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brieoqueijo's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
!!!!!!SPOILERS AHEAD!!!!!!
!!!!!I MEAN IT!!!!!!
Ok, so here are my critiques:
At the beginning I was kinda hating Grim, he was acting kinda creepy and it wasn’t sexy, just creepy
Isla was so dumb at the beginning, she literally almost died twice cause tripped????? Like girl you’re a warrior and can’t even stay standing up? Get a grip
BUT as the book went on I started really liking both her and grim, and I was thinking to myself like damn how I am supposed to ship her with oro? Cause he’s always acting like he has a stick you know where. But then he was just ✨oro✨ and we love him for it
I enjoyed the plot twists at the end (all hundreds of them), I definitely wasn’t expecting for grim and isla having a history before the games, I really thought it was just that old insta love shite
I could see celeste being evil from like a mile away, but it still was done nicely, and I think it was a great ending to the curse to kill that whoe
THE WAY I THOUGHT SHE WAS GONNA TELL ISLA GRIM WAS HER ACTUAL FATHER I ALMOST DIED IM SO GLAD MS ALEX ASTER DIDNT GO FULL ALABAMA OUT OF NOWHERE
And finally, I got kind confused at the end about how is oros and islas relationship right now, cause it kinda felt like “x months later” but they don’t seem very intimate?? I hope we haven’t lost their first kiss cause I wanted to read all that yearning
And finally, I’m still kinda devided between both love interests but grims last sentence of “remember us and than you’ll come back to me” kinda gave me the ick idk
That’s it, will be starting book #2 right now xoxo
Graphic: Death, Sexual content, Violence, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Death, Sexual content, Violence, Cannibalism, Murder, Alcohol, and War
Minor: Body horror, Death, Genocide, Gore, Infidelity, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Colonisation, and War
creataav's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
Graphic: Grief and Gaslighting
Moderate: Stalking
typical love interest “it’s not creepy because he’s hot” stuff.elskede's review
- 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? It's complicated
4.25
Graphic: Bullying, Death, Sexual content, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Murder, Gaslighting, and Toxic friendship
acbwalsh's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
2.5
Moderate: Death, Sexual content, Blood, Murder, and Gaslighting
Minor: Cannibalism
lkristin2018'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
2.0
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Death, Physical abuse, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Cannibalism, Stalking, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Sexual content, Death of parent, Gaslighting, and Toxic friendship
Minor: Blood and Alcohol
yuidf'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
5.0
Moderate: Death, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Death of parent, Gaslighting, and Toxic friendship
ev_ve'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? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Cursing, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Murder, and Gaslighting
Moderate: Confinement and Death of parent
greystory'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
2.75
I liked the premise so I finally went for it. It was eh. The writing itself was alright. Not good, not great, but not bad either. My biggest complaint was the sheer YA-ness of it all which kind of isn't fair to hold against it. I was going to say this wasn't predictable like I thought it would be but in the end, it was, it just took longer getting there than anticipated.
I also don't love the sort of love triangle. Nor the massive maturity gap in the end relationship. I had unanswered questions at the end, which was a bummer given we had to sit through that extended antagonist monologue revealing stuff (unfortunately some of the same stuff more than once because Isla wasn't getting it for some reason).
Notes I jotted down while reading: (beware there be spoilers)
* She keeps referring to Grimm as having done her a favor when he implied there'd be a duel, but I find that to be a stretch. Everyone in the challenge had a sword so it wasn't like she would have been without one, right? And if you're preparing for this event your whole life, why wouldn't you have a suit of armor prepared or part of your plans? I found this really confusing.
* The severe training memories and reminders of being trained her whole life were at odds with Isla's general unpreparedness. Some of them training memories especially made no sense. These are regular humans with some magical abilities right? It's not possible to hang from something for 5 hours straight. Even if she could, doing it once like a decade ago does not prepare one for a swordfight. That does not translate, at all.
* The whole relationship with Grimm felt rushed and built on absolutely nothing. He flirted a little bit with her and she was so attention starved she was eating it up, apparently.
* She gets a secret from the secret dude Juniper and at 25% in, it's implied she can only ever get one secret from him. Why would she waste it on asking about getting around the moon guards? The answer was to wait until the full moon because the moon guards would have to be inside because all of the moonlings have to be indoors during it. How is that not basic information you already have about the moonlings? Shouldn't she or Celeste already know this??
* More of the Grimm relationship nonsense. Isla's making choices like I guess someone in their early 20s in their first ever romantic foray would but god is it frustrating and embarrassingly foolish.
* Isla is constantly telling herself she can't trust anyone and then going and trusting everyone.
* She will literally do things that make no sense. "Isla had to be quick!" then 2 seconds later she melodramtically kneeled on the floor, sighing and dwelling on her situation with emo lenses for awhile instead of doing anything. Ma'am. Ma'am, I can't with you.
* Isla is really not the brightest at times
Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Blood, Vomit, Murder, and Toxic friendship
Minor: War
bronzel's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Moderate: Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, Gaslighting, and Toxic friendship
Minor: Death, Blood, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail
shellbell_04'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? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Death, Violence, Death of parent, and Gaslighting
Minor: Genocide