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ashlikes's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Grief, Torture, Violence, and War
Moderate: Infidelity, Pregnancy, Bullying, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Physical abuse, Death of parent, Alcohol, Blood, Death, Murder, and Sexual content
Minor: Addiction, Colonisation, Confinement, Dementia, Xenophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Pregnancy, Religious bigotry, Homophobia, Body shaming, and Fatphobia
ruuntvoces's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
3.0
Graphic: Torture
Moderate: Child abuse
mjwhitlock18's review against another edition
3.5
Graphic: Violence, Torture, Grief, and Death
Moderate: Child abuse and War
Minor: Sexual content
displacedcactus's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
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If you thought things would be a little more pleasant after El left the Scholomance, I had bad news for you. The entire magical world feels very much like an allegory for late-stage capitalism and everything is terrible, plus El is depressed about Orion's actions at the end of Book 2.
I found large chunks of this book to be a real slog. In the first two books it felt like there was a very clear goal: survive until graduation, and try to make sure your allies survive too. But for much of this book, El isn't quite sure of her goal, as she gets pulled in different directions. Then again, sometimes that's what it's like IRL after graduation.
Things get pretty dark in this book. I mean, the whole series has been dark, but there were some twists that showed that the outside world was really even worse than the school, and the real monster is humanity, etc etc.
If you've enjoyed the first two books of the series and you want to know how it ends, you'll probably enjoy this conclusion. But if you were on the fence about the first two, I think you can safely skip this one and make up your own ending in your head (or ask a friend who does read it for the condensed version).
Graphic: Violence
Moderate: Torture
Minor: Sexual content
nefariousbee's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
the pacing is wobbly and the characters are not always up to my expectations but the something you want from a book, it's there.
Graphic: Death, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, and Torture
Moderate: Vomit, War, and Gore
le3713'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? It's complicated
4.5
Graphic: Death and Violence
Moderate: Confinement and Torture
kayladaila'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
5.0
Graphic: Body horror, Torture, Classism, and Murder
Moderate: War, Violence, Grief, and Murder
Minor: Drug use, Sexual content, Child abuse, Child death, Death, and Death of parent
kagey's review against another edition
- 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? No
4.5
Graphic: Torture
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts and War
Minor: Child abuse
prynne31's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Torture
greymalkin's review against another edition
- 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? Yes
5.0
I also really loved that this book focused on El really deepening her friendships and feelings for other people and showing how she could bring together disparate groups even though she's not particularly charismatic or great at social things. I had liked Liesel from the second book but I really loved her in this one. And Orion... my heart bled for Orion.
It took me a while to finish the book because I was deliberately pacing it out, savoring the moments because so many huge things happened all the time it was better to take in the book in sips rather than gulps. And once I finished it, I immediately started reading the first book again. Only a few chapters into the first book and I was very pleased to see that yes indeed, there's a huge clue right there right at the start and yet we had no idea what we were looking at so it meant nothing. Tremendous.
Graphic: Torture
Moderate: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, and Racism
Minor: Child death