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sohma4uesugi's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
There is no immersion into this world. My eyes kept jumping forward begging it to be over with faster. I would reread sentences several times and still be confused in the next paragraph.
Interesting characters were largely ignored and the uninteresting characters were heavily focused on. The artwork, though beautiful, strangely did not match the characters each section was named for, which didn’t make sense to me.
It felt like whole chapters were missing and the ones that were there dragged on forever and a day. Anything interesting was just simply dropped the next page in infuriating regularity. The last two chapters of the book seemed like they were written for another work entirely, in that they were interesting and actually held my attention.
To go from talking in tiring detail about the complexities of stopping time to calling someone a useless fuckboi just because they could in the next sentence was jarring and not in a way to bring humor or relief from the vast complexities the text tried and failed to reach.
The concept was super cool and I wanted to love this book, but unfortunately, I did not.
Moderate: Terminal illness, Suicide, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Addiction, Alcohol, Blood, Body shaming, Car accident, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Gun violence, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Addiction, Child death, Confinement, Death, Misogyny, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt
kathleencoughlin's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
Graphic: Sexual content, Suicide attempt, and Gaslighting
Moderate: Murder, Violence, Kidnapping, and Confinement
Minor: Sexual assault, Child death, Child abuse, and Chronic illness
queenie_ofthe_void'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? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Terminal illness, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Death, Gaslighting, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Murder, Sexual content, Infidelity, and Kidnapping
Minor: Death of parent
li_reading's review against another edition
5.0
I will say, I do think the new edition is an improvement to the original.
Graphic: Bullying, Suicide, Death, Toxic relationship, Murder, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, Violence, Infidelity, Alcohol, and Kidnapping
Moderate: Chronic illness, Death of parent, Sexual content, Panic attacks/disorders, Gun violence, Emotional abuse, Child abuse, Child death, Gaslighting, Grief, and Blood
Minor: Misogyny and Adult/minor relationship
aniaise's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Minor: Suicide, Sexual content, Gaslighting, and Death of parent
sunsetcity's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, Cursing, Violence, Abandonment, Child death, Death, Grief, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Blood, Bullying, Chronic illness, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, and Terminal illness
lizgriffinwords's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
For those like me who were living under a rock and hadn’t picked this one up, here’s the pitch: every ten years, the society that guards the lost library of Alexandria archives selects six of the most promising and powerful magicians of their generation as candidates for a year-long fellowship. Five are selected. One is eliminated.
I haven’t read a lot of dark academia, and even less “new adult” (since it was picked up and published by Tor, it is ADULT, just to be clear), so I don’t have much to compare it to. But if you liked Ninth House and/or Umbrella Academy, this is right up that alley.
I loved the setting and the overall “vibes”… but I was less of a fan of the writing style and all of the characters. I’ve had seasons of my life where I was too similar to Libby — naive, teacher’s pet sort of person — and having all the other characters mock and gang up on her was tiring as a reader.
Content warnings: cursing, su*cidal thoughts and attempts, gaslighting and bullying, sexual content (though honestly not as much as I thought there would be, given its TikTok fame)
Graphic: Gaslighting
Moderate: Suicide attempt, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, and Cursing
Minor: Violence and Death of parent
phippsmr's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Moderate: Gaslighting, Gun violence, Death, Death of parent, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Classism, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, Suicide attempt, and Toxic friendship
moviemagus's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
Graphic: Death of parent, Toxic friendship, Suicide attempt, Sexual content, Alcohol, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, and Death
Moderate: Bullying, Child abuse, Grief, Terminal illness, and Violence
angela005's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.5
Graphic: Sexual content, Toxic friendship, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Murder, Alcohol, and Suicidal thoughts
Moderate: Cursing, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Violence, and Kidnapping
Minor: Child death and Terminal illness