Reviews with content warning for Murder - The Praetorian Trials

5.0?? I really loved this. I couldn’t put the book down, and now that I’m finished my mind is spinning. I loved that this was a genre bender, it made total sense and the book was absolutely better for the inclusion of all of the different elements. The prose was visceral and transporting, and I loved Ikenna as a protagonist.

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kittykels's review against another edition

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challenging dark informative tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

The main issue I had with the audiobook narration was the childish voices for the adult characters. They're young adults, but the voices often sounded more like young teens in early high school or maybe even middle school. It was very hard to hear those voices depicting sex and very graphic violence. If she were narrating a different story, I don't think I'd have as much issue with her narration. And I did not have issue with the adult content except when paired with the voices.

Now with that out of the way, the story itself is really good and interesting, but needed some more refining. The last few hours felt very info-dumpy. The information was important, but it was a boring delivery for the most part.

The two best friends of the main character are a weird choice. I won't say too much to avoid spoilers, but they don't really make sense as a friend group and there's no reason to feel emotionally attached to them.

It's also hard to get behind Ikenna's motivations for her actions because we don't meet her grandfather on the page, we only have her memories. We're just told he's great and that's supposed to be enough to fuel her quest and for us to be interested in that quest.

I wish there was a little more depth to Ikenna. I don't dislike her as a character, but the only emotion we get from her is anger. Sometimes she's contemplative, but that usually just leads her to being angry again. There's nothing wrong with anger and she has very good reasons to be angry, but it's not enough for us to connect with her as a person and what she's going through. We should also have experienced her grief (especially her grief) and her joy and whatever else. Some of the major events were hard to care about from her perspective because we don't really get that emotional connection. I guess it could be argued that perhaps this is an intentional choice, and Ikenna is using anger to suppress her feelings of grief and any other emotion that could distract her from her goal. I could buy this for external purposes, but it's not convincing within her private thoughts.

I do look forward to the next book and really hope to see some improvements to the characters and our emotional attachments to them.

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lqvekanej's review against another edition

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adventurous tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

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shainabriley's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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snackykennedy's review against another edition

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adventurous dark hopeful inspiring tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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taroroot's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark tense fast-paced

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

5.0

Ikenna is brilliant and I can't wait to read the The Blood Gift!

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hollyk's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

HOW DOES THIS NOT HAVE MORE READS???? Genuinely astounded. This is so good, it goes places other fantasy books with similar presences do not go. Some of the world-building is shaky and a bit cloudy/confusing, but with the more you read the easier it is to grasp. I would also say this is more new adult than young adult.

Ikenna is an absolute badass. She's also flawed, and I like that she's hotheaded, impulsive, and doesn't back down. Her resilience is commendable and I think she's incredibly complex. She shows a lot of growth, but I also think a lot of other characters show growth as well, which I think can often get lost in other books. Several characters have some big changes and I am glad to see that growth.

The pacing is a little slow at first, but once the Trials start, they Start™. One of the twists is kind of obvious, but I think that the details of it are well executed and are shocking. I won't say more because spoilers. Speaking of, TW in spoilers:

racism, sexism, gore, violence, death, murder, body horror(?), cannibalism (?), mentions of slavery, death of a parent/parental figure, grief

I think that covers most of the major ones.

I loved this book and I will not stop thinking about it for the foreseeable future

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