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barbarianmissy's review against another edition
- 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
5.0
Ok I was so worried after the first 3 books I read in this series that there wouldn’t be any characters that I fully loved or connected to. I liked them but I never LOVED any of them. It was a good story, but I wasn’t obsessed with it UNTIL FRIGGIN NOW!
Rowan and Manon literally saved this series for me. Bringing back the world of magic, epic training and fun banter, off the chain chemistry between characters, AND friggin WYVERNS?!?! Epic and cool and just awesome. It was so so so so much fun!
I liked Celaena Sardothian… but Aelin Galathynius is a friggin badass and I wholeheartedly stan. Her growth in this book was outstanding.
Chaol is a coward and the fact that I ever compared him to Lightning McQueen is a real kick in the pants. Lightning never deserved such disrespect. 🤦♀️
Dorian, my poor sweet little baby. God I hope that necklace gets removed and you don’t need to be beheaded to be freed. I’ll be so pissed if your head gets the chop!
And Aedion, stop crushing on your cousin and I’ll find you more appealing. Hope you don’t hjget executed for being a traitor and get to once again kick ass.
And finally, to the king of Adarlan, suck a big fat egg and choke.
Overall, this book slaps, your honour.
ONTO QUEEN OF SHADOWS!!!! LETS ROCK!
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Grief, Incest, Physical abuse, Slavery, Genocide, Murder, Violence, Abandonment, Blood, Bullying, Death, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury
spatterson7'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
4.75
Graphic: Violence, Death, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Gore
Moderate: Animal death, Death of parent, Animal cruelty, and Slavery
Minor: Sexual content, Excrement, Panic attacks/disorders, Pregnancy, Alcohol, Child death, Cursing, and Vomit
cayliehausman's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Death of parent, Death, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, and Domestic abuse
Minor: Physical abuse, Slavery, Violence, Murder, and Emotional abuse
toris_in_her_own_world'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
4.75
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Violence, Blood, Cursing, Death, Genocide, Physical abuse, Gore, Grief, and Hate crime
Moderate: Torture and Vomit
Minor: Sexual content, Slavery, and War
annikenr'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
Graphic: Violence, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, and Death
Moderate: Vomit and Torture
emis_books'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: Fire/Fire injury, War, Hate crime, Murder, Violence, Torture, Blood, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Slavery, and Vomit
Moderate: Child death
Minor: Suicidal thoughts and Suicide attempt
mrsalexisrjones'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, Fire/Fire injury, and Grief
Moderate: Torture, Blood, War, Slavery, Death of parent, Violence, Physical abuse, and Gore
Minor: Trafficking, Vomit, and Suicidal thoughts
allydoessomereading'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
4.75
Graphic: Death, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Mental illness, Death of parent, Gore, Slavery, Blood, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Torture, Genocide, Grief, Confinement, Incest, and Body horror
tiredtori'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 of parent, Emotional abuse, Death, Murder, Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, and Violence
Moderate: Blood, Body horror, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Bullying, Cannibalism, Torture, and Mental illness
Minor: Confinement, Cursing, Drug use, Kidnapping, Excrement, Hate crime, Animal death, Grief, Slavery, War, and Vomit
jelkebooks's review against another edition
- 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
3.0
Honestly, I liked this much more than I expected (and remembered from the first time around as well). I did still have a difficult relationship with this book though. There were parts that were boring to me. There were elements that I strongly disliked, but in the end I did enjoy this quite a bit, and the ending has me hyped to continue on with the series. I truly think this is a turning point for the series, and I'm quite excited to see where that is going to go.
Let's start with the biggest surprise of this book, it actually got me to root for Celeana. Don't get me wrong though, I absolutely HATED her for a large chunk of this book. She felt very weak, and pathetic, and following her just wasn't enjoyable for a while. However, she goes through A LOT of growth throughout this book, and I love that in this book she's surrounded by people that are willing to call her out on her bullshit, and just kiss her ass for no reason. I also think her part of the story was easily the most interesting. It got a bit boring in the beginning because it was just a lot of training, but overall the descriptions of magic, and learning how it works plus learning more about the fae side of the world was quite interesting as well. The plot also amps up the most in this part of the book, and I was on the edge of my seat during its climax.
Then we also have a storyline following Chaol and Dorian, and from what I remember that was my favourite part of this book last time. However, this time around it fell flat for me. I do think the concept of it was interesting, but the execution was lacking for me. Dorian's storyline could have been incredibly interesting but was pushed to the side for an incredibly underdeveloped, slightly problematic romance. It just was easily the least interesting part of this book. Chaol's side of this storyline could have been interesting as well, but it was obvious to me that Sarah J. Maas had no clue what to do with him. His character felt very wishy-washy. It kept me from getting invested in his part of the story as his motivations were just impossible to read.
Then we also have a new character to follow in this book, Manon. I don't know how to feel about her, or her story yet. Her chapters were very few and far in between, and didn't feel like a natural part of this book. They felt jammed in, and switching to her chapters felt very jarring. They were also relatively short compared to the other characters, and it left me with the feeling that I just didn't get a good enough grasp on her character, nor that side of the world, nor that storyline. I am excited to explore it more in future books, especially because I've heard a lot of people rave about Manon but right now it's just nothing.
So yeah, a very mixed bag of a book for me, but it was a relative quick read for its size, and I had a good time for most of it. Like mentioned before I also am incredibly excited to continue on with the series, and I never really expected that day to come so it is a win for me.
Graphic: Grief
Moderate: Animal cruelty
Minor: Slavery