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Graphic: Animal cruelty, Child death, Death, Sexual violence, Blood, Toxic friendship, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Slavery, Torture, Cannibalism
Graphic: Death, Slavery, Violence, Blood
Moderate: Sexual assault, Grief
Minor: Body horror, Cannibalism
Graphic: Animal death, Death, Gore, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Murder, Sexual harassment, War, Classism
Minor: Cannibalism
Graphic: Alcoholism, Confinement, Death, Gore, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Cannibalism, Colonisation, War, Classism
Graphic: Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism
Minor: Rape, Sexual violence
Plot-wise, I found the first half just plain boring. There were way too many infodumps and I didn’t care that much about the info because I wasn’t invested in any characters yet. The worldbuilding itself was simplistic to the point that it felt like a middle-schooler wrote it. (The classes/job sectors in society are named after colors, and the golds rule at the top, for example.) The characters were also lacking nuance, typically falling into either the good guy group or the bad guy group. The bad guys were just stereotypical bad guys with no gray area, which is something I have less and less patience for in my reading. Darrow, the main character, was bland beyond his rage and anything we saw of his development was told to us rather than really shown. Finally, the “woman in the fridge” trope was used which left a sour taste, especially because it was super obvious to see coming and again corny. I will say the last 25% improved, both in the writing and plot. I hear that this book is the weakest in the series, so I will give the second book a shot before giving up altogether since it is so well-loved.
Graphic: Child death, Death, Gore, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Murder, Sexual harassment, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism
Moderate: Excrement, Grief, Death of parent
Minor: Sexual content, Cannibalism
Graphic: Body shaming, Death, Gore, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Grief, Murder, War, Classism
Moderate: Animal death, Rape, Blood, Excrement, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Alcohol
Graphic: Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Murder, Injury/Injury detail
It basically is a very long winded description of a war, students need to “play” in order to get into “the institute”, a kind of university. It went so far in size and consequence (more than half of the students entering apparently are killed each time) that suspension of disbelief becomes impossible.
I found myself wondering multiple times, whether I feel inclined to read the next part. Right now, I do not.
Moderate: Death, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, War, Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Alcohol
I am keen to see where this series goes
Graphic: Death, Violence, Blood, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Classism
Moderate: Animal death, Gore, Gun violence, Grief
Minor: Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Death of parent, Colonisation