Scan barcode
chanceuxcat's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Moderate: Emotional abuse
Minor: Suicide
Suicide is mentioned a few times throughout but not graphically. Also, just a note,, some sciencey theories/concepts are described in extensive detail and take a bit more thinking/effort to understand so not a super relaxing easy read.xeniba's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- 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
I liked the twist at the end, and didn’t predict what it was, which doesn’t often happen. I had an inkling, but was surprised by the details.
I’m excited to read the next book to see what happens in their second year.
Moderate: Alcohol, Violence, Death, and Suicide
Minor: Drug use and Sexual content
tinny's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Moderate: Suicide
Minor: Sexual content and Chronic illness
nataliebootlah's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Pacing. It was so. damn. slow.
Every decade, six of the most talented magicians are chosen to compete against each other for initiation into the Alexandrian Society. Unfortunately I didn’t love any of the characters. This is not to say that I hated them, but I definitely didn’t love them or feel connected to anyone in particular after the first ~100 pages.
While the premise really was interesting, the execution just wasn’t there for me, which is too bad because I wanted to love it. In hindsight, this book seems like mostly world-building and character development for the rest of the series, but I needed more. I’m not sure if I’ll be picking up book two yet, only time will tell.
Graphic: Death and Violence
Moderate: Sexual content and Suicide
jadorelecafe'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
4.5
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Kidnapping, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, Death, Murder, and Mass/school shootings
Moderate: Death, Kidnapping, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, Toxic friendship, Death of parent, Mass/school shootings, and Murder
Minor: Car accident, Child death, Alcoholism, Bullying, Chronic illness, and Addiction
nikogatts's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.75
Likewise, there are interesting characters and arcs to be explored -- particularly in the case of Reina, who resents her immense magical power and sees it as a way for both nature and society to take advantage of her -- but these are sacrificed in favor of chapter after chapter of Callum, the Wish.com version of Patrick Bateman, toying with sad boy Tristan.
The most painful of this book's failures was the worldbuilding, which led me to create this non-comprehensive list of things that went un- or underexplained, in ascending order of how angry I get when I think about it:
-General story bits that weren't described well and/or weren't believable.
-How magic and magical people interact with and impact the rest of the world.
There is no information given on non-magical people, even though they're 99.9995 percent of the world. One of the book's (attempted) themes is the exclusivity of information and whether world-changing (albeit dangerous) knowledge should be kept siloed instead of available to populations who could benefit from it. This theme would have been much more powerful if there had been any perspective from the have-nots of this world. (I think it was a missed opportunity to not have Ezra, Libby's boyfriend, be non-magical, or to have a more prominent presence from the Forum, the magical-info-for-all organization.)
Oh, and magical creatures exist, but they're only mentioned in relation to one character, so they're barely relevant.
-How the magic system works.
I'm not even going to bother getting into Callum's empath powers, which often transcend sensing emotion and go straight into full mind-reading. Commander Deanna Troi >>>>>> this asshole, always and forever.
There are also overlaps in "rare" types of magic and casual magic that is done with little fanfare. One example is when two characters use physics magic to create a wormhole (for the first time ever, apparently) that can be used to teleport across physical space. But throughout the book, the characters travel internationally via magical portal, and the difference (if any) between this and the wormhole is never explained.
-Anything about the library.
And what do the readers get? About a paragraph and a half about a big room with some pneumatic tubes, and some scattered references to ancient texts. That's it. That's fucking it.
New rule I'm setting for myself: If a book sounds interesting but got a lot of hype on certain social media sites with consistently poor track records, I get it from the library.
Graphic: Suicide attempt and Suicide
Moderate: Blood and Murder
Minor: Colonisation, Terminal illness, Death, and Classism
inthearchive's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, Murder, and Death
Minor: Suicide attempt, Sexual assault, and Suicide
beegster16's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
Graphic: Sexual content, Death, and Suicide
Moderate: Alcohol, Classism, Violence, Death, and Cursing
Minor: Chronic illness, Child death, Colonisation, and Grief
alicelalicon'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? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Violence, Toxic friendship, Death, and Suicide
fronk10's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Gun violence, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Suicide attempt