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noellegrace8's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I do not factor audiobook narrators' performances into in my overall star rating of a book, but I would give Rebecca Soler a 4.5/5. She did better with this one than the last, with a bit more variance in her emotion, although it still drones or falls flat in parts. Her accents were quite good, actually allowing me to know who was talking when. However, I started to wonder why Scarlet has a French accent (typically, though sometimes Soler forgets to use it) but Kai, for instance, has an American one even though he lives in New Beijing.
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Blood, Violence, Gore, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Pandemic/Epidemic, Classism, War, Emotional abuse, Abandonment, Ableism, Colonisation, and Grief
Minor: Genocide, Mental illness, Vomit, Child death, Rape, Sexual content, Child abuse, Gun violence, Sexual violence, Medical content, Torture, Physical abuse, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Car accident, Confinement, Gaslighting, Suicide, Addiction, Alcohol, Misogyny, Stalking, and Toxic relationship
The items I included in "Graphic" are mostly due to violence throughout the book related to themes and characters. This second book contained much more of that than the first. Items in "moderate" are either thematic in occurrence or are detailed enough to warrant more than a brief warning. I did want to explicitly inform the potential reader about my sexual violence/rape warning: it is only threateded/mentioned once in nongraphic terms. It never actually happens/happened.lawbooks600'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? It's complicated
4.0
Score: Seven points out of ten.
Well. First I have a statement, the last book I read from Marissa Meyer (a hit or miss author), Cursed, was a hit so I headed in with high expectations when I picked up the book and finally read it. When I finished it, I enjoyed it but I didn't think this novel was a step up or a step down from Cinder (it was at the same level as Cinder, which isn't a bad thing) and I'm hoping Cress might be better. It starts with the new main and titular character Scarlet Benoit or Scarlet for short living in Rieux, France. The book cuts to Cinder in the Eastern Commonwealth from the preceding book. As with other long books (like 400+ pages long) it's slow paced but again that let me explore new and familiar characters e.g., Wolf (which I liked.) Speaking of, I liked all the people in this book except Levana but for some reason I couldn't connect to them which didn't ruin my enjoyment of the narrative in any way. The first three quarters of the book had nothing much happen except character dynamics except the last quarter, where the Lunars started a war on Earth, invading and causing human genocide (horrific but understandable; they're the villains after all) which ends the book. The bonus content at the end was intriguing as well including a short story and a sneak peek at Cress.
Graphic: Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Confinement, War, Pandemic/Epidemic, Fire/Fire injury, and Genocide
Full trigger warnings: Blood depiction, physical assault and injury, imprisonment, war themes, pandemic, fire, genocidethumbeleia's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Murder, Pandemic/Epidemic, Medical trauma, Toxic relationship, Confinement, Blood, Physical abuse, Racism, Violence, Vomit, War, Abandonment, Ableism, Classism, Death, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Colonisation, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Medical content, Slavery, Torture, Xenophobia, Gaslighting, Genocide, and Injury/Injury detail
eowyn_zoe's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
Graphic: Death and Genocide
Moderate: Kidnapping, Torture, War, Physical abuse, and Violence
Minor: Injury/Injury detail
nasab'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
4.75
Graphic: Genocide and Kidnapping
jfield351's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: War and Violence
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, and Death
Minor: Child abuse, Blood, Vomit, Murder, Medical content, Torture, Stalking, and Confinement
zoepagereader's review against another edition
- 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? No
5.0
Graphic: Confinement, Death, Genocide, Gore, Murder, and Violence
Minor: Vomit
therobinjoyce's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
The continuation from book 1s character took far too long to be reintroduced and the action could have been far much more ramped up. There was a innate sense of predictability to the majority of the story but all in all it was a decent read.
I did particularly enjoy the interactions and character relationships between Wolf and Scarlet and their story was very compelling and intriguing.
If I'd read this as a teenager I probably would have loved it far more than I did reading it for the first time as an adult.
Graphic: Blood, Death, Gore, and Grief
Moderate: Gun violence, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, and Violence
Minor: Death of parent, Genocide, and Torture