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noellegrace8'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
Also. Winter & Jacin > everyone else. I freaking love them.
Winter's story also has the most clever parallels to her fairytale as well (in my humble opinion). Cinder is a close second, but I think Winter's story is a lot more exciting.
The revolution is a bit challenging, as it (understandably) has to wrap up every bit of convoluted plot line and can be a bit anxiety-inducing. Sometimes you genuinely feel that the characters are about to die and/or lose.
The last chapters are done in the way of the movie version of the Return of the King - where we get to see each person's ending. It is a bit saccharine, but in the perfect way that modern fairy tales are.
I was glad to see Cress & Thorne finally be solid. It was frustrating to read their back-and-forth in book 3, but there are some PERFECTLY written scenes between the two of them in this one. Also, can I just say that I love the mild allusion to other versions of Rapunzel? Like how Thorne stabs Cress in the side just like Mother Gothel stabs Flynn in Tangled?
I did struggle a bit when it was revealed that Levana has a disfigured face. Mostly because I don't understand how cyborgs are a reality but plastic surgery isn't? But more than that, it seemed like a weak/frustrating plot device, one that goes against the whole idea of Snow White (that the Evil Queen *is* in fact gorgeous on the outside, but can't understand that her *heart* is ugly). Still not anything worth docking stars for.
Seriously. So. Good.
I don't factor audiobook narrators' performances into my overall star rating, but I would give Rebecca Soler a 4.25/5 for this one. As previously stated in my other reviews of books 1-3, I got used to her slightly different voices and grew to appreciate them, especially certain characters. There were still some pieces that should have been re-recorded due to minor errors, but again, that feels like it should be on whoever did the mixing and production. But the one thing that really made me dock that .75 this time was Winter's voice. She is voiced like a baby, and it was grating on my ears. I also don't appreciate the infantilization of a character who is 17 with a love interest who is 19. It just feels icky. I think she could have come across as "crazy" yet "alluring" and "innocent" without being voiced as a child.
Graphic: Schizophrenia/Psychosis , War, Classism, Blood, Gaslighting, Body horror, Death, Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Violence
Moderate: Colonisation, Emotional abuse, Grief, Animal cruelty, Slavery, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Fire/Fire injury, Ableism, Animal death, Murder, Physical abuse, Abandonment, Cannibalism, Chronic illness, Death of parent, Torture, Xenophobia, Medical content, and Gun violence
Minor: Alcohol, Body shaming, Grief, Suicide attempt, Child abuse, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Forced institutionalization, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Child death, Genocide, Sexual violence, and Adult/minor relationship
amschelly153'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? No
4.0
Moderate: Gaslighting, Classism, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Bullying, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Animal death, Emotional abuse, Death, War, and Grief
tania_mybookishsecret'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? No
5.0
Graphic: Gun violence, Animal death, Blood, Murder, War, Death, and Mental illness
Moderate: Body horror, Torture, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, and Sexual harassment
Minor: Pandemic/Epidemic and Rape
good_names_dont_exist'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
4.5
Graphic: Blood, Death, Violence, and War
Moderate: Animal death, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, and Grief
Minor: Rape
btwnprintedpgs'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? No
4.0
Graphic: Death, Animal death, Blood, Ableism, Gun violence, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, and Chronic illness
Minor: Suicide, Kidnapping, and Self harm
mirrorstorm_'s review against another edition
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Animal death, War, Blood, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Violence
Moderate: Fire/Fire injury and Emotional abuse
msradiosilence'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
3.5
Content warnings at the bottom. :)
Listen, Levana was wrong. She was bad, she killed LOTS of people, and she deserved retribution, but the way they defeated her was just horrible. So she
This book is also like 200 pages too long. The rest of them just kept running and hiding and separating and it kept happening. Twice is redundant, three times is annoying, and four times is fucking ridiculous. Talk about tedium.
And somehow, even with the book being too long, Winter and Jacin’s relationship was too rushed. How can a book be too long and have the main romance be so quick? Yadda yadda, that’s how. Those 200 pages of the same shit could’ve been dedicated to building Winter and Jacin’s relationship.
The one thing that we had a decent time of was the setting, at least. Meyer did a grand job describing the moon and its colonies, which…if you could do it well in this book why didn’t you in literally all the other books? Ugh.
Rating: 3.5
Would I recommend? Not really, unless you enjoy hypocrisy, 16yo moon queens, and long drawn out action sequences.
Content warnings: Genocide, Medical content, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Classism, Car accident, Colonisation, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, War, Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Grief, Murder, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Gun violence, Bullying, Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Animal death, Child death, Death of parent, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Body shaming, and Pandemic/Epidemic
Graphic: Animal death, Ableism, Body horror, Genocide, Alcohol, Blood, Body shaming, Torture, Medical content, War, Car accident, Grief, Pandemic/Epidemic, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Death of parent, Mental illness, Child death, Bullying, Child abuse, Colonisation, Death, Murder, Violence, Fire/Fire injury, Classism, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, and Suicide
prashiie's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
I did like Winter, although I didn’t fully understand why she chose to not use her Lunar gift every now and then. This would have kept her safe from Lunar sickness. Like Scarlet mentions, she could have just used it to change the color of her dress. Her reply to this is somewhat acceptable, but not fully satisfying.
But she did make a very good point with which I fully agree!
Graphic: Confinement, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual harassment, Torture, Violence, Chronic illness, Grief, Gun violence, Murder, War, Xenophobia, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Body horror, Classism, Death, Pandemic/Epidemic, Animal death, Blood, and Kidnapping
Minor: Child death and Abandonment
gattolinos_nerdy_nook'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? No
4.5
I will admit it feels slow in the beginning especially with how the last book ended, but it better sets up and introduces us to Winter and makes her a main player in the story now. By a third into the book everything very much starts to pick up again and the story starts to hit the ground running.
I loved how the story line would mix and change POVs weaving people's stories together before once more diverging again. It really kept the pace fast and intrigue and urgency high, and it all came to an orchestrated ending for the book and series. Everything was tied up and concluded nicely but left moments open that could be looked into with the novellas.
Graphic: Violence, Death, War, and Gaslighting
Moderate: Child abuse, Torture, Death of parent, Physical abuse, and Emotional abuse
Minor: Suicide attempt, Fire/Fire injury, and Suicide
vendy_kha'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? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Blood, Death, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Gun violence, Animal death, Bullying, Body shaming, Confinement, Panic attacks/disorders, Mental illness, and War
Moderate: Mass/school shootings, Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
Minor: Sexual assault