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noellegrace8's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-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? Yes
5.0
What a great second book! We're given new characters that are just as vibrant as book one, and the plot really picks up. The beginning can be a little frustrating/disorienting as you get used to who is who, but it is quickly intriguing. It's obvious that the plot was clearly laid out from the inception of these books because of its intricacies. Some people may be frustrated with the lack of Kai in this one, and it is more gory than book one. Sometimes the new characters can be a bit toxic, but it also makes them interesting.
I do not factor audiobook narrators' performances into in my overall star rating of a book, but I would give Rebecca Soler a 4.5/5. She did better with this one than the last, with a bit more variance in her emotion, although it still drones or falls flat in parts. Her accents were quite good, actually allowing me to know who was talking when. However, I started to wonder why Scarlet has a French accent (typically, though sometimes Soler forgets to use it) but Kai, for instance, has an American one even though he lives in New Beijing.
I do not factor audiobook narrators' performances into in my overall star rating of a book, but I would give Rebecca Soler a 4.5/5. She did better with this one than the last, with a bit more variance in her emotion, although it still drones or falls flat in parts. Her accents were quite good, actually allowing me to know who was talking when. However, I started to wonder why Scarlet has a French accent (typically, though sometimes Soler forgets to use it) but Kai, for instance, has an American one even though he lives in New Beijing.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Blood, Violence, Gore, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Pandemic/Epidemic, Classism, War, Emotional abuse, Abandonment, Ableism, Colonisation, and Grief
Minor: Genocide, Mental illness, Vomit, Child death, Rape, Sexual content, Child abuse, Gun violence, Sexual violence, Medical content, Torture, Physical abuse, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Car accident, Confinement, Gaslighting, Suicide, Addiction, Alcohol, Misogyny, Stalking, and Toxic relationship
The items I included in "Graphic" are mostly due to violence throughout the book related to themes and characters. This second book contained much more of that than the first. Items in "moderate" are either thematic in occurrence or are detailed enough to warrant more than a brief warning. I did want to explicitly inform the potential reader about my sexual violence/rape warning: it is only threateded/mentioned once in nongraphic terms. It never actually happens/happened.jerry_pov's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Torture, and Violence
Moderate: Chronic illness
Minor: Animal cruelty
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