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diyashasen's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Wow, I absolutely loved the drama of it all—what a mesmerizing story. I’m honestly so confused why I even liked this as much as I did, but boy is it a page-turner. I could not stop reading and was immediately drawn into Zafón’s world.
I may be super off-base, but for some reason this story had a similar energy to The Beautiful Ones (or just Silvia Moreno-Garcia vibes generally) and A Little Life—and in its lighter moments, my childhood favourite The Thief Lord.
I may be super off-base, but for some reason this story had a similar energy to The Beautiful Ones (or just Silvia Moreno-Garcia vibes generally) and A Little Life—and in its lighter moments, my childhood favourite The Thief Lord.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Incest
Moderate: Sexual assault, Police brutality, and Murder
christiec5's review against another edition
I hated how the author described women and only treated them as sexual objects to be oogled and owned. The male characters were sexist and gross and I absolutely could not stand Fermin. The people that Daniel "interviewed" told him literally everything they knew even though they just met him??? And he wanted to touch and kiss the women constantly - it was disgusting to read. I was interested in the story of Carax and what happened to him and who the devil was but I couldn't get through the actual book any longer and just googled the plot & ending.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Incest and Sexism
cathannahs's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror and Blood
Moderate: Gore
Minor: Gun violence, Incest, and Death of parent
annahelle's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
i really really enjoyed this book! although it was a little cheesy at times and i wouldn’t compare it to gabriel garcia marquez (as advertised on the book cover), i still had FUN! there’s definitely something to be said about the treatment of female characters. like i’m pretty sure it wouldn’t pass the bechdel test lol. a bit manic pixie dream girl vibes. and i dont just mean fernin’s silly sexual, womanzing tirades , bc i took that to be satire. idk i’m dr*nk on vacation and i had FUN okay. and really loved the main characters even tho i wished the women weren’t just love objects !
Content Warnings
Graphic: Physical abuse
Moderate: Homophobia, Incest, and Transphobia
Minor: Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Police brutality, and Suicide attempt
toldinstories's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Violence, and Police brutality
Moderate: Death
Minor: Incest
nightlight9's review against another edition
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence and Police brutality
Moderate: Child death, Confinement, Homophobia, and Incest
kinga1204's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- 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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Gun violence, Incest, Blood, Police brutality, Murder, and Pregnancy
Moderate: Death of parent
Minor: Transphobia
hmlongstreet's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
mysterious
tense
slow-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? No
5.0
This book is long... and it took me forever to read. I have had this book since 2019 and I had just lost motivation to read it, as it dragged in some points. The book was also just genuinely long (or long to my standard as I never read books more then 450 pages). It is also one of those books with small words and small margins. However once I got back into it I could not put it down. All I can say is, oh my goodness this book is spellbinding. It is so beautifully written, that I found myself rereading a lot of paragraphs, just admiring the sentence structure. The long story was worth it though, as everything comes together to create a satisfying ending for the story. Every character in the novel gets an in-depth back story, which deepened my understanding of each characters personalities. So much detail is put into every line, which makes it such a gorgeous read. Also, every character is connected. All of them.
Some issues I had personally were that since the story takes place in Spain, street names and locations are mentioned rather often and as a native English speaker I had one hell of a time trying to pronounce them. Some phrases were also left in Spanish and certain references were made that I just didn't understand. Maybe I should brush up on some Spanish history. Halfway through I did end up switching to an audiobook to pick up the pace of my reading (I am a rather slow reader) and was heavily embarrassed at how I had butchered names and places pronunciation.
I plan to read the rest of the books in the series as well, but I highly recommend this book it is just amazing!
Some issues I had personally were that since the story takes place in Spain, street names and locations are mentioned rather often and as a native English speaker I had one hell of a time trying to pronounce them. Some phrases were also left in Spanish and certain references were made that I just didn't understand. Maybe I should brush up on some Spanish history. Halfway through I did end up switching to an audiobook to pick up the pace of my reading (I am a rather slow reader) and was heavily embarrassed at how I had butchered names and places pronunciation.
I plan to read the rest of the books in the series as well, but I highly recommend this book it is just amazing!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death
Moderate: Child death, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Police brutality, Grief, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment, and War
Minor: Bullying, Confinement, Homophobia, Incest, Infertility, Terminal illness, Stalking, Death of parent, and Abandonment
panatheart's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child death, Incest, Physical abuse, Transphobia, Medical trauma, and Pregnancy
lisaromhild's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
4.0
Content Warnings
Minor: Incest