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cryosphinx's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
I still very much enjoy Poppy's journey into finding her strength but at this point, her only flaw is that she gets angry and asks too many questions, which we know already. Casteel really got moved to the backseat in this book, but at least Keiran is here and quickly became my favorite of the trio.
So yeah it's not great, but it's not horrible and I'm still enjoying reading it and will continue to read but totally understand people giving up or it just not being their cup of tea. It's not as repetative but it's still there, there's still lots of heavy dialogue "telling-not-showing" sections, and randomly modern lingo. Just have the expectation that this is not a amazing piece of literature and have fun.
Graphic: Sexual content, Violence, Gore, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Confinement, War, Murder, Death of parent, and Cursing
Minor: Rape
nataliebootlah'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
4.0
Graphic: Sexual content, Violence, Gore, and War
Moderate: Grief, Confinement, and Kidnapping
mamat5925'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: Kidnapping, War, Torture, Cursing, Murder, Grief, and Confinement
immdanii'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, Torture, Sexual content, Death of parent, War, Kidnapping, Blood, and Violence
Moderate: Confinement and Cursing
Minor: Alcohol and Panic attacks/disorders
cady_sass'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
3.75
There is no next book yet, and I kind of wish this was the final installment. There was a clear ending available here but she didn’t choose it, and the cliffhanger is a bit underwhelming.
Graphic: Confinement, Child death, Blood, Violence, War, Sexual content, Gore, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Cursing, Kidnapping, and Death
Moderate: Death of parent, Alcohol, Torture, Sexual violence, and Rape
abby271's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Violence and Death
Moderate: Sexual content and Confinement
hq_reads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
I really like Reaver. He’s quickly becoming one of my favourite characters. I’m definitely going to read Shadow in the Ember.
Graphic: Sexual content, Violence, and Confinement
hapalyn's review against another edition
- 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? No
5.0
Graphic: Cursing, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Sexual content, War, Blood, Child death, Confinement, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Gore, Physical abuse, Torture, and Violence
Minor: Sexism and Misogyny
maddysbooks_'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
3.75
i wasn’t a fan of the fact that the first 75% of the book poppy and casteel were separated and that it took that long for them to reunite. for me, that entire part of the book dragged on for way too long. the only redeeming part was being able to see how kieran and poppy’s relationship developed.
which is another thing that i’m unsure about with this book. i’m not sure how i feel about the almost reverse harem dynamic that’s happening. that being said, i don’t hate it.
the last quarter of the book was great though. the reunion between poppy and casteel definitely lived up to all that buildup. and the action scenes were also great, as was the final scene at the very end.
as always with this series, i’m very intrigued to see what happens in the next book.
Graphic: Violence and Sexual content
Moderate: Confinement and Torture
roget's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
1.0
This series would be so much stronger if space that was given to all the tone-ignorant quipping and pages of unnecessarily aggressive, uncomfortable exchanges were instead given to expanding the lore.
The real plot is crammed into info-dumps in dialogue—just like, lecture after lecture of some being or another backtracking like “Well, ACTUALLY…” and then re-explaining lore and ancient relationships that’d already been explained and re-explained half a dozen times but apparently incorrectly. The consort? Interesting plot line. I wish we’d have gotten more of that development.
The Malik-Poppy backstory reveal was absolutely undercut by the series’s penchant for throwing gossip girl-style shocking “twists” at us every five minutes, not to mention the tonally inconsistent suggestive and situationally abhorrent illicit comments. The series isn’t respectful to Kieren, either. He’s basically treated like Poppy’s arm candy this book, and Poppy’s character is shockingly undynamic given the many, many changes she’s been through. She’s still acting like the angry, impulsive, and brash kid who’s playing at power without really understanding it.
The pacing is weird.
As for the content…
I’m interested to know more about the primals and their clearly warped family tree. I want Poppy to return to Ileesium. I want to see more of those dynamics unfold. I wish the book would spend more time and nuance developing that and Poppy herself.
Kind of just reading to find out what happens and how it wraps up at this point, which is disheartening. I’m sure some people find this series fun or entertaining, but the issues have sort of spoiled it for me, at least.
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Toxic relationship, Death, Confinement, Gaslighting, Genocide, Gore, Emotional abuse, Child abuse, Kidnapping, Sexual content, Self harm, Panic attacks/disorders, Blood, Grief, War, and Torture