Reviews tagging 'Terminal illness'

Our Dark Duet by V.E. Schwab

6 reviews

carefulfearanddeaddevotion's review against another edition

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adventurous dark tense
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

**spoiler alert** hm. might have spoken too soon. i didn't dislike this book by any means, but i def liked it less than this savage song.

personally, i found Kate and August, together, to be the strongest part of this savage song. For our dark duet to keep them completely apart for more than half the book - why mess with a winning formula. for the first 50% of the book, I really thought i was gonna give it 3 stars, but then Kate and August reunited and it reminded me why i liked the first book so much - but too little too late frankly, especially when the rest of the story didn't really hold up.

1. disappointed we didn't find out why the Chaos Eater was created -- side note: the discussion the wardens had about the monster names made me think, who came up with those names? i didn't give it much thought, but I assumed the monsters themselves had chosen those names-especially since they refer to themselves by them, something i don't think they'd do if humans had assigned those names to them -- i was really expecting to find out that it was Leo and that it was created by a Sunai killing another Sunai.
2. Did I misunderstand a massive piece of lore, or were we not told in the first book that the reason the Sunai go after sinners is so that the monster they created would die with them? is this something i made up? WHY WAS SLOAN STILL ALIVE??????? I swear that Alice, in the last page of the first book, had said there was no heart (in Sloan's chest where one should be), and I was expecting this to be the reason he was alive or that at least we would come back to it. Did I misread?? I really was waiting for this to come back at all in the second book, and it just didn't
3. Why did she kill kateeeee 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭 all that fighting to live, those near misses with death, only to kill her????? fuck you victoria. fr. i literally said no so loud my mom asked me if I was alright from the other side of the house.
3b. um the wardens? riley? ok yea august finds those unsent messages, is the implication that he's gonna do anything about them? no, not really. what's going on in Prosperty, more monsters? who's dealing with them? i really wanted a warden (or at least riley)/kate reunion. mostly, i just didnt want kate to die 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭
4. was really expecting the sunai's music to play a larger part in the whole chaos eater thing - like maybe they'd be able to separate the light soul from the red soul? idk. i also thought that Kate killing the monster she'd created would clear her soul. that also didn't happen 🥲 and then she died

hm writing this review is really making me think about why i wanted to give this book 3 stars. but like do i care about logic? not really. because i started cheesing the second kate reached the seam and didnt stop until kate died. 

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khakipantsofsex's review against another edition

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dark tense fast-paced

4.0


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imds's review against another edition

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  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated

3.5


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booksanna's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional 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

It took me 2 days to defrost myself from the magnificent horrible adventure that is this book. It was a rollercoaster, a more scary one. I loved the characters and the plot, despite me wishing a little more world-building was done.  The creativity and imagery used to describe the monsters was wonderful. I also loved the little poetry sections of the book, it added mysterious touch to the book. This is definitly a good read if you like fantasy/dystopians.  Also the morality of each character was so well written, I truly doubted the black/white ideals of the society. Also, I love Kate as a character.
Also the ending is so bittersweet. Henrryyyyyy whyyyyy
Why did you liveeeee? 

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ttumbletree's review against another edition

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dark emotional tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0


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lisa_m's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional inspiring sad medium-paced
  • Strong character development? Yes

4.0

I'm glad I read this book. I wasn't convinced after the first one in the series but I did enjoy reading it. I'm still not the biggest fan but I can appreciate it. 
My main issue was that I pretty much hated everyone. I did like the friendship between August and Kate and my favourite character was definitely Ilsa. But I realised that I wasn't really attached to anyone or anything in this story because I wasn't sad even though many sad and horrible things happened.

I did really enjoy the philosophical aspect and the thoughts about humanity and what it means to be good or bad and if there even is a clear distinction. I also thought the concept of a war where one side cannot kill any humans on the other side very intriguing.

All in all I would say great plot, great world building and I totally get why people like this book but it just wasn't my cup of tea. It was incredibly violent and I was kind of mentally checked out.

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