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sennaje'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
Graphic: Child abuse, Slavery, Grief, and Abandonment
Moderate: Death, Gore, Sexual assault, Blood, Murder, and Alcohol
looking4thedr'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? It's complicated
4.0
Sanderson, I feel, always does world-building quite well, slowly revealing more about the world and it’s magic system through the eyes of the characters, especially the main ones of Vin and Kelsir in this case. Kelsir is experienced with the world’s magic system, as are the rest of his crew, and we listen to their explanation as Vin does, as a new comer to this part of the world.
Vin’s character is definitely interesting. Her growth through the story
The descriptions conjured up a very clear image in my mind, as though I were watching a movie, although at some points it became almost a little cliche, at some points being like a YA film (and not in a good way)
Apart from that I throughly enjoyed this book and will continue to read the rest of the series to find out what happens next.
Graphic: Death, Gore, Slavery, Violence, Blood, and Murder
Moderate: Body horror, Domestic abuse, Grief, and Death of parent
Minor: Sexual assault and Xenophobia
alaynatabor's review against another edition
- 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
5.0
Moderate: Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Violence, Grief, and Murder
blynecessity'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
2.25
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Police brutality, Medical trauma, Murder, and Abandonment
Moderate: Body horror, Hate crime, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, Religious bigotry, and Alcohol
Minor: Infidelity, Trafficking, Stalking, and Death of parent
ashlyreadsevrythg'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
Moderate: Bullying, Cursing, Death, Gore, Blood, Kidnapping, and Grief
katievallin's review against another edition
- 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
4.0
Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Racism, Slavery, Violence, Blood, and Murder
Moderate: Child death, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Grief, and Death of parent
Minor: Torture and Trafficking
thevietvegan's review against another edition
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Slavery, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, and Murder
Moderate: Sexual violence
juph's review against another edition
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Slavery, Violence, and Blood
Minor: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, and Grief
padme's review against another edition
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
However, it falls into the trap many fantasy books fall into of having a whole bunch of characters and then never developing them. Kell and Vin (and maybe Saze) are the only characters we really spend a substantial amount of time with. Nearly everyone else is extremely one-note, and there isn't a lot of investment in them as people.
Take Dockson, for example. He's Kell's right-hand man and one of the leaders of the rebellion. And what do we know about him? We get one scene in which he exposits his backstory to Vin, though this is really moreso to remind Vin that not all noblemen are good than to actually provide some depth to his character. He explains that he was a slave, that he was in love with a woman, that she was taken from him, and then he ran away and came to the city. And that's all we really end up learning about Dockson, even though he's a major figure in the rebellion.
Most of the characters are simply defined by their roles, with the exception of Vin and Kell. Dockson is a bureaucrat. Marsh is interested in the inquisitors. Ham is a soldier. Yeden is a rebel leader. Breeze... wears fancy clothes.
Nothing about these characters really inspired anything in me. So many characters died or potentially died without me caring at all about them or their situation. And so many major character deaths were fairly anticlimactic.
And that doesn't even get into the gender and race dynamics in this book: let's discuss.
In terms of women, we have Vin! And that's great. She's a reasonably well-rounded character, with a fleshed-out backstory, an interesting point of view. She has motivation, she's interesting, and she's not there to further anyone else's plotline - she's undeniably the main character of the story.
However, my issue comes with the other women in the story. Or, rather, the lack of them. You'll notice above that every single character I've mentioned so far, every single member of the rebellion is male. And there are very few female characters in this book that is filled with a ton of characters.
The first female we meet isn't given a name, as far as I remember. She appears in the prologue, and she exists so that Kell can save her, we can be introduced to Kell, and he can go on his way.
The next female character we meet is around... 150-200 pages in? It's the hairdresser that does Vin's hair. The woman barely speaks, and most certainly isn't a character. As far as I can recall, the only thing she talks about is how ugly Vin's hair is.
But wait, Vin goes to balls! Certainly there were women at the balls! Yes, yes there were. Most are nameless, most do not speak. The only two women other than Vin that I can remember having any impact on the story are Shan, a jealous and vindictive woman who is nothing but cruel to Vin and everyone else and who is undeniably a villain, and a girl whose name I can't remember who gossips a lot.
There's also Kell's dead wife, but since she's dead before the story begins, I'm not really sure she counts as a second well-rounded female character.
And that's it! That's the grand sum of all the female characters in this massive book with a ton of characters. We have Vin, a nameless slave that Kell saves from a terrible fate, a hairdresser who barely speaks, a one-note villain who is nothing but antagonistic to Vin and appears in around four scenes, a gossip who shows up a few times at the balls, and a long-dead woman who is defined by her relationship to a man. This is an issue. I know Brandon Sanderson is a man, and I know it was considered somewhat revolutionary to have a female character like Vin be the lead in a high fantasy series such as this one. But it's an issue that she never has a meaningful interaction with a female character other than Shan, with whom her relationship is antagonistic. There are around six rebel leaders, and a fair number of other minor characters in the book, and all of them are male. Every single one.
And I haven't even gotten into the race dynamics yet. Now, I'm no expert on the subject, so I'll leave it to people who know better than me to speak more expansively on this topic, but this book reeked of "what if white people were treated like black people?" to me. There isn't a single person of colour in the book to my knowledge (given that Vin and others are easily able to pass as nobles despite being Skaa, and certain Terrisman characters are also able to pass as non-Terrisman). And yet it deals with topics like oppression and genocide and slavery. It was weird to me, to say the least.e
Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Physical abuse, Slavery, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Grief, and Religious bigotry
ohmygourd's review against another edition
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Death, Physical abuse, and Violence
Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Xenophobia, Blood, Police brutality, and Grief
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Rape, Slavery, and Torture
It's all high fantasy, so the things like police brutality, torture, body horror are all ~fantasy version~