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brotestantethic's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Magical!! Fantasy readers who loved Harry Potter as children, but who now want something more grown (and unproblematic) will absolutely love this book. Shannon is a master of world building and story telling. I fell in love with the characters of this book, and despite its size and wordiness, it is a quick read. This certainly makes fantasy reading less daunting and more accessible. I wasn’t expecting to root for the main love interests, but I couldn’t help myself by the end. Only knocked half a star for some clunkiness and convenient solutions which at times drew me away from the story. Other than that this is a stunning first installment, and I have already ordered the rest of the series!!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence and Death
Moderate: Slavery and Xenophobia
Minor: Sexual assault
thegillbird's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Slavery, Violence, Physical abuse, and Sexual assault
julienicole1106's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
sad
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
Moderate: Violence, Cursing, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Bullying, Confinement, Kidnapping, Death, Child death, Classism, Grief, Slavery, Torture, Blood, Alcohol, Physical abuse, Colonisation, Murder, Sexual assault, and War
13renna's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
3.0
World building sucked me in from the get go per usual Samantha Shannon style. Butttttttt tf was this random ass hookup? Honestly threw me off there’s little to no build up in her switch to being in love with Nick to being in love with warden. Honestly last few chapters felt rushed and I’m hoping the sequel redeems.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Physical abuse
Minor: Sexual assault
sauvageloup's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
a solidly good book, pretty gripping and will read the next one
pros:
- the worldbuilding is very imaginative, with the whole mix of clairvoyance, angels, emim, ghosts/poltergeists and rephaium. I liked all the different types of clairvoyance and reading about Paige using her gift. the Rephs were also imaginative, seeming to be a strange mix of vampire/angel/demon/clairvoyant.
- I thought the main relationships, friendship and romance, were nicely built up and not rushed, but sign posted well. I did expect that Warden would be the love interest, but it developed nice and slowly and I could see why Paige began to trust him slowly.
- the writing was overall clear and gripping with moments of being poetic. i wanted to keep reading, once I was 50 or so pages in.
- I did like the side characters, Liss, julian, seb and Michael were all interesting.
cons:
- the biggest issue I think was the feeling that the plot wandered too much. it felt like we tumbled from one event to another without any particular structure, and so the tension felt off, as big events happened without any build up.
- lost track of who everyone was with such a big cast, and I was also still unsure about what exact powers paige and the rephs had.
- it felt like there were a lot of holes in explanations, with a lot of slang used without being explained. a certain amount makes sense, but I feel that it tipped over into too much. i had a lot of questions and even when there were answers, they seemed somewhat arbitrary. also why was Arcturus still being called Warden at the end?
- there was also a big worldbuilding dump at the start, which I was told about and wasnt too bad, but it definitely could've been handled smoother.
- I know that this was written in 2013, so it's not really surprising, but there were serious issues with the age gaps in Paige's relationships, with Nick driving away with her from school when shes like 15? and Arcturus being very very much older.
- also, if I'm being honest, I didnt find paige very interesting. yes shes spunky and she is shown as being kind to Seb, Liss and Julian, and yet she still felt extremely 2D, I didnt really feel for her as a full person and the emotional impact of some events was definitely lessened bc of it.
(- I'm definitely curious to see what Shannon changed in her new rewriting of the book)
overall, a gripping and pretty original thriller, but with some shaky plotting and too big cast. but I've got the mime order and will most likely be reading it!
pros:
- the worldbuilding is very imaginative, with the whole mix of clairvoyance, angels, emim, ghosts/poltergeists and rephaium. I liked all the different types of clairvoyance and reading about Paige using her gift. the Rephs were also imaginative, seeming to be a strange mix of vampire/angel/demon/clairvoyant.
- I thought the main relationships, friendship and romance, were nicely built up and not rushed, but sign posted well.
- the writing was overall clear and gripping with moments of being poetic. i wanted to keep reading, once I was 50 or so pages in.
- I did like the side characters, Liss, julian, seb and Michael were all interesting.
cons:
- the biggest issue I think was the feeling that the plot wandered too much. it felt like we tumbled from one event to another without any particular structure, and so the tension felt off, as big events happened without any build up.
- lost track of who everyone was with such a big cast, and I was also still unsure about what exact powers paige and the rephs had.
- it felt like there were a lot of holes in explanations, with a lot of slang used without being explained. a certain amount makes sense, but I feel that it tipped over into too much. i had a lot of questions and even when there were answers, they seemed somewhat arbitrary. also why was Arcturus still being called Warden at the end?
- there was also a big worldbuilding dump at the start, which I was told about and wasnt too bad, but it definitely could've been handled smoother.
- also, if I'm being honest, I didnt find paige very interesting. yes shes spunky and she is shown as being kind to Seb, Liss and Julian, and yet she still felt extremely 2D, I didnt really feel for her as a full person and the emotional impact of some events was definitely lessened bc of it.
(- I'm definitely curious to see what Shannon changed in her new rewriting of the book)
overall, a gripping and pretty original thriller, but with some shaky plotting and too big cast. but I've got the mime order and will most likely be reading it!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Child abuse, Forced institutionalization, Murder, Grief, Kidnapping, Body horror, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Sexual violence, War, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Slavery, Drug use, Police brutality, Sexual assault, Torture, and Violence
frankisilliterate's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Moderate: Medical content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Slavery, Torture, Violence, and Blood
nerdybookqueen's review against another edition
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
TW for holocaust mention, racism mention
The only reason I didn't DNF this is I had nothing else to read.
I remember mostly enjoying Priory, so I thought I would try the author's other series. I regret doing so.
There is something...very icky about a white woman writing a narrative of other white people becoming slaves/having segregation, combined with, as I saw one other reviewer point out, the fact their "masters" were POC. Gross. One of the rare times I wish I could say "no" to there being a diverse cast.
Combine that with the whole "striped of a name and replaced with a number that is branded into her, where she and others like her have to work to survive until they die or are killed?" That sounds an awful lot like a historical event that maybe shouldn't be copied as a plot point by a Christian (or at least raised Christian) author. (She mentions this in response to an anon on her tumblr)
Added to this mess is the fact that her two love interest options are a human man who was an adult when she was like 6, or the man who OWNS her, invades her mind and manipulates the shit out of her, so we have some stunning love interest options here. But clearly it's okay because he calls her by her name and feeds her. The bar is in hell. And maybe it was just because I was so skeeved out but the options, but the romance was also just suddenly there?
Beyond that, the plot was really not that exciting, the writing was a bit too dense, with a lot of info dumping and a lot of jumping back and forth in time without clear distinction which drives me nuts. I had trouble tracking what was going on, there were several times I had to reread parts and figure out what was happening.
I will not be reading the rest of the series, and I may need to reread and reassess Priory as well.
The only reason I didn't DNF this is I had nothing else to read.
I remember mostly enjoying Priory, so I thought I would try the author's other series. I regret doing so.
There is something...very icky about a white woman writing a narrative of other white people becoming slaves/having segregation, combined with, as I saw one other reviewer point out, the fact their "masters" were POC. Gross. One of the rare times I wish I could say "no" to there being a diverse cast.
Combine that with the whole "striped of a name and replaced with a number that is branded into her, where she and others like her have to work to survive until they die or are killed?" That sounds an awful lot like a historical event that maybe shouldn't be copied as a plot point by a Christian (or at least raised Christian) author. (She mentions this in response to an anon on her tumblr)
Added to this mess is the fact that her two love interest options are a human man who was an adult when she was like 6, or the man who OWNS her, invades her mind and manipulates the shit out of her, so we have some stunning love interest options here. But clearly it's okay because he calls her by her name and feeds her. The bar is in hell. And maybe it was just because I was so skeeved out but the options, but the romance was also just suddenly there?
Beyond that, the plot was really not that exciting, the writing was a bit too dense, with a lot of info dumping and a lot of jumping back and forth in time without clear distinction which drives me nuts. I had trouble tracking what was going on, there were several times I had to reread parts and figure out what was happening.
I will not be reading the rest of the series, and I may need to reread and reassess Priory as well.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Racism, Death, Murder, Confinement, Kidnapping, Trafficking, Violence, and Antisemitism
Moderate: Gaslighting, Blood, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Drug use, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Addiction, Fire/Fire injury, and Police brutality
tlaynejones's review
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Colonisation, Violence, Trafficking, Torture, Slavery, Murder, Classism, Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, and Physical abuse
pagesandplanets's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
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? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Police brutality, Violence, Murder, Torture, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Physical abuse, Death, Sexual assault, Blood, Confinement, and Slavery
thoughtsontomes's review against another edition
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
The most enjoyable parts of this book were the flashbacks to the gang stuff. Otherwise it dragged. When things actually started to get interesting, it jumped in time and skipped all of those bits. Character motivations and actions didn’t make sense and were all covered in mystery to have us as the readers trust it when in reality it was flimsy. The villains were weak and almost every character was one dimensional. The idea of the magic was cool but not enough to make up for everything else. Maybe I would have liked this if I’d have read it when it first came out but my tastes have evolved a lot since then.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood
Moderate: Sexual assault and Torture
Possession; ghosts