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strange's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.25
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Violence, and Death of parent
Moderate: Gore, Blood, and Grief
Minor: Pregnancy
limiwh'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? No
4.25
Graphic: Death, Gore, and Death of parent
Moderate: Slavery, Violence, and Murder
Minor: Animal death and Vomit
wrightdobiez'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, and Death of parent
Moderate: Gore and Violence
bearystarry'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
3.75
Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Death, Gore, Vomit, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Death of parent
Minor: Child abuse, Child death, and Slavery
robinsong's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Graphic: Animal death, Death, Gore, and Death of parent
5aru'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? No
3.5
I do feel the writing was a little poor, but the style was kind of charming — and I also suppose I’m not quite the intended audience, so that’s mostly fine. I do have a major gripe with it, though, and that’s how little depth there is to the characters, to the relationships between them; I wish they were a bit more fleshed-out, or at least a little less archetypal, predictable. I do like Sabriel a lot, but because her feelings are hardly given consideration in depth (despite her being the focalizing character), she falls too flat sometimes — it ends up feeling like the plot drives the action entirely, and characters having feelings and interaction is more of an afterthought than anything else.
Other than that, I did enjoy reading it and ran through it fairly quickly. I will probably be checking out the rest of the series as well, see how that goes.
Moderate: Gore
bluejay21'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? No
4.0
Moderate: Gore, Violence, and Death of parent
hannahr's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Moderate: Body horror, Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, and Murder
bencaroline's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
This is one of many fantasy worlds in which bloodline is not only relevant but sacred, and can we be done with that bullshit please? And while we're at it let's abolish forced hetero romance that there's no established reason to care about, also present in this book.
That being said, I still appreciated the way this book explores death and its meaning and its fantasy possibilities, and while the heteronormativity is pretty major, this seems to be a world with very little gender bias or sexism. I'm looking forward to rereading the rest of the series.
Graphic: Death, Gore, and Death of parent
Moderate: Animal death, Body horror, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Trafficking, and Murder
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Torture, and Vomit