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7susanne7's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
lollohollie's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
sad
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
4.75
matese111's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
bottomless_coffee's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
- 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
skyturtles's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
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? Yes
5.0
If you grew up in Catholicism with a vampire obsession, this is THE book for you.
I had wanted to read this for quite awhile, but kept putting it off due to my dislike of Jay Kristoff's Nevernight. Maybe it's because our protagonist Gabriel de Leon is male (I didn't appreciate Kristoff's attempt at a lead female character), or maybe I have an unhealthy fascination with anti-heros, but I enjoyed this book so much that I am nearly willing to give Nevernight another try.
I went into this book knowing nothing (which I recommend to you dear reader) except that despite its YA cover and title, this tome was cataloged in adult fiction. And let me tell you, my friends, that was no mistake. Prepare yourselves for issues of morality, faith, addiction, and lots & lots of blood. *chef's kiss*
I had wanted to read this for quite awhile, but kept putting it off due to my dislike of Jay Kristoff's Nevernight. Maybe it's because our protagonist Gabriel de Leon is male (I didn't appreciate Kristoff's attempt at a lead female character), or maybe I have an unhealthy fascination with anti-heros, but I enjoyed this book so much that I am nearly willing to give Nevernight another try.
I went into this book knowing nothing (which I recommend to you dear reader) except that despite its YA cover and title, this tome was cataloged in adult fiction. And let me tell you, my friends, that was no mistake. Prepare yourselves for issues of morality, faith, addiction, and lots & lots of blood. *chef's kiss*
toze's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- 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
5.0
humblebee20's review against another edition
4.0
I came into this book after having only read one other series by Kristoff, that being Illuminae. After reading that series as recommended by a friend, I decided to give this book a shot as well. This is definitely a book that boasts about its size that probably shouldn't. I'm not saying it's a bad book per say but there were some aspects I found to be a bit unsavory. But I'll start with positives.
1) The book uses a lot of fun religious imagery and the world building is very well done. I found myself very immersed with the crazy amounts vampire types and the bloodlines (allthough I'm hoping we see more of the specific bloodlines powers throughout the series). The matyrs and tattoos feel fleshed out and real in a world where you have the classic light vs dark and good vs evil tropes.
2) The illustrations are incredible. I found myself (probably unwisely) skipping ahead in order to see what the artist had done for the book. While I have a slight gripe about one of the drawings, I'll save it for later.
3) Character diversity is always a huge plus for me. Having gay characters as well as a charcter that binds (again I have a gripe with how this character is treated but I'll get to that later). The gay characters are treated with an uncomfortable level of realism and shunned by even the main character before he comes to grips with everything and realizes maybe he's just an ass. I like that touch, allthough he does come around a little fast for someone who is just now considering if they accept people of different sexualities.
Sadly that's where the majority of my positives end. While I did enjoy the book, I found myself rolling my eyes a lot.
1)The main character is an ass, to the point where he goes ffrom believable but lovable asshole to charcter trope that can't go a sentence without making a dirty joke. It gets tiring after page 50... in a 700 page book. The best I can say about him is that he doesn't discriminate. Men are called whore's sons and women are useless cunts. But I digress. *Spoilers* After the character who has being dressing masculine is discovered to be female, the main character calles them female pronouns for the rest of the book, and even makes a point to switch from masculine to feminine insults. It just rubbed me the wrong way. The character keeps binding and presenting as male, so some respect for that would be nice. *spoilers over*
2) The book is long, needlessly so, and yet I felt like so little happened. I know the characters and yet I don't. The language is flowery but sometimes too much so. The book is divided into sections and would ramp up to a cliffhanger, only to cut t0 the other section. This would be exciting if the sections wern't so long that I forgot why I was excited in the first place. Kind of a downer that I would be dissapointed by a section change becasuse I forgot everything I was amped up for. Things happen often but there is so much filler. I know they introduced me to the characters and I know I should care about them, but even as I was reading, I found myself constantly looking up who people were and what the bloodline-specific powers did just because of the large gaps with the main character going to the library for the 100th time or party getting ambushed by one vampire. On the other hand, huge events are skipped over, like a big bad getting killed in a single fight with no real lead up and an exile arc being mentioned in passing. Just some moments of weird pacing.
3) The weird peversion really got to me. There were a handful of moments where I felt off by being privy to somethings. I get it, teenagers are horny, whatever, but having an illustration of two underage people having sex. I could have done without the visual.
While I did have some issues with the book, I would still recommend it for those who like vampires and religious imagery. Maybe don't come int expecting too much, but I enjoyed it as good mindless fun.
1) The book uses a lot of fun religious imagery and the world building is very well done. I found myself very immersed with the crazy amounts vampire types and the bloodlines (allthough I'm hoping we see more of the specific bloodlines powers throughout the series). The matyrs and tattoos feel fleshed out and real in a world where you have the classic light vs dark and good vs evil tropes.
2) The illustrations are incredible. I found myself (probably unwisely) skipping ahead in order to see what the artist had done for the book. While I have a slight gripe about one of the drawings, I'll save it for later.
3) Character diversity is always a huge plus for me. Having gay characters as well as a charcter that binds (again I have a gripe with how this character is treated but I'll get to that later). The gay characters are treated with an uncomfortable level of realism and shunned by even the main character before he comes to grips with everything and realizes maybe he's just an ass. I like that touch, allthough he does come around a little fast for someone who is just now considering if they accept people of different sexualities.
Sadly that's where the majority of my positives end. While I did enjoy the book, I found myself rolling my eyes a lot.
1)The main character is an ass, to the point where he goes ffrom believable but lovable asshole to charcter trope that can't go a sentence without making a dirty joke. It gets tiring after page 50... in a 700 page book. The best I can say about him is that he doesn't discriminate. Men are called whore's sons and women are useless cunts. But I digress. *Spoilers* After the character who has being dressing masculine is discovered to be female, the main character calles them female pronouns for the rest of the book, and even makes a point to switch from masculine to feminine insults. It just rubbed me the wrong way. The character keeps binding and presenting as male, so some respect for that would be nice. *spoilers over*
2) The book is long, needlessly so, and yet I felt like so little happened. I know the characters and yet I don't. The language is flowery but sometimes too much so. The book is divided into sections and would ramp up to a cliffhanger, only to cut t0 the other section. This would be exciting if the sections wern't so long that I forgot why I was excited in the first place. Kind of a downer that I would be dissapointed by a section change becasuse I forgot everything I was amped up for. Things happen often but there is so much filler. I know they introduced me to the characters and I know I should care about them, but even as I was reading, I found myself constantly looking up who people were and what the bloodline-specific powers did just because of the large gaps with the main character going to the library for the 100th time or party getting ambushed by one vampire. On the other hand, huge events are skipped over, like a big bad getting killed in a single fight with no real lead up and an exile arc being mentioned in passing. Just some moments of weird pacing.
3) The weird peversion really got to me. There were a handful of moments where I felt off by being privy to somethings. I get it, teenagers are horny, whatever, but having an illustration of two underage people having sex. I could have done without the visual.
While I did have some issues with the book, I would still recommend it for those who like vampires and religious imagery. Maybe don't come int expecting too much, but I enjoyed it as good mindless fun.
1ashley_reads1's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
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
mychemicalseal's review
4.0
compelling story even if some of the plot points felt like they were predictable. i'll be picking up the next one.
dromwald's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
medium-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
4.0