amariela02's review
- 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? It's complicated
4.5
Graphic: Gore
Moderate: Racism, Sexism, Murder, Kidnapping, Sexual assault, and Religious bigotry
Minor: Homophobia, Death, Abortion, Animal death, and Domestic abuse
christy_mitten'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? It's complicated
4.5
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Murder, and Sexual assault
grbookworm1818'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? Yes
3.25
Graphic: Murder and Sexual assault
Moderate: Homophobia
satin's review
- 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? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Murder
Moderate: Sexual assault and Racial slurs
ellanarose'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: Addiction, Alcohol, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Hate crime, Murder, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Violence
r1dh4's review
- 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
4.25
The characters were also all really well-developed in my opinion. Even minor characters that did not show up for very long felt like real people. At times it did feel like there was just a lot of information on the character's backstory coming in at once, but considering the rest of Bray's writing style it didn't feel that out of place to me and it didn't hinder my enjoyment of the book at all.
Additionally, the plot doesn't really pick up speed until about halfway through the book. However, even though the plot started a bit later, I still enjoyed the beginning because it provided some good exposition and allowed the reader to become familiar with the characters and their motives/personalities. When the plot actually does get underway, I found myself really wanting to know what happened next. Not only does the book feel rightly creepy, but there's a lot of movement between places and characters that was handled well and prevented me from feeling bored.
Along with this, the story itself also felt really well-crafted; you could tell the author had taken a long time to research and write this book, and you could see the carefully laid threads that allowed this book to finish completely while still leaving some great material for the next few books. The only thing I didn't like about this book was the romances; each felt either forced or too fast. I feel like some extra development would help this out, which I'm looking forward to seeing in the next few books.
Honestly, since I've heard that the subsequent books are better than the first, I definitely will be reading the next few, and I'm looking forward to continuing the series! I would also recommend this book to anybody, as long as they feel up to the longer page length and have checked out the content warnings (because there are quite a few). Overall, a great book to start off 2022!
Graphic: Murder
Moderate: Alcohol, Blood, Body horror, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Grief, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, and Sexism
Minor: Sexual assault
larareads'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
4.5
Graphic: Murder, Violence, and Child abuse
Moderate: Abandonment, War, Death of parent, and Death
Minor: Abortion, Xenophobia, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual assault, Religious bigotry, Racism, Police brutality, Medical trauma, Fire/Fire injury, and Animal death
davidrb's review
- 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? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Abandonment, Ableism, Addiction, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Dementia, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Injury/injury detail, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Misogyny, Murder, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Slavery, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Vomit, and War
This book is much more graphic than I was expecting, especially when it comes to the child death, sexual and domestic abuse, and animal death. Watch out!yaelaed's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Murder, and Religious bigotry
Moderate: Abortion, Alcohol, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, and Sexual assault
Minor: Abandonment, Animal death, and Blood
diem's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
2.5
Mabel, Henry, Sam and Memphis could have been cut without much trouble and it would have streamlined everything. It´s clearly just a setup and it should have been more.
Moderate: Sexual assault, Domestic abuse, Racism, Chronic illness, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, Police brutality, Rape, Religious bigotry, Terminal illness, War, and Xenophobia