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mallorypen'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? Yes
4.25
The elements that brought this down from a 5 star read were mostly to do with the sprawling cast of characters. I did appreciate that Robin and Edwin played such a large role, and having met Maud and Violet in the last novel it did feel like the whole Scooby gang was finally together. That said, Jack was almost a little hard to follow from book to book, and that made his being one of the protagonists a little challenging at the get go. Similarly, Alan going from a C character to the other main protagonist further complicated my comprehension as a (admittedly) distracted reader.
Much like the second novel, I think reading this series back to back would greatly improve my enjoyment. But, even with gaps between novels and a bit of a slow start, I thoroughly enjoyed this read.
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Death
Minor: Sexual assault
aileron's review
- 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
4.0
Graphic: Violence, Classism, Death, Gun violence, Grief, Murder, and Suicide
Moderate: Confinement, Gore, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Sexism, and Bullying
Minor: Sexual assault, Death of parent, War, and Fire/Fire injury
potatogrr'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: Classism, Violence, Blood, Grief, Gun violence, Xenophobia, and Sexual content
Minor: Suicide and Sexual assault
displacedcactus's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
Unfortunately, to get there, we have to have Jack and Alan as our narrators, and their relationship and sex life was just not to my taste. I wouldn't have picked this up as a stand-alone or start of a series, and while I wouldn't say their sexual exploits ruined the book for me, they were just less enjoyable for me than the relationships in the previous two books.
If you enjoy a lot of power dynamics, roleplay, and SA-adjacent fantasies, you'll probably enjoy this. Like Jack and Alan are clearly having a great time and being imaginative. The dirty talk is very banter-forward and very spicy. I'll also give Marske points for coming up with a way for them to establish consent and a sort of safe word which felt natural for the characters and the time period, while still letting modern readers feel comfortable that it was all in good fun.
Even though this book wasn't my favorite, I enjoyed the trilogy as a whole enough that I'll keep an eye out for future work from Marske.
Graphic: Sexual content and Violence
Moderate: Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, and Classism
Minor: Sexism and Racism
ramakn22'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
Graphic: Sexual content, Violence, Suicide, Murder, Misogyny, and Classism
Moderate: Child death, Physical abuse, Death of parent, Death, Sexual assault, Homophobia, Rape, and Pregnancy
20sidedbi's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Gaslighting, Violence, Blood, Sexual content, and Murder
Moderate: Racism, Homophobia, Misogyny, Classism, and Suicide
Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Vomit, Sexual assault, and Pregnancy
ezwolf's review
- 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
Jack and Alan have an entertaining begrudging allies to lovers relationship, with so much more emotion than either of them thought would come of it. We learn more of Jack's backstory in this one and there's a line in the start of the book about "sets wanting to remain together" that was simply heart wrenching as we learned more about Jack and his sister.
This book shows off more of the sentient house hold/magician owned land and it was so fun to see that play out with Spinnet House. I loved the epilogue and have a lot of feelings about it that I'll keep to myself for the sake of remaining spoiler free!
Thank you to NetGalley for making this available in exchange for an honest review!
Graphic: Blood, Child death, Classism, Death, Grief, Murder, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Sexual content
Moderate: Misogyny, Suicidal thoughts, and Homophobia
Minor: Alcohol, Infidelity, Body horror, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual assault, and Ableism