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lwooters's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
hopeful
mysterious
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? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Animal death, and Blood
sarahbliss's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
reflective
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
4.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal cruelty and Animal death
sunshine_kait's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Mental illness, Animal death, Child abuse, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Rape, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, and Sexual violence
waqupi's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Animal death, and Animal cruelty
Moderate: Sexual assault
Minor: Pedophilia and Homophobia
sophieseptember's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Minor: Rape, Death of parent, Child death, and Animal death
aseel_reads's review
adventurous
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
If this book was 100-200 pages shorter, it would have been fantastic. I liked the actual plot events and hava's character arc but because the book was so long and so slow, I started getting annoyed with hava and her behaviours.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Death of parent, Grief, Rape, Violence, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Abandonment, and Blood
half_prince's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- 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
I loved the writing and the pacing of this book. Kristin mentions herself on her website, that the change in writing style (shorter chapters, first person) were to reflect the main character, Hava, and her personality. Having just finished reading the book, it really does lend a unique voice to Hava and her personality.
Also, while the plot of the book itself isn’t as grand as it could’ve been, I appreciated how Cashore took the first 2 parts to lay out the ground work for the rest of the book and to focus on developing Hava’s character and thoughts, which become more relevant later on as she tries to figure out who she is and come to terms with her past. Also, the book was excellently edited; as soon as I got a bit tired of one setting and was looking move along in the plot, the book did so without focusing too much on unneeded transitions.
As for the plot, the multiple mysteries that slowly get revealed is present in this book, like in the other graceling realm novels, and it’s an aspect of Cashore’s writing that I absolutely love and look forward to with each new book in the series. Although I did predict one of the larger revelations a good 100 pages before my suspicions were confirmed, I found that it was more rewarding (as all the clues were well placed) than boring (I would much rather have a plot twist be well developed and somewhat predictable, rather than come out of nowhere with nothing setting it up).
In addition, per the revelations in previous books in the series, there is mention of what King Leck had done and how it affects Hava (both past and present). However, based off my recollection of Bitterblue, Seasparrow is about the same in terms of how graphic the descriptions are (not very, just enough to understand that he was a terrible man, to put it lightly) and his crimes are brought up less often (as they do not pertain to the plot as much, and are mostly present for character growth).
After hesitantly getting back into the Graceling series earlier this year with Winterkeep, Seasparrow was a very quick and easy read and I look forward to seeing how the Graceling Realm continues to evolve, should there be new additions to the series.
**Personal Note: I like to use yugioh cards as bookmarks. For this book, I used Unicode-P.U.N.K Amazing Dragon as the card art matched the cover color-wise.
Also, while the plot of the book itself isn’t as grand as it could’ve been, I appreciated how Cashore took the first 2 parts to lay out the ground work for the rest of the book and to focus on developing Hava’s character and thoughts, which become more relevant later on as she tries to figure out who she is and come to terms with her past. Also, the book was excellently edited; as soon as I got a bit tired of one setting and was looking move along in the plot, the book did so without focusing too much on unneeded transitions.
As for the plot, the multiple mysteries that slowly get revealed is present in this book, like in the other graceling realm novels, and it’s an aspect of Cashore’s writing that I absolutely love and look forward to with each new book in the series. Although I did predict one of the larger revelations a good 100 pages before my suspicions were confirmed, I found that it was more rewarding (as all the clues were well placed) than boring (I would much rather have a plot twist be well developed and somewhat predictable, rather than come out of nowhere with nothing setting it up).
In addition, per the revelations in previous books in the series, there is mention of what King Leck had done and how it affects Hava (both past and present). However, based off my recollection of Bitterblue, Seasparrow is about the same in terms of how graphic the descriptions are (not very, just enough to understand that he was a terrible man, to put it lightly) and his crimes are brought up less often (as they do not pertain to the plot as much, and are mostly present for character growth).
After hesitantly getting back into the Graceling series earlier this year with Winterkeep, Seasparrow was a very quick and easy read and I look forward to seeing how the Graceling Realm continues to evolve, should there be new additions to the series.
**Personal Note: I like to use yugioh cards as bookmarks. For this book, I used Unicode-P.U.N.K Amazing Dragon as the card art matched the cover color-wise.
Content Warnings
Minor: Rape, Child death, Animal cruelty, and Animal death
There is a helpful note to the reader in the beginning of the book that has warnings regarding sexual assault and sexual abuse that is witnessed/experienced by characters prior to the events in the book. I believe that it would also be helpful to mention that the main character, Hava, does not have these experiences herself (and thus mentions/references are recollected in first person, but they are in second person pov).lenabrary's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- 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? It's complicated
4.5
Content Warnings
Minor: Animal death and Animal cruelty
scriptrix's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
4.5
This was probably longer than it needed to be, but it stuck the landing in terms of the characters' emotional arcs. I do really love Cashore's writing style. I feel like I don't have the attention span (or time) to read books of this length anymore, but I managed to plow through this one during a couple of plane rides, and I'm glad I did.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death and Animal cruelty
totallyshelfaware's review
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
sad
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Animal cruelty, and Grief
Moderate: Sexual violence
Minor: Rape and Gaslighting