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haybay's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Child abuse, Death of parent, Kidnapping, Car accident, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Bullying, and Cursing
Moderate: Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Physical abuse, Mental illness, Lesbophobia, Sexual harassment, and Toxic relationship
lag1995's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.75
Graphic: Sexual assault, Misogyny, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Rape, Panic attacks/disorders, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Toxic relationship, and Suicidal thoughts
Moderate: Bullying, Car accident, Classism, and Murder
witcheep's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
The book left me quite disappointed, though. Mostly I just wish we would have learned more about the FMC's mysterious past and gift in this first book already. Her Bonds are acting very toxic towards her, mist of them restricting her freedom and choises to the extent of kidnapping and treating her in a nearly hostile way even when thwy allow her a little freedom. There is also some university life material that feels unnecessary filler to me: I just want to learn about the mystery, not dwell in the FMC:s crave for normalcy when she clearly is something extraordinary.
Graphic: Sexual assault and Kidnapping
Moderate: Grief, Physical abuse, Bullying, and Alcohol
Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Trafficking, Death of parent, and Vomit
e_rosemary's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Toxic relationship, Bullying, Blood, Sexual assault, and Cursing
Moderate: Gore, Gun violence, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Physical abuse, Kidnapping, and Murder
Minor: Car accident, Self harm, Gun violence, Suicidal thoughts, Death of parent, and Suicide
lillithstorm's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Alcohol, Panic attacks/disorders, Emotional abuse, Grief, Bullying, Death of parent, Murder, and Physical abuse
unboundbooklover'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, Death, Grief, Mental illness, Vomit, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Kidnapping, Murder, and Physical abuse
min_grachi's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
Are we supposed to like these guys? What the fuck was that SA scene!? Are people high when reading this type of shit? Because at this point I don't know what to believe.
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Sexual content, Rape, Violence, Sexual assault, Gaslighting, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, and Toxic relationship
noellelovesbooks's review against another edition
4.5
Joined a local book club and this was our first book club pick. I've heard from a lot of mutuals that this series was good but never heard any specifics about the series. Going in not knowing anything aside from the back of book description was a lot of fun.
Though she's only 19 I easily related and loved Oli and her BFF Sage. We get good world building and I love the way each relationship with each of the bonds is different but also constantly evolving.
I planned to read this slow...so I could attempt to space it out but...it was so good I devoured it. I was at 30% and the next thing I knew it said I was at 89%...at which point you have to finish. Right? haha
I'll definitely be jumping immediately into book 2 😎
Graphic: Physical abuse, Body shaming, Sexual assault, Death of parent, Sexual harassment, Violence, Bullying, Kidnapping, and Grief
melissa_rueff's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
is a “not like other girls” girl and that’s really disappointing to me. Like the concept that you can write about a poly relationship yet you can’t think that other women who are feminine are not shitty for being so.
Graphic: Sexism, Medical trauma, Domestic abuse, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Physical abuse, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Stalking, Rape, Kidnapping, Torture, Toxic relationship, and Gaslighting
Moderate: Child abuse, Death of parent, Forced institutionalization, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Slavery, Domestic abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Toxic relationship, Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Body shaming, Car accident, Classism, Fatphobia, and Gaslighting
The relationship depicted is severely abusive. I believe the author did that intentionally to create plot points, but the fact that the main character doesn’t recognize and then states the treatment as domestic abuse at the level it is really makes me question what this author thinks is okay. because everything that is happening here is domestic abuse and not even light abuse like horrid treatment is astounding to me. If you’ve experienced any form of like gaslighting, or like control, this might not be the novel for you, I say all of that is a warning because I don’t feel like I was warned getting into this book. I did enjoy this novel it has a lot of fun plot points is an interesting concept. There are redeeming characters, but the fact of the matter is, there’s not enough of a warning how severe the domestic abuse is, and it’s never really touched on even later on in the other novels and nobody really apologizes for the severe severe abuse outside of like “I’m sorry that happened but it had to happen because of the plot points that wr as the character expierenced so it’s excuse” which is a shit excuse and also abuse in itself. Understand me I like this novel but I am warring you it’s a bad time.bangiebangs's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Things I liked:
- the writing (notwithstanding occasional typos)
- the mysterious setup... this feels like a pretty new take (maybe I just havent read the book series similar to this one?)
- Gryphon. Also Atlas. They seem like rounded people who think before they act. (The rest of the bonds are just insufferably childish, self-centered dudes)
Things I disliked
- he world-building. There is some info about what these bonds are and how they work, but why, when do you usually learn about your bonds, how do you find them (like, some people are "waiting to find" them? Also, seems like you can reject a bond, what happens then? How is power heightened or acquired when a bond is completed? So many questions, but not in a good "mystery we will uncover" way, but more a "causes confusion when reading" way. Also, what is the Resistance resisting against and why? No idea. But they seem to be the baddies for some reason?
- the FMC's naivité. Annoying as hell. I'm personally not a fan of mysteriously self-sacrificing characters, especially when it is then used to explain some shitty behavior without much context?
- description of FMC through the book. She seems to have a normal (or even hot) body in the beginning, enjoying her food, and as soon as she is forced to do more physical exercise the fact her clothes don't fit and are too big gets mentioned a lot. I find that annoying.
- How old are the bonds? Like, all around same age, or some way older? Some are councilmen and uni professors, others students?
But overall... I read this quickly, and I was hooked. Spice is not happening here (0.5/5 for some drooling over hot bodies), but that's likely because this is setting up the series. Wished that I wasn't so confused half of the time when it comes to in-world politics, but hoping that things will clear up.
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Alcohol, Blood, Body shaming, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Kidnapping, Torture, Violence, Bullying, Classism, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Grief, Lesbophobia, and Stalking
Moderate: Death of parent, Car accident, and War
Minor: Abortion and Gun violence
sexual assault neglect (FMC is left without food for days on end, not being taken care of later in the book) FMC is violently implanted with a tracker (against her will)