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fallandfox's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
fast-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
4.0
The ARC of this book was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
In this sequel of Grimrose Academia, the fairy-tale deaths continue and the girls embark on their journey to break the curse once and for all before they end up dead. After the three girls discovered the truth about what is happening, they need to discover why it is happening. Together with this, each one of them has their secrets to deal with and the dark destiny that one of them now has in her hands.
When I finally could start this reading, I was excited after discovering it was a sequel.
The sensation of finalizing the book was so satisfactory and, at the same time, I wanted to reread it to enjoy the clues in the book.
I had now the opportunity to read the author's writing, and I can say she did an amazing job describing the scenery and a better one in the character and relationship development.
I was happy for the romantic couple's development, but at the same time, I was grateful for certain characters finishing the books without one.
In this sequel of Grimrose Academia, the fairy-tale deaths continue and the girls embark on their journey to break the curse once and for all before they end up dead. After the three girls discovered the truth about what is happening, they need to discover why it is happening. Together with this, each one of them has their secrets to deal with and the dark destiny that one of them now has in her hands.
When I finally could start this reading, I was excited after discovering it was a sequel.
The sensation of finalizing the book was so satisfactory and, at the same time, I wanted to reread it to enjoy the clues in the book.
I had now the opportunity to read the author's writing, and I can say she did an amazing job describing the scenery and a better one in the character and relationship development.
I was happy for the romantic couple's development, but at the same time, I was grateful for certain characters finishing the books without one.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Murder, and Physical abuse
caitlyn_kittle_kinnick's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder and Violence
Moderate: Physical abuse and Terminal illness
Minor: Medical content, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Cancer, and Death
bookedandbusy's review
dark
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
5.0
This was a great sequel and way to end the series! I loved it!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Blood, Cancer, Murder, Child abuse, Physical abuse, and Chronic illness
thewoodlandbookshelf's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
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
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Emotional abuse, Grief, Physical abuse, Suicide attempt, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Cancer, Abandonment, Blood, and Death
alexialefoux's review
emotional
fast-paced
- 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? It's complicated
2.5
I like a lot of the ideas and concepts, I just wish they were pulled off better. The ending also seemed very out of left field and I wish there had been clues dropped the whole way.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Physical abuse
jackiepreston's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
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? It's complicated
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Blood, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, and Violence
Moderate: Child abuse, Chronic illness, Confinement, Physical abuse, and Cannibalism
Minor: Cancer, Terminal illness, and Transphobia
melaniereadsbooks's review
adventurous
dark
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
Thank you to SourceBooks Fire and Netgalley for an arc of this book.
In the sequel to The Grimrose Girls, things are even more tense at Grimrose Academie as Yuki, Ella, Rory, and Nani deal with the fallout of Penelope's death and try to solve the mystery of the curse that is trapping them in fairytale retellings and killing off girls left and right.
This was so good! I loved everything about it. The entire time I was thinking about Midnights by Taylor Swift and trying to figure out which song works for each. I got one for every girl but the two that felt the most right to me was Anti-Hero for Yuki and You're on Your Own, Kid for Ella. They feel so right for both these girls and their character arcs.
This was great! I'm glad we got some more of Rory and Nani in this one. Such a great duology and definitely recommend for those Dark Academia vibes!
In the sequel to The Grimrose Girls, things are even more tense at Grimrose Academie as Yuki, Ella, Rory, and Nani deal with the fallout of Penelope's death and try to solve the mystery of the curse that is trapping them in fairytale retellings and killing off girls left and right.
This was so good! I loved everything about it. The entire time I was thinking about Midnights by Taylor Swift and trying to figure out which song works for each. I got one for every girl but the two that felt the most right to me was Anti-Hero for Yuki and You're on Your Own, Kid for Ella. They feel so right for both these girls and their character arcs.
This was great! I'm glad we got some more of Rory and Nani in this one. Such a great duology and definitely recommend for those Dark Academia vibes!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Child abuse, Child death, and Death
Moderate: Physical abuse and Cancer
Minor: Transphobia, Ableism, and Fatphobia
moeisme1972's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
mysterious
tense
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
1.25
Maybe I am stupid, but I was very confused reading this and also very bored.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Physical abuse
booksthatburn's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
THE WICKED REMAIN concludes the Grimrose Girls duology as they try to break the curse once and for all, to stop the cycle of girls bent and broken to fit tales which deny them happy endings, and usually take their lives.
The worldbuilding focuses primarily on details of the curse, the castle, and the relationships between the characters. This would be a hard book to get into if you’re not at least passingly familiar with a few key stories (Cinderella, Snow White, Beauty and the Beast, and probably Sleeping Beauty), and there are a few more that would help (Swan Lake, Rapunzel). It doesn’t pause to explain their plots and only occasionally spells out their relevance. This is probably a good decision, given how steeped in them many people are through cultural osmosis even if they’ve never read them and never seen any of the film adaptations. I think this book halting to explain them would have been more irritating than helpful, but I’m noting it since anyone who’s managed to avoid every Disney Princess’s story will have a rough time here. I know there were minor characters whose stories I didn’t recognize or don’t know, but at least for them my lack of recognition didn’t matter much.
I’m torn about the way that one of the secondary characters is handled. She’s a trans girl whose story involves her (implicitly cis, definitely female) cousin being jealous of her and trying to take over her life (including trying to steal her girlfriend). Because of the way the stories overlap, and characters with their own narrative can fill different roles in other characters’ narratives, she also is implied to be the Beast to her girlfriend’s Beauty. It has room to have such an interesting narrative about monstrosity, transphobia, and jealousy… and then just leaves it there. The cousin is jealous because… I don’t know, the curse makes her jealous to fit Swan Lake’s narrative. There’s no real reason stated, she just is. There’s a line about how the cis(?) cousin thinks she can be a better girl/girlfriend than her trans cousin, which stands out to me as unmistakable transphobia, but it’s not named in the way that the other narratives usually have their issues and abuses stated explicitly by the end. It’s possible this gets more attention in the published version than in the ARC I read, but it’s similarly understated in the first book so I’m not anticipating this particular change. For anyone concerned I'll note that while I can't think of a reason other than transphobia to motivate the cousin, there's no deadnaming or misgendering, just a very weird insistence that she'd be better at her trans cousin's life than she is.
This wraps up a bunch of stuff left hanging from the first book, while also having a full storyline of its own. I don’t recall anything it both introduced and resolved, but it’s the last book in the duology so that’s not an issue. The ending wraps up things very well, with suitable conclusions for the main characters and the school as a whole. The ensemble of point-of-view characters is largely unchanged from the first book and their voices are consistent. This does a good job of relaying important information from the last book in a way that quickly refreshes returning readers and might even enable new readers to jump in knowing only the basic premise. It is the conclusion of a duology, however, so as usual I recommend starting with the first book before reading this one.
Yuki and Ella feel like the main two in the group of protagonists, but Nani and Rory get a larger presence than I remember them having in GRIMROSE GIRLS. The pacing is good, the number of main characters is large enough to feel like a full group and to provide a steady supply of answers and developments along the way. In particular, Nani’s storyline with her father get some answers I wasn’t expecting but were very welcome, and I’m very happy for Rory. The central mystery of the curse gets a satisfying answer and a number of suitably dramatic moments, and I like how it all turns out.
The worldbuilding focuses primarily on details of the curse, the castle, and the relationships between the characters. This would be a hard book to get into if you’re not at least passingly familiar with a few key stories (Cinderella, Snow White, Beauty and the Beast, and probably Sleeping Beauty), and there are a few more that would help (Swan Lake, Rapunzel). It doesn’t pause to explain their plots and only occasionally spells out their relevance. This is probably a good decision, given how steeped in them many people are through cultural osmosis even if they’ve never read them and never seen any of the film adaptations. I think this book halting to explain them would have been more irritating than helpful, but I’m noting it since anyone who’s managed to avoid every Disney Princess’s story will have a rough time here. I know there were minor characters whose stories I didn’t recognize or don’t know, but at least for them my lack of recognition didn’t matter much.
I’m torn about the way that one of the secondary characters is handled. She’s a trans girl whose story involves her (implicitly cis, definitely female) cousin being jealous of her and trying to take over her life (including trying to steal her girlfriend). Because of the way the stories overlap, and characters with their own narrative can fill different roles in other characters’ narratives, she also is implied to be the Beast to her girlfriend’s Beauty. It has room to have such an interesting narrative about monstrosity, transphobia, and jealousy… and then just leaves it there. The cousin is jealous because… I don’t know, the curse makes her jealous to fit Swan Lake’s narrative. There’s no real reason stated, she just is. There’s a line about how the cis(?) cousin thinks she can be a better girl/girlfriend than her trans cousin, which stands out to me as unmistakable transphobia, but it’s not named in the way that the other narratives usually have their issues and abuses stated explicitly by the end. It’s possible this gets more attention in the published version than in the ARC I read, but it’s similarly understated in the first book so I’m not anticipating this particular change. For anyone concerned I'll note that while I can't think of a reason other than transphobia to motivate the cousin, there's no deadnaming or misgendering, just a very weird insistence that she'd be better at her trans cousin's life than she is.
This wraps up a bunch of stuff left hanging from the first book, while also having a full storyline of its own. I don’t recall anything it both introduced and resolved, but it’s the last book in the duology so that’s not an issue. The ending wraps up things very well, with suitable conclusions for the main characters and the school as a whole. The ensemble of point-of-view characters is largely unchanged from the first book and their voices are consistent. This does a good job of relaying important information from the last book in a way that quickly refreshes returning readers and might even enable new readers to jump in knowing only the basic premise. It is the conclusion of a duology, however, so as usual I recommend starting with the first book before reading this one.
Yuki and Ella feel like the main two in the group of protagonists, but Nani and Rory get a larger presence than I remember them having in GRIMROSE GIRLS. The pacing is good, the number of main characters is large enough to feel like a full group and to provide a steady supply of answers and developments along the way. In particular, Nani’s storyline with her father get some answers I wasn’t expecting but were very welcome, and I’m very happy for Rory. The central mystery of the curse gets a satisfying answer and a number of suitably dramatic moments, and I like how it all turns out.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood and Violence
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Medical content, Cursing, Sexual content, Child abuse, Confinement, Cannibalism, Physical abuse, Death, Transphobia, Grief, Suicide attempt, and Child death
Minor: Fatphobia, Self harm, Ableism, and Murder
jkw7072's review
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
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
4.0
This ARC was given by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
I LOVED the first book so much so I knew I had to snatch up this ARC.
I will say I think this book was a bit slower than the first, not as much intrigue and mystery but still wonderful.
This sequel felt more fantastical than the first, which I love fantasy so all about it. One of my favorite things about this series is that it isn’t simply retelling fairy tales. These girls STILL have their own lives and personalities. They were never truly defined by their fairy tales (aka the whole point of this story).
As much as I loved Frederick, I thought it was so important that Elle did not get swept off her feet by her prince. That she picked herself up and realized she could do whatever she wanted. Cheesy, but so important for any young woman (and really anyone who has ever felt they had to rely wholly on others) to understand no matter the circumstances, they can trust themselves
Of course my favorite part of this series is the diverse cast.
OBSESSED that the entire cast is queer - made my gay librarian heart happy. And it didn’t feel like checking off boxes the way some books do.
I’m all about friendship and love between others so the ending made my heart so happy. That true love can be among friends *UGH* gave me the same happy feels that the end of Loveless by Alice Oseman gave me.
How important it is that you can have platonic true love with your best friends ❤️❤️
Absolutely will be adding this to my library!! Laura Pohl give us more of your amazing characters!! I would die for them
I LOVED the first book so much so I knew I had to snatch up this ARC.
I will say I think this book was a bit slower than the first, not as much intrigue and mystery but still wonderful.
This sequel felt more fantastical than the first, which I love fantasy so all about it. One of my favorite things about this series is that it isn’t simply retelling fairy tales. These girls STILL have their own lives and personalities. They were never truly defined by their fairy tales (aka the whole point of this story).
Of course my favorite part of this series is the diverse cast.
OBSESSED that the entire cast is queer - made my gay librarian heart happy. And it didn’t feel like checking off boxes the way some books do.
I’m all about friendship and love between others so the ending made my heart so happy. That true love can be among friends *UGH* gave me the same happy feels that the end of Loveless by Alice Oseman gave me.
How important it is that you can have platonic true love with your best friends ❤️❤️
Absolutely will be adding this to my library!! Laura Pohl give us more of your amazing characters!! I would die for them
Content Warnings
Moderate: Physical abuse
Minor: Transphobia
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