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novaleestar'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, Pandemic/Epidemic, Alcohol, Animal death, Death, Alcoholism, Gore, Religious bigotry, Fire/Fire injury, Addiction, Grief, Violence, and War
Moderate: Cursing, Child death, Physical abuse, Death of parent, Torture, Body horror, Domestic abuse, Excrement, and Rape
seekerxr'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? Yes
5.0
i was engaged from the beginning to the very end. there wasn't a single moment of this book where i wasn't on the edge of my seat. it is worth every single bit of its 700-something pages because the story simply couldn't be told in less than that.
the atmosphere? unable to be duplicated. take every hard, dramatic aesthetic of the church and turn it up to eleven. it's blood and silver and hopelessness and battle fury.
the characters were intensely flawed and intensely loveable. no one could have told this story like gabriel did.
i didn't realize this was an incomplete series when i started it (i don't usually read incomplete series) but i am absolutely locked in. i cant wait for the rest of the story.
if you want a grimdark vampire fantasy epic, why aren't you already reading this?
Graphic: Religious bigotry
Moderate: Xenophobia, Homophobia, War, and Gore
grets_reads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- 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
4.0
Graphic: Violence, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Drug use, and Blood
Moderate: Addiction, Alcohol, Child death, Sexual content, War, Death of parent, Religious bigotry, Murder, Grief, and Gore
Minor: Slavery, Homophobia, Physical abuse, and Animal death
givemedatangst's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Violence and Religious bigotry
Moderate: Homophobia, Religious bigotry, and Death
edu_caldelas's review against another edition
- 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
4.0
Graphic: Religious bigotry, Blood, Gore, and Murder
Moderate: Alcoholism
violet_gray'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? Yes
2.0
The “banter” is early 2000’s edgy stand up style humor.
The inconsistent mix of random French, faux old English and modern day English breaks all immersion.
I’m ok with mixing timelines but they don’t pay off. Also the contant moving of the goal post robs the story of anything remotely resembling a satisfying conclusion .
The world building is not there. There’s mushrooms, potatoes, water and vague other races. Where are they? How does that impact who they are and how the world treats them? 🤷🏼♀️
Now specifically for the audio version… oh dear. That was a hot mess of accents and styles.
Less objective thoughts.
This reads like fan fiction of many different properties , most blatantly The Vampire Chronicles (French Nobel woman in exile in the country side, married to drunk husband has a child that extra special and their name is Lion something) and The Last of Us (hear me out: grumpy dude who loses daughter must deliver children to authorities that will use her to save the world but then decides he’d rather burn the world than have her die. Also fungus monsters) but the author likes gritty comics and George Carlin humour and things they can do better and this was their attempt at that.
And as someone that likes all those things as well, I do wish this worked.
Hence the two starts instead of 1. But it doesn’t work cause the writing is bad. There is no real reason for this book to be this long unless you are aiming to appeal to Sanderson fans but can’t do all the world building he does.
If books were kids toys, Sarah j Maas would purple sparkly toy and this would the exact same crap plastic toy but in blue and black.
Moderate: Sexual violence, Murder, Homophobia, Religious bigotry, Body horror, Rape, Sexual assault, and Torture
lifeonasofa's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Addiction, Alcohol, Cursing, Violence, Blood, Death, Gore, and Grief
Moderate: Confinement, Death of parent, Religious bigotry, Torture, Animal death, Homophobia, War, Child death, Fire/Fire injury, and Misogyny
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Infidelity, Pregnancy, and Rape
aseel_reads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, Child death, Gore, Grief, Domestic abuse, Pregnancy, Sexism, Addiction, Animal death, Child abuse, Death of parent, Death, Torture, Violence, Alcohol, Blood, and War
taryn_g'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 death, Death, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual assault, Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Drug use, Grief, Homophobia, Murder, Sexual content, Alcohol, and Blood
Moderate: Religious bigotry, Addiction, Cursing, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Torture, and War
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Slavery, Pregnancy, Outing, Self harm, and Vomit
andromeda_1998's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Addiction, Alcohol, Blood, Sexism, Sexual violence, Injury/Injury detail, Religious bigotry, Torture, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Murder, Grief, Sexual content, Violence, Body horror, Child death, Drug use, Homophobia, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, Vomit, Physical abuse, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, War, Animal death, Classism, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, and Genocide