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onceuponaballad's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
Graphic: Murder, Addiction, Violence, Torture, Trafficking, Slavery, Sexual content, and War
Moderate: Gun violence and Child abuse
tguccione'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
4.5
Moderate: Gun violence, Sexism, Classism, Gore, Grief, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Child abuse, Murder, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, War, Colonisation, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Confinement
britwalsh16'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? No
5.0
I honestly don’t know what else to say without spoilers!! Just read it!!
Graphic: Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Cursing, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Murder, Sexual content, Violence, Misogyny, Blood, War, Classism, Slavery, Grief, and Gun violence
Moderate: Colonisation, Infidelity, Torture, Rape, Sexual harassment, Stalking, and Confinement
Minor: Genocide, Addiction, Child abuse, Vomit, and Alcohol
jennipea382's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Graphic: Gore, Gun violence, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, and Death
Moderate: Genocide, Slavery, and Colonisation
Minor: Torture, Alcohol, Grief, Child death, and Rape
zoelisec's review
- 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
4.5
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Murder, War, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, and Violence
deshanejt's review
- 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
5.0
Graphic: War, Blood, Sexual content, Slavery, Death, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Classism, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Torture, Colonisation, and Grief
Minor: Gun violence, Infidelity, and Infertility
angelofthetardis's review
- 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
3.5
While I think the author has done better relationship arcs, this is probably the first time that it's felt like an equal relationship from the get go, rather than the big powerful man teaching the gorgeous girl something to help her to become his equal. And their banter, understanding and ease around one another, plus their protectiveness of each other, is my favourite part of the book. If this book were focused on the development of their relationship, with other bits going on in the background, I could definitely get in board with it. However, as it is their relationship is just one element of an incredibly busy plot.
I had hoped that I'd have absorbed enough from the first book to be comfortable with the world and the characters going into book two. No, I'm not floundering and completely lost, but at the same time there are so many characters, species and sub-plots to keep straight, I ended up feeling a little overwhelmed with it, which tempered my enjoyment. I'm sure certain plot threads will be picked up again in future books, but at this stage there seems to be a lot of loose ends or even dead ends, again giving the feeling of about three books worth of plot being crammed into one. And yet the pace isn't that fast - it's not a slog to read, but you are fully aware of the heft of this tome as you are trying to get through it.
As always, you cannot fault the worldbuilding, and I admire the depth and breadth of the creativity of thought and detail that has gone into bringing life to Crescent City - again, I think this is the most considered scape Maas has created to date. However, I again come back to the sheer quantity of information the reader needs to be able to process.
Unfortunately I wasn't shocked by the Day/Night twist at all; to me, it was incredibly obvious straight away how that was going to turn out. The more interesting twist for me was Bryce's plans for Emile, but equally this felt like a rather clunky explanation; it can across like the author had forgotten to include a resolution to that particular aspect and so covered herself with a quickly invented 'secret plan reveal'. This sort of sums up the writing overall for me - it doesn't flow anywhere near as well as ACOTAR or TOG.
However, this is a prime example of why I don't generally mind spoilers - someone told me ages ago about what happens at the end of this book and so, even though this is my least favourite of SJM's series to date, I knew I had to get these read so that I can devour book 3 when it comes out! I am desperately hoping will give this series a huge boost in my estimations!
Graphic: Violence, Sexual content, Cursing, Death, Colonisation, and Blood
Moderate: Torture, Confinement, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Sexual violence, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Alcohol, and Slavery
Minor: Vomit
smkelly1997'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
4.0
Graphic: Death, Genocide, Gore, Sexual content, Classism, Gun violence, Hate crime, Blood, Colonisation, and Grief
infjkiki's review
- 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
5.0
Graphic: Gaslighting, Torture, Injury/Injury detail, Fire/Fire injury, Blood, Body horror, Confinement, Genocide, Sexual content, Gun violence, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Murder, Classism, Emotional abuse, Death, Gore, Physical abuse, and Violence
Moderate: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Rape
pierrereads's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Gun violence, Blood, and Violence
Minor: Rape