Reviews

I really enjoyed how they didn’t just demonize a ghost seeing junky, had sympathy for other people in lower socio economic backgrounds, and didn’t approve of a victim blame-y attitude. It was refreshing. Please read the trigger warnings before picking up this book, while they aren’t incredibly graphic and gory, it could still be unsettling.

kathrynlbest's review against another edition

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5.0

The only reason I could find someone might rate this as less than 4/3.5 stars would be because it’s quite intense and not for the faint of heart OR because the beginning is a bit complex. I get it: the storyline kind of just throws you in without many explanations. But that’s kind of like life, you don’t get a sudden breakdown of everything if you suddenly follow someone’s storyline - you just gotta trust that everything will be explained over time. The story itself is complex and thrilling and builds upon itself throughout the book. Just keep reading, you’ll be rewarded. Throughout the book I kept reading exciting (almost climactic) scenes and wondered where the book would go from there. The ending itself is layer on layer of twists and turns I would’ve never begun to guess myself. I hear the sequel comes out in 2021 and I can’t wait!

shreeb's review against another edition

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5.0

i initially gave this four stars but then i realized my only reasoning for as to why it wasn’t higher was because “it’s not six of crows” but I’ll be honest, nothing is like six of crows and I am extremely biased towards it.

but this book!! wow!! i did not expect to love it as much as i did, but when you have characters like alex, darlington dawes, turner and even the bridegroom, and such a cool dark academia setting which takes place within these secret societies of Yale, it really makes the experience of reading this book all the more enjoyable. it was the first book i finished in 2020 and i practically ate it up after getting through the slower chapters at the beginning. Leigh Bardugo never ceases to amaze me with her intricate worlds, even in this urban fantasy, and her fantastic characters.

Our two main characters are Galaxy “Alex” Stern and Daniel “Darlington” Arlington—the nicknames are strong in this one—though Alex is definitely the main focus of the novel. She is an incredibly layered character, strong, smart, but also deeply flawed which only makes her character easier to sympathize with. She’s gone through a lot of dark things (please please please read the list of trigger warnings in this book) and she’s deeply traumatized by these events which unfortunately happen in real life to women all over the world but are often ignored. Alex stands up for these women like herself, women who have been taken advantage of or forgotten for the sake of status, and you truly get to see her heroic side even if it comes out in much darker ways. Also, she can see ghosts which is what gets her involved with Lethe (the ninth house of the secret societies in Yale).

Then there’s Darlington, who can basically be summed up as a dark academia version of Gansey from The Raven Cycle by Maggie Stiefvater. He’s intelligent, cunning and is always looking for something more in his life. Darlington becomes Alex’s mentor in Yale and they have some great character interactions which probably became some of my favorite parts of the book. Though he’s not in the book much, there’s so much that happens with him in this story that it’s difficult not to say that he’s a main character. And for those of you interested in the ship between Alex and darlington and are okay with a little more... interesting moments, I would refer you to the Manuscript party chapter because there’s a lot that happens there.

The plot itself is rather slow at the beginning at it starts out kind of in the aftermath of a major event, and then it takes time to explain how the story got to where it was while also having an ongoing present timeline. However, once you get past all that, it’s safe to say that you’re going to be in for a wild ride because there’s so much that happens and I was hooked throughout the rest of the story, and i finished the entire second half of the book in one sitting.

There’s dark magic, ghosts and old libraries and fancy parties and has just a really cool setting in general. I highly recommend reading this book, and I also warn fans of the Bardugo’s grishaverse that this is a lot different from those books, especially the grisha trilogy, and is definitely not a young adult novel. also I heard there’s a tv show coming out for this book and I couldn’t be more excited!

sydstap24's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-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? Yes

4.5

joakra85's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny inspiring 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? It's complicated

5.0

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