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chris_reads's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
inspiring
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Grief, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Violence, War, Classism, Medical content, and Slavery
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Rape, Blood, Colonisation, Murder, Suicide, and Torture
Minor: Bullying, Cannibalism, Vomit, Police brutality, and Animal death
kerrygetsliterary's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
- 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? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Child death, Child abuse, Classism, Cursing, Death, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Torture, Violence, and Vomit
tinyelfarcanist's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
I was so close to giving up this one, but I’m glad I pulled through. Very entertaining YA novel full of tropey characters.
One of the most annoying things was the author’s LOVE for camelCase (You can click on the spoiler tag if you want to see examples, not actual spoilers)clawDrill, wedAge, holoCan, headTalk,scanCrew, slingBlade, haulBacks, gravLift, horizonTram, duroArmor, pulseBlade, torchShip, bioSilk, gravBoots, mineMagistrate, archGovernor, lowReds, drillBoy, ripWings, highReds, highColor, forceGenerator, highGrav, pulseShield, lowColors, offColor, fauxWar, schoolHouses, gravMixers, noiseBubbles, slangSmarts, floatChairs, genAlt, highLingo, midLingo, highDrafts, midDraft, highUps, medBots, godTrees, ionBlades, nightOptics, recoilPlate, ghostCloak, pulseFists, analyzerMod, jamField, ionArrows, deadHorses, commUnits, holoImmersion, holoTransmitter… , but I managed to get used to it somehow.
What bothered me, even more, was the blatant sexism: (I won’t bother hiding these)
“(…) bawled like a girl”, “She is a pretty little thing”, “(…) bested by a girl”, “Yet somehow he’s thinner than a woman”, “Now I’ll show them how a real man acts. I won’t jump up and down in victory. I’ll just smile and nod” (because men can't express happiness, you know), “Women are crying. Men wipe their eyes” (so… crying too?), “The men are freakishly muscular and tall. Their arms and chests bulge with artificial strength, and they flaunt their muscle like girls showing off new toys”, “(…) cut away anything that makes you a man” (Sanderson, is that you?), “Now toss me a smile like a good doll”, “Like a woman in heat”, “He’s a vile thing. A wretched womanish thing”, “(…) take me to whoever has the biggest balls”, “You sound like a girl. Thought martyrs were tough”, “(…) you little girl”…
At least rapists were called out.
The protagonist is insufferable but at least I actually cared what happened to him (hello, Kvothe and Clary!).
The novel is full of action and twists and when you think you know what it’s about, it will turn everything around. I really enjoyed it despite its huge flaws and I’m definitely continuing the series.
One of the most annoying things was the author’s LOVE for camelCase (You can click on the spoiler tag if you want to see examples, not actual spoilers)
What bothered me, even more, was the blatant sexism: (I won’t bother hiding these)
“(…) bawled like a girl”, “She is a pretty little thing”, “(…) bested by a girl”, “Yet somehow he’s thinner than a woman”, “Now I’ll show them how a real man acts. I won’t jump up and down in victory. I’ll just smile and nod” (because men can't express happiness, you know), “Women are crying. Men wipe their eyes” (so… crying too?), “The men are freakishly muscular and tall. Their arms and chests bulge with artificial strength, and they flaunt their muscle like girls showing off new toys”, “(…) cut away anything that makes you a man” (Sanderson, is that you?), “Now toss me a smile like a good doll”, “Like a woman in heat”, “He’s a vile thing. A wretched womanish thing”, “(…) take me to whoever has the biggest balls”, “You sound like a girl. Thought martyrs were tough”, “(…) you little girl”…
At least rapists were called out.
The protagonist is insufferable but at least I actually cared what happened to him (hello, Kvothe and Clary!).
The novel is full of action and twists and when you think you know what it’s about, it will turn everything around. I really enjoyed it despite its huge flaws and I’m definitely continuing the series.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Rape, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, and War
Moderate: Sexism, Sexual harassment, Slavery, and Sexual violence
Minor: Violence, Cannibalism, and Animal death
kathrynch's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
The early chapters had a lot of promise. The opening twist with Darrow realising the Reds' place in the world was powerful and the writing zipped along. However, once we got to the Academy it started to feel like one long Hunger Games rip-off. A slog with such limited characterisation that I felt no emotional attachment to any of the main players and experienced no emotional reaction to any of the violent twists and turns of the plot. Flat, one-dimensional reading experience.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Sexism, Torture, Violence, and War
theasbookworld's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
Content Warnings
Moderate: Blood, Death, Murder, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, and War
kanairam's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
This book is basically a hastily contrived amalgamation of other, better books. A bit Hunger Games and a bit Harry Potter, except Pierce Brown has neither the nuance of Collins nor the character development of Rowling.
The worldbuilding is sloppy. Information is thrown at the reader at weird times and in strangely shaped packages. It’s clumsy and makes it difficult to actually understand how the world is constructed. The allegedly sci-fi language is a joke. I mean, gravBoots? FloatChair? HighLingo? They don’t sound futuristic or otherworldly. They sound dumb.
All of the characters are one- or two-dimensional. Darrow is blandly talented in the most self-insert protagonist way. I thought we as a society had moved passed “my wife is dead” as a main motivator, but apparently not.
Female characters are treated even worse than the male ones. Brown uses casual misogyny and sexual assault to seemingly make characters “evil” in our minds, but then doesn’t address it beyond basically saying “this was bad.” Gender role bullshit continues to exist despite the fact that this is some several centuries in the future.
The plot of this book moved well after the first third. The only reason I finished it is that, despite all its flaws, it did make me want to know what happened. That, however, was its only saving grace. This is a cookie cutter dystopia for boys who like to feel powerful and are oblivious to the actual world.
The worldbuilding is sloppy. Information is thrown at the reader at weird times and in strangely shaped packages. It’s clumsy and makes it difficult to actually understand how the world is constructed. The allegedly sci-fi language is a joke. I mean, gravBoots? FloatChair? HighLingo? They don’t sound futuristic or otherworldly. They sound dumb.
All of the characters are one- or two-dimensional. Darrow is blandly talented in the most self-insert protagonist way. I thought we as a society had moved passed “my wife is dead” as a main motivator, but apparently not.
Female characters are treated even worse than the male ones. Brown uses casual misogyny and sexual assault to seemingly make characters “evil” in our minds, but then doesn’t address it beyond basically saying “this was bad.” Gender role bullshit continues to exist despite the fact that this is some several centuries in the future.
The plot of this book moved well after the first third. The only reason I finished it is that, despite all its flaws, it did make me want to know what happened. That, however, was its only saving grace. This is a cookie cutter dystopia for boys who like to feel powerful and are oblivious to the actual world.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Rape and Sexism
chaptersofmads's review against another edition
1.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Death, and Cursing
Moderate: Sexual assault, Sexism, Violence, and Torture
owenjetton's review against another edition
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.0
I really wanted to like this book, but it made it so hard. The main character (who was, unfortunately, the narrator) was insufferable the whole way through, showed no sign of character development, much less any good reason for me to care. What I find most disappointing is that the world-building was well done, but this frustrating series is the only way to see more of it. I will not be reading the sequels.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood
Moderate: War
Minor: Dysphoria and Sexism