tallywinkle's review against another edition
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
2.0
I feel like this book was promising and then it was thrown off once The pacing was weird, the romance set up felt weird and not organic or believable.
Spoiler
the dog was killed basically out of nowhere??? This left such a sour taste in my mouth and the rest of the book never really got better.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death
eloisethebooklover's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
This book is deeply fucked up in ways I did not expect. It was so good! It had my attention from the start and I struggled to put it down to do other things. The world is compelling & I could not stop thinking about this book. The ending was a bit confusing but I’m satisfied with how it all came together.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Torture, Animal death, and Violence
Minor: Sexual assault
kolbier's review against another edition
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal cruelty and Torture
Minor: Animal death
arieloley's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
This book has so much potential. I loved the concept and it was clearly a highly developed world. Some of the descriptions were really beautiful and drew pictures, while others felt forced, especially the automatic and brusque description of everyone’s skin colour. Overall, there was a sense of virtue signalling, which isn’t bad but felt like the author reallyyy wanted her audience to know where her politics lie. I think it’s great, I would just prefer it to be written in more smoothly. Also, parts of the plot felt quite rushed, and information sometimes seemed to pop up completely out of no where.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood and Murder
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Vomit
kkparekh's review against another edition
adventurous
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
It was just boring and not very well written.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death
Moderate: Homophobia
qraveline's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
hopeful
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death and Blood
Moderate: Torture, Gore, Violence, Murder, and Toxic friendship
Minor: Lesbophobia, Abortion, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Body horror, War, Genocide, and Cancer
letrickster's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
slow-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
2.75
It was fine? I'm not a huge YA person so that definitely affected my opinion but it really just didn't do it for me. The romance and the ending were incredibly rushed and it all felt like it got resolved way too neatly and easily. Despite this, it was also incredibly slow. I really enjoyed the first quarter or so of the book. I think the tension was set up well and the scenes were suitably unsettling. Then things slowed down pretty hard, and very little happened. As it wore on I just got very bored, I almost dnfed but I managed to skim through to the end, although it didn't much improve my opinion. I really wish the middle section
I wanted to romance to be good, and I felt like it would've been if it had more time to develop, but it felt really unearned.
The characters were just fine, they're teenagers so I can excuse a lot of their choices behaviour based on that, but I just ended up not really caring about them. I liked Cadence a lot at the beginning, but idk by the end I was just kinda done.
I really wish I liked it more, I wanted to, I think it's decent YA but it just Really did not do it for me.
Spoiler
when Cadence and Remi are together at the palace was longer and had some more intrigue. It felt like it was only a few days, which in my mind, didn't feel like enough time for any of the things that happened to occur. Remi was threatened, but I feel like she didn't really end up being used against Cadence at all. The stakes just felt really low.I wanted to romance to be good, and I felt like it would've been if it had more time to develop, but it felt really unearned.
The characters were just fine, they're teenagers so I can excuse a lot of their choices behaviour based on that, but I just ended up not really caring about them. I liked Cadence a lot at the beginning, but idk by the end I was just kinda done.
I really wish I liked it more, I wanted to, I think it's decent YA but it just Really did not do it for me.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Torture, Animal death, and Vomit
Minor: Homophobia
lqvekanej's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
tense
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
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Torture, and Violence
Moderate: Homophobia
grey_jayne's review against another edition
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Beware, there is dog death and some vomit, but this shows how harrowing the emotional abuse dealt at Cadence is. This is a dark sapphic story and Julia Ember knew the assignment. It's dark, it's romantic, with intense emotional stakes and perpetual danger. It's glorious...and in a world where magic is sung! I love both Cadence and Remi and their story is painfully yet beautifully queer. There's hope in the end, it's not all sorrow and tiny glances, and be prepared for singer mage battles while also their gentle healing magicks. Ruinsong is both complex and very real. So worth your time and attention.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse and Animal death
Moderate: Vomit
achay91's review against another edition
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Death, Torture, and Classism
Minor: Death of parent and War