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stardust_heidi'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
4.0
I have a lot of conflicted feelings about this book. I think I'd struggle to reread it again, and I hate to say that. However, this book was such a trauma fest. Only the last 15% was somewhat palatable, to be honest.
There was also SO much info dumping. Like....SO MUCH. I feel like this series is just solid info dumping, so much so that it gets fatiguing after a while. I definitely felt that in this book, and I think the simultaneous trauma Sera endured just made it harder to get through. I really hope someone on insta makes a nice summary infographic on this book, because uuuffffffff.
MAJOR SPOILER:
Graphic: Gore, Murder, Violence, War, Vomit, Blood, Confinement, Cursing, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, and Torture
dani_reis'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: Death, Death of parent, Fatphobia, Torture, Toxic relationship, War, Blood, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Body shaming, Bullying, Cursing, Rape, Violence, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Sexual violence
eberzy's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
I didn't find the first part of the book to be slow like others have said. There was a fair amount of action, but it was so tough to read. Kolis was vilainified to the extreme. He became an abuser in the grossest way and it all felt like a weird watpadd story. Like Sera's first escape attempt? Come on what was that. Between that and the diamond, it just felt like there was no creativity for those Sera and Kolis scenes. At times, it felt as if there was a big theme around SA and overcoming trauma in this book. I respect that, but it bothered me. I read fantasy for escape and was not mentally prepared for the content to be that dark.
My other probelm was with the side characters. This can probably be blamed on me not doing a re-read of the earlier books in the series, but I could not for the life of me remember the back story on the other characters. There are so many--perhaps too many? And in this book, it seemed like they had no purpose other than to verbally provide world building. There was SO much of that. As much as I like the fun banter dialogue, I would have liked a little more action.
The last 150ish pages were the slowest for me. Such a drawn out conclusion with Sera and Ash just going in circles saying the same thing. A lot of major events happened, but were written anticlimactically. It felt like the emphasis was on other, moments that were seemingly less critical to the plot.
I'm interested to see how this series will conclude. This book felt like it had a fairly closed ending. Here's to hoping there will be more revelations in the final book. This one didn't seem to give a lot, but might have possibly been a big set up for the end...of both Flesh and Fire and Blood and Ash.
Graphic: Confinement, Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Blood, Kidnapping, Sexual violence, and Sexual assault
Moderate: Cursing, Death of parent, and Torture
Minor: Abandonment and Vomit
kateped'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
4.5
Graphic: Death, Confinement, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Blood, Gore, and Sexual content
Moderate: Death of parent and Sexual harassment
Minor: Fatphobia, Body shaming, and Sexual assault
opheliaslittlelibrary'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
Moderate: Death, Death of parent, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Grief, Sexual assault, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Gaslighting, and Emotional abuse
Minor: Suicidal thoughts