Reviews with content warning for Self harm - The Gifts That Bind Us

Decided to read this one because I wanted something to pull me in and the first book had no problem doing that. Despite this one mostly focusing on the Children of Brigid slowly taking over the town, I found it was not as tough a read as I was expecting. Yes there are scenes of homophobia, gender policing, and slut shaming, but there is also a big problem the characters are trying to solve while they try to avoid the "scary" cultists. There are scenes where they have to interact with the cultists, but the reader is not subjected to unnecessary awful descriptions just for the sake of it.

This book in the series is very "dark forest" where our characters are not okay after the events from the first book and are trying to piece themselves together. Note that there is mention and descriptions of self harm.

I appreciated that the author went with a 3 book series, I can't imagine squishing all of this content into a duology. The end of this book got me really excited for book 3 so the setup was certainly there. There are certainly enough reveals in this second book that I don't feel it was too stretched out.

If you like darker YA's I highly recommend. The worldbuilding is interesting enough and the chapters are written in a way that hooks you and makes you curious to continue. Unfortunately, the "big bads" are complete pricks and manifest themselves as hard core old testament Christians which means there can be triggering content for some readers.

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sifairi's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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canopicfemme's review against another edition

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5.0

this was soooo fiona made me miserable and maeve continues to be just like me fr

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undervmountain's review against another edition

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dark mysterious slow-paced

3.0

I did really enjoy this story and I think the author did well adding in new friends and enemies. It just wasn't quite as good as the first book, and it felt like it took a while to find it's footing. The theme in this book seems to be trust - can Maeve trust her friends, and should she trust an old enemy?

Some aspects of Maeve, Lily and Fiona's relationship was quite messy, and I was left with questions. At the beginning Lily seemed to really resent Maeve, but this suddenly changed and Lily was friends with her again, without explanation. Fiona suddenly had issues with the major events at the end of the last book, and I think I could have done with more warning for the self harm, as that's a major trigger for me.

Roe doesn't appear a lot in this story, which is a shame, as he's a really important part of the group for me, especially being openly Queer. I'm hoping he appears more in the next book, which is looking promising after the events at the end of this book.

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smartie_5748's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious 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? Yes

4.0

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