Scan barcode
anni_swanilda's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Xenophobia, Racism, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Classism, Death, Grief, Physical abuse, Torture, Animal death, Violence, Murder, Slavery, and Suicidal thoughts
Moderate: Death of parent, Cannibalism, Medical content, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and War
Minor: Colonisation
kale323's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
0.75
The Pros: Interesting world building, a few interesting characters, and a couple engaging sections within the story.
The Cons: Almost everything else. This book is completely overly ambitious. While many claim that it is Game of Thrones and Hunger Games put together, it fails at replicating both.
First: the main character, Darrow, is a flat, overly hyped up character that is a blank wall of “I’m super cool and I have no flaws that can’t be solved within one, maybe two pages.” Even at the beginning, he hypes himself up for being the best of the best, and it’s clear that he is. But it’s constantly TOLD to you, not shown. Dont tell me to think a character is cool if you haven’t SHOWN me that he’s cool. Which leads me to my next point.
Second: SHOW ME THINGS. DONT TELL ME. Oh my god, this book has fight scenes, conversations, and entire plot relevant sections get boiled down to a few descriptive, “and then they did this,” type of sentences. I wanted to pull my hair out, screaming, “WHY IS THIS NOT BEING SHOWN IN DETAIL. THIS NOT HOW YOU KEEP READERS ENGAGED AND IMMERSED. THIS IS MOVING TOO FAST FOR ME TO CARE,” which brings me to my last point.
Third: The pacing. Dear god. The pacing was absolutely terrible. It takes until half, yes, HALF, of the book until we reach the main story hook. HALF OF THE BOOK IS EXPOSITION??? HALF??? And on top of that, it has no real rising climax, and no real climax at all. At the very least, it’s hard to distinguish when the climax is, from the rest of the book. Abysmal.
Look, when it’s good, it’s good. The worldbuilding is fun, and some of the ideas are intriguing. And some of the characters (not the main one) were fun to read about. These were all enough positives for me not to DNF the book, which is saying something!
Nonetheless, an unrelatable, god-complex main character, tell-not-show writing, and bad pacing are far too much for me to find much value in this book.
Also, the way rape, attempted rape, and sexual assault are handled is very, very poor. At one point, a side character attempts to rape an unknown character. The way it was handled up until a certain point was fine. Justice was being done, and it was a titular moment for the main character to figure out how to handle justice. Interesting story beat!
Then after justice is dealt, the attempted rapist begins to be delivered to the reader as a funny, if not zany character. Wow. Personally, I would like comic relief to not be delivered by an attempted rapist.
I would recommend this book to someone that needs to just sit back and digest a simple story with a few, tidbit, interesting things. But not for anything else.
The Cons: Almost everything else. This book is completely overly ambitious. While many claim that it is Game of Thrones and Hunger Games put together, it fails at replicating both.
First: the main character, Darrow, is a flat, overly hyped up character that is a blank wall of “I’m super cool and I have no flaws that can’t be solved within one, maybe two pages.” Even at the beginning, he hypes himself up for being the best of the best, and it’s clear that he is. But it’s constantly TOLD to you, not shown. Dont tell me to think a character is cool if you haven’t SHOWN me that he’s cool. Which leads me to my next point.
Second: SHOW ME THINGS. DONT TELL ME. Oh my god, this book has fight scenes, conversations, and entire plot relevant sections get boiled down to a few descriptive, “and then they did this,” type of sentences. I wanted to pull my hair out, screaming, “WHY IS THIS NOT BEING SHOWN IN DETAIL. THIS NOT HOW YOU KEEP READERS ENGAGED AND IMMERSED. THIS IS MOVING TOO FAST FOR ME TO CARE,” which brings me to my last point.
Third: The pacing. Dear god. The pacing was absolutely terrible. It takes until half, yes, HALF, of the book until we reach the main story hook. HALF OF THE BOOK IS EXPOSITION??? HALF??? And on top of that, it has no real rising climax, and no real climax at all. At the very least, it’s hard to distinguish when the climax is, from the rest of the book. Abysmal.
Look, when it’s good, it’s good. The worldbuilding is fun, and some of the ideas are intriguing. And some of the characters (not the main one) were fun to read about. These were all enough positives for me not to DNF the book, which is saying something!
Nonetheless, an unrelatable, god-complex main character, tell-not-show writing, and bad pacing are far too much for me to find much value in this book.
Also, the way rape, attempted rape, and sexual assault are handled is very, very poor. At one point, a side character attempts to rape an unknown character. The way it was handled up until a certain point was fine. Justice was being done, and it was a titular moment for the main character to figure out how to handle justice. Interesting story beat!
Then after justice is dealt, the attempted rapist begins to be delivered to the reader as a funny, if not zany character. Wow. Personally, I would like comic relief to not be delivered by an attempted rapist.
I would recommend this book to someone that needs to just sit back and digest a simple story with a few, tidbit, interesting things. But not for anything else.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Rape
readingroe's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
i cried, a few times. i loved everything even in the times when i felt a bit bored i was still very into the story. darrow has became one of my favorite mcs now, maybe give the boy some happiness i think that’d be good. when he cried so did i, when he felt anger so did i, i felt every emotion he did. i felt for him constantly, he’s just a boy afterall, and he didn’t get a lot of happy moments. overall i get the book 5stars i truly loved it and am excited to read the next in the series.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual assault and Rape
veni_vidi_legi's review against another edition
dark
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.5
I’m itching to start book 2 so I’ll keep this pretty brief. Really like it, feels sorta like a combination of the 4 Hunger Games books (yes including the prequel) with Ender’s Game. A bit slow in the middle, but it’s clearly setting up the rest of the series so I think it was unavoidable. It would have felt strange if the middle chunk was shortened because it has important relational and internal developments. Overall, definitely recommend! Age rating: 16+ and PAX AU TELEMANUS
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence and War
Moderate: Sexual assault and Cursing
casualk's review against another edition
funny
1.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Misogyny, Murder, Pedophilia, Violence, Sexism, Death, and Classism
Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, and War
Minor: Mental illness, Ableism, and Fatphobia
anna_kp's review against another edition
challenging
dark
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? No
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Slavery, War, Rape, Sexual assault, and Torture
dahliapyne's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
2.25
I would say the first 100 or so pages of this book are just heartbreakingly beautiful and I cried. Loved it. But after Part One I personally found the book very boring and dark, and I felt like it could have just been a montage. I think I was waiting for something to happen, and then suddenly the book was over! It seemed like most of the book was just a stepping stone for something bigger (maybe the second book will be better?)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Slavery
Moderate: Sexual assault, Child death, Rape, Murder, and Violence
Minor: Cannibalism and Sexism
stevienotnicks's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I was searching for a series that would make me feel the way I felt with The Hunger Games and this one kept popping up. And while it’s certainly not identical, it hit the mark for me from beginning to end.
Darrow is absolutely a character you can rally behind. No, he’s not a perfect hero, but you can definitely see why he took the path he did. The first person narrative really helped this along as the author brought us into Darrow’s inner workings with each decision he made.
We also got the found family aspect that will always suck me in. Watching Darrow find his people among those he thought would be his enemies was such an interesting conflict to behold.
My only “gripe” is with the multiple loose ends that I didn’t feel were resolved, but this is only the first in a series so I’m sure those will be tackled later.
If you get the chance, listen to the graphic audio while you’re reading. It’s a totally immersive experience.
Darrow is absolutely a character you can rally behind. No, he’s not a perfect hero, but you can definitely see why he took the path he did. The first person narrative really helped this along as the author brought us into Darrow’s inner workings with each decision he made.
We also got the found family aspect that will always suck me in. Watching Darrow find his people among those he thought would be his enemies was such an interesting conflict to behold.
My only “gripe” is with the multiple loose ends that I didn’t feel were resolved, but this is only the first in a series so I’m sure those will be tackled later.
If you get the chance, listen to the graphic audio while you’re reading. It’s a totally immersive experience.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Rape, Sexual violence, Classism, Violence, Sexual assault, and Slavery
chelseaisreading's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
inspiring
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Interesting premise if you’re trying to relive your Hunger Games era. My biggest gripe is that women are only here to be a stepping stone on his heroes journey. 🙃 That being said I enjoyed the twists and strategy and am curious to see Darrow’s rise.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, War, Violence, and Death
Moderate: Slavery, Blood, and Child abuse
Minor: Rape, Vomit, and Sexual assault
rumpixel's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
hopeful
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
The beginning of this book relies a little too heavily on some tired tropes. The second Eo was introduced, I knew home girl was going to be used as the crutch for Darrow's 'call to adventure'. It doesn't wholly detract from the impact and shape Darrow's grief and rage take, but she does become the manic pixie dream girl whose only story purpose was to love Darrow and thrust upon him a moral quest he otherwise had no interest in.
Once you get past that, the book becomes far more interesting. Nothing truly came out of nowhere in terms of plot twists, it's more like multiple plot points sit on a steady simmer on the backburner and you keep a wary eye on — which overall makes it a satisfying read. The world building was integrated throughout, I never felt bogged down with details. The game is brutal and fascinating. The relationships are what makes this book strong against my criticisms.
At the core of it, Darrow is a bit overpowered but he's also our conduit to engage with the wide cast of characters. All of them shine in their own way, even the deplorable ones. Sevro quickly became my favourite, the real MVP, and if he were the main character I think that would have diminished just how great he is to experience through Darrow's perspective. Darrow also fails enough times, either through his own hubris or miscalculated trust, that it offsets any feeling that he is invincible — in my opinion.
All in all, I'm definitely going to continue the series. I'm a sucker for a Greek/Roman God class system, and in the current age of late stage capitalism I'm particularly hungry to eat the rich >:3
Once you get past that, the book becomes far more interesting. Nothing truly came out of nowhere in terms of plot twists, it's more like multiple plot points sit on a steady simmer on the backburner and you keep a wary eye on — which overall makes it a satisfying read. The world building was integrated throughout, I never felt bogged down with details. The game is brutal and fascinating. The relationships are what makes this book strong against my criticisms.
At the core of it, Darrow is a bit overpowered but he's also our conduit to engage with the wide cast of characters. All of them shine in their own way, even the deplorable ones. Sevro quickly became my favourite, the real MVP, and if he were the main character I think that would have diminished just how great he is to experience through Darrow's perspective. Darrow also fails enough times, either through his own hubris or miscalculated trust, that it offsets any feeling that he is invincible — in my opinion.
All in all, I'm definitely going to continue the series. I'm a sucker for a Greek/Roman God class system, and in the current age of late stage capitalism I'm particularly hungry to eat the rich >:3
Content Warnings
Graphic: Slavery, Torture, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Murder, Death, Violence, and War
Moderate: Sexual assault, Rape, and Racism