at all sure how it will work out.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Blood, Grief, Murder, and Abandonment
bookish_hollyx's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
2.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child death, Death, Gore, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
caffeinatedbookdragon's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.25
This book had a lot of potential and an interesting concept but ultimately it fell flat in certain areas.
There wasn’t much character development. The characters you meet at the start of the book are essentially the same at the end.
They fact that Violet forgave aleksander so easily after everything astounded me
Violet is billed as a clever, relentless young woman, but I saw none of that in her actions.
The book needed more world building. We’re setup with this great world of magical scholars that really amounts to nothing (among other things).
There wasn’t much character development. The characters you meet at the start of the book are essentially the same at the end.
Violet is billed as a clever, relentless young woman, but I saw none of that in her actions.
The book needed more world building. We’re setup with this great world of magical scholars that really amounts to nothing (among other things).
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and Blood
callistag1's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
- 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? It's complicated
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Child death and Gaslighting
Minor: Genocide
alanahcw's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
hopeful
mysterious
sad
tense
4.75
I wanted a little more from the climax/ending
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Cannibalism, and Murder
maresuju's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
sad
slow-paced
- 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
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Blood, and Grief
Moderate: Child death, Confinement, Death, Violence, Kidnapping, Murder, and Gaslighting
Minor: Vomit
thedarklibraryofleah's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- 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
The City of Stardust has left me feeling really conflicted about how I feel about it. There are elements of the story that I loved and other elements that I just did not like as much.
Let's start with the positives, I really loved the lore as I found it super interesting and it was quite complex. The world building was also super great and it was really fun exploring the world through Violet in the story. I also really loved the prose used to describe the world building and lore as it gave it a very whimsical feeling.
Now for the more negative aspects of the story which I felt brought the story down a bit. Firstly, thr character choices were really frustrating, except for Violet it felt none of the other characters (especially Aleksander) really evolved. They just kept making the same mistake again and again without learning anything. Speaking of Aleksander, i really disliked him which is strange for me as I tend to like darker, morally gray characters like Caspian but he came across not evil just naive and dumb. I really was not a fan of the romance between Aleksander and Violet, there just no chemistry between them and I much preferred her with Caspian. I also felt that there was too much going on with the plot, that it just lead to the characters making questionable decisions that actually damage their progress to what they were trying to achieve (looking at you Penelope).
Overall, it was a whimsical read which I enjoyed but also got frustrated at.
Let's start with the positives, I really loved the lore as I found it super interesting and it was quite complex. The world building was also super great and it was really fun exploring the world through Violet in the story. I also really loved the prose used to describe the world building and lore as it gave it a very whimsical feeling.
Now for the more negative aspects of the story which I felt brought the story down a bit. Firstly, thr character choices were really frustrating, except for Violet it felt none of the other characters (especially Aleksander) really evolved. They just kept making the same mistake again and again without learning anything. Speaking of Aleksander, i really disliked him which is strange for me as I tend to like darker, morally gray characters like Caspian but he came across not evil just naive and dumb. I really was not a fan of the romance between Aleksander and Violet, there just no chemistry between them and I much preferred her with Caspian. I also felt that there was too much going on with the plot, that it just lead to the characters making questionable decisions that actually damage their progress to what they were trying to achieve (looking at you Penelope).
Overall, it was a whimsical read which I enjoyed but also got frustrated at.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Suicide, Blood, and Abandonment