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christinesreads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Graphic: Torture
Moderate: Alcoholism, Violence, Miscarriage, Murder, Rape, and Stalking
jashanac's review
4.75
I might change this rating from 4.75 to 5, but right now the pacing of this one is stopping me from going up to 5. All three of the other books I really flew through, regardless of their length. I was ENGROSSED the entire time. With this one, it is quite a bit longer for one thing, but there was a chunk in the middle area that I wasn't quite as gripped by or engrossed in.
Fermin is absolutely one of my all-time favorite characters! I absolutely adore him.
The ending here was a bit long, I felt -- all of the part with Julian giving exposition about his life. But I didn't hate it as I see some people -- it felt satisfying to me.
I really don't feel like I have the words to properly express how much I adore this entire series, though. Calling it a masterpiece in Gothic literature is absolutely valid, and I was simply engrossed with essentially every bit of this story.
Graphic: Confinement, Chronic illness, Torture, Trafficking, Death, Murder, and Violence
Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Rape, Alcoholism, and Child abuse
Minor: Miscarriage
narsere's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
Graphic: Kidnapping, Torture, Sexual assault, Violence, Murder, Rape, Body horror, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Sexual assault, Miscarriage, and Rape
Minor: Death of parent
clarabooksit's review against another edition
- 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
4.25
Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Death, Alcoholism, Excrement, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Sexism, Torture, Violence, and Gun violence
Moderate: Ableism, Drug abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Gore, Pedophilia, Mental illness, Trafficking, Suicide, Stalking, Sexual assault, Rape, Kidnapping, and Sexual violence
Minor: Cancer and War
lilyadams's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.0
The only reason I took away a star is that some of zafon's female characters feel a bit 2D. All the women are femme fatales and largely unrealistic. The other reason is the brief marital rape scene. It comes fairly near the end and is only a few paragraphs long and is stopped before its started but it still took me by surprise and made me feel quite uncomfortable. Whilst i understand that COFB is quite grim as a whole, I'm of the opinion that detailed sexual assault scenes really aren't at all needed and this one was so random and upsetting that I feel it was completely unnecessary to the point where it made a 5 star book less than that.
Graphic: Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Gore, Murder, and Violence
Moderate: Child death
Minor: Rape and Sexual violence