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em_of_swags'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? Yes
Graphic: Death, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Violence, Body horror, Gore, and Gun violence
Moderate: Cannibalism, Mental illness, Fire/Fire injury, Vomit, and Grief
Minor: Eating disorder and Alcohol
chellyfishing'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? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Violence, Blood, Gore, Toxic relationship, Gun violence, Gaslighting, Vomit, Death, Mental illness, and Murder
Moderate: Grief and Cannibalism
erebus53'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? Yes
4.25
There are times where I wish I was capable of reading proper, honest to goodness, paperback books, but seeing as I'm bound to Audiobooks due to my infirmities, all I can say is OUCH.
Tamsyn Muir writes with a sensual love of words, that does not make the content of her prose accessible to most people. To say it plainly - she uses big words, and weird words. a lot. I am well at home in anatomical and psychological textbooks, and literary critique; one of my friends suggested that in conversation with me it would be easiest to carry a notebook to write down all the odd words I use to look up later... and even _I_ needed to read this with a dictionary nearby. It seems quite clear that the author was mauled or possibly traumatically wounded by a feral thesaurus as a child.
I'm sorry, Moira Quirk. Your work on this audio narration was ok, but you fail to catch the Kiwi parlance. It sounds SO weird to hear kiwi idioms in your accent (we don't pronounce a$$ like that) and your attempt at te reo Māori words was wince-inducing. Thankfully that was only one line.
I'm doubling down on my comparison from the first book. This is definitely like an anime. Great chunks of this book feel a bit like watching Neon Genesis: Evangelion. A good proportion of the narrative is in second person perspective, which definitely leans hard into the claustrophobic and unhinged aesthetic. You spend the first half of the book trying to figure out why things in this book don't tally with the happenings in the previous book. That was kind of cool and didn't leave me feeling anywhere near as confused as I thought I would. There were enough breadcrumbs to keep me from feeling too lost in the woods.
Upside of the audiobook was the similarity I was amused by in the fast travel; I was reminded of Douglas Adams's, Hitchhiker's Guide, specifically his description of hyperspace, and the Infinite Improbability drive. "The River" having weird brain melting effects on a backdrop of a woman's voice calling out time-stamps felt so much like HHGTG with Trillian in the Heart of Gold.
Many twists and turns, the reappearance (in various forms) of characters who were bumped off in the last book, the list at the front of the book of the dramatis personae (alive and dead) being actually useful, and a sense that you still don't know quite wtf is going on.. all leads me to think that the third book could go either way in my estimation. I'll have to see what it's like.
Graphic: Self harm, Child death, Violence, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Suicidal thoughts, Death of parent, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Vomit, Blood, Dementia, Dysphoria, Genocide, Grief, Pregnancy, Cursing, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Medical trauma, and Murder
Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders and Toxic friendship
Minor: Miscarriage
mossgoblins'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? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Gun violence, Gore, Medical content, Murder, and Violence
Moderate: Cursing, Toxic relationship, Genocide, Pregnancy, Suicidal thoughts, Chronic illness, Grief, Terminal illness, Alcohol, Child death, and War
natdrinkstea'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? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Body horror and Gore
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide attempt, Child death, Murder, and Genocide
Minor: Gun violence, Vomit, Alcohol, and Toxic relationship
bookymartha's review against another edition
4.0
Graphic: Gore, Blood, and Body horror
Moderate: Gun violence and Death
rtaire'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? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Murder, Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Gun violence, Grief, and Medical content
Moderate: Toxic friendship, Grief, and Vomit
vaxis's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
The narrative switches between third person limited, usually during a flashback, and second person. Normally I really dislike second person; this is handled as though someone is narrating Harrow's actions and responses to her. It's not a narrative trying to get you to imagine yourself as the character, but someone explaining what is going on to someone who is having some memory difficulties.
The other thing I heard is that this is a book that gaslights you, and that is largely due to a lot of contradictory information that differs from Gideon and is clarified later. Spoiler explainer:
Graphic: Death, Genocide, Gun violence, Violence, Body horror, Blood, Gaslighting, War, Vomit, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Suicide attempt, Suicide, and Colonisation
Moderate: Religious bigotry and Pregnancy
Minor: Miscarriage
helfire124's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Gore, Violence, Blood, and Grief
Moderate: Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Gaslighting, Death of parent, War, Death, Vomit, Gun violence, and Body horror
queenie_ofthe_void's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Body horror, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Blood, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Eating disorder, Gore, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Violence, Gun violence, Vomit, Bullying, Colonisation, Death, Death of parent, Murder, and Toxic friendship