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jg93's review against another edition
4.0
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Gore, Violence, and Murder
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Racism, Rape, and Police brutality
Minor: Homophobia and Abortion
jasmine256'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
3.0
Graphic: Death, Violence, and Murder
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Racism, and Rape
Minor: Animal death and Abortion
lyricallit's review against another edition
2.0
Graphic: Murder
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Racism, and Rape
Minor: Slavery and Abortion
dsarbear's review against another edition
- 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
4.5
Graphic: Violence and Murder
Moderate: Physical abuse and Racism
Minor: Rape, Abortion, and War
glens's review against another edition
- 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? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Gore, Racial slurs, Racism, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Medical content, Grief, and Religious bigotry
Minor: Animal death, Death, Rape, Vomit, Antisemitism, and Abortion
comraderowan94's review against another edition
- 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? It's complicated
4.0
Graphic: Racism and Classism
Moderate: Rape
Minor: Animal cruelty
ellanarose'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? It's complicated
5.0
Moderate: Addiction, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Hate crime, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Cannibalism, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol
r1dh4's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
The characters were also all really well-developed in my opinion. Even minor characters that did not show up for very long felt like real people. At times it did feel like there was just a lot of information on the character's backstory coming in at once, but considering the rest of Bray's writing style it didn't feel that out of place to me and it didn't hinder my enjoyment of the book at all.
Additionally, the plot doesn't really pick up speed until about halfway through the book. However, even though the plot started a bit later, I still enjoyed the beginning because it provided some good exposition and allowed the reader to become familiar with the characters and their motives/personalities. When the plot actually does get underway, I found myself really wanting to know what happened next. Not only does the book feel rightly creepy, but there's a lot of movement between places and characters that was handled well and prevented me from feeling bored.
Along with this, the story itself also felt really well-crafted; you could tell the author had taken a long time to research and write this book, and you could see the carefully laid threads that allowed this book to finish completely while still leaving some great material for the next few books. The only thing I didn't like about this book was the romances; each felt either forced or too fast. I feel like some extra development would help this out, which I'm looking forward to seeing in the next few books.
Honestly, since I've heard that the subsequent books are better than the first, I definitely will be reading the next few, and I'm looking forward to continuing the series! I would also recommend this book to anybody, as long as they feel up to the longer page length and have checked out the content warnings (because there are quite a few). Overall, a great book to start off 2022!
Graphic: Murder
Moderate: Body horror, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Blood, Grief, and Alcohol
Minor: Sexual assault
midnightcomets'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? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Gore, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Religious bigotry, Abortion, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment, and War
davidrb's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Police brutality, Dementia, Kidnapping, Grief, Cannibalism, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, War, and Injury/Injury detail
This book is much more graphic than I was expecting, especially when it comes to the child death, sexual and domestic abuse, and animal death. Watch out!