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betweentheshelves's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Let's start with the world building. Someone, there's a lot of info dumping, and yet nothing really makes sense? There was a Hunger Games-esque promise with this, but that's not really an accurate comparison for this book. The best comparison is honestly A Court of Thorns and Roses, maybe a little Throne of Glass, and a tiny bit of The Selection. But mostly, Sarah J. Maas. We've got a lot of Sarah J. Maas influence in this book.
But I digress! I finished the entire book, and I still can't explain what exactly the competition was that happened in this book. There were some trials, and at some point they were allowed to kill each other, but to what end? It wasn't exactly clear what they were fighting for, or why they were really having the trials at all. Additionally, there are a lot of random rules for each of these different kingdoms, but again, it is not clear how or why all of these parameters exist. The realm where they only live until they're 25? How is that even sustainable? But you also have realms where they live until they're 500? Having both of these exist in the same world just didn't make sense to me.
I will tell you right now, Grim is basically Rhysand from ACOTAR, and you can't convince me of that otherwise. I actually would go as far as to say that this book is pretty much ACOTAR fanfiction, as there are an astounding amount of similarities. Other books I recognized scenes from are: Divergent, Harry Potter, and The Selection.
I did listen to the audiobook, so I can't speak to some of the writing and spelling errors that were mentioned in some of the other reviews. But if anything, this book could have used a developmental editor for sure. There were sections that needed to be fleshed out, and other sections that took way too much time.
I'm sure there's more I could say about this book, but it really just baffles me overall. I can see why some people are drawn to it, it just needed some overall better editing. In all aspects.
Graphic: Blood, Violence, and Murder
Moderate: Death, Death of parent, and Sexual content
Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Vomit, and Genocide
grace_9613's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Graphic: Blood, Violence, and Abandonment
Moderate: Death, Death of parent, Sexual content, and Cannibalism
Minor: Adult/minor relationship and Fire/Fire injury
mixxroxy's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0
Moderate: Blood
Minor: Cannibalism and Death of parent
gayelfboi's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.0
Graphic: Death of parent, Xenophobia, Blood, Violence, Classism, and Death
Moderate: Body horror, Cannibalism, Sexual content, Chronic illness, Violence, and Murder
Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Toxic relationship, Gaslighting, Grief, Sexual assault, Genocide, Gore, and Injury/Injury detail
cdoubet's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Blood, Death, Gore, Cursing, Gaslighting, Murder, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, War, Mental illness, Misogyny, Emotional abuse, Grief, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Death of parent, Medical content, Fire/Fire injury, Vomit, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, and Violence
Moderate: Sexual content
Minor: Alcohol
ladymickbeth's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
2.0
Graphic: Blood, Violence, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual content, and Cannibalism
Moderate: Death, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Toxic relationship, and War
Minor: Death of parent and Vomit
I’ll be honest, I didn’t see a fair amount of the plot twists coming. Other than that, there is nothing good about this book. World didn’t feel fleshed out, writing was terrible with its sentence fragments not used very artfully, and the exposition was just dropped in, sometimes very loosely related to what’s going on at the moment and long-winded.stroop's review
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
3.25
Graphic: Death, Blood, and Violence
Moderate: Death of parent
sarahfr1end's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Graphic: Blood, Death, Vomit, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Violence, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Sexual content
katvou's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Moderate: Death
Minor: Alcohol, Blood, Cannibalism, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Sexual content, and Death of parent
sydneyluxford's review
- 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
3.0
It’s obvious how the love triangle is going to end in future books, but I truly don’t know who I prefer Isla with more. Because I really love Oro,
This book does not deserve the hate that people on TikTok are giving it. They’re hating on it for it not including scenes that Aster said would be in it, but they’re also acting like this book didn’t go through an editing process like every other traditionally published book. Like, get a life if you’re hating on a book you haven’t even read 😭.
I have to admit, that I didn’t fully connect with this book and there were moments where I was bored, but I think that’s down to the fact that I am not the targeted reader for this book. I’m seventeen, and the target audience is probably for those age twelve to fifteen, at least that’s what I gather from the writing style and other aspects of the book. That doesn’t mean I didn’t enjoy the book though, I still thoroughly enjoyed it.
Graphic: Body horror, Blood, and Murder
Moderate: Death of parent and Toxic friendship
Minor: War