Reviews tagging 'Abandonment'

Any Way the Wind Blows by Rainbow Rowell

15 reviews

ajsterkel's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

 I finished the Simon Snow series Nooo! What will I do with my life now? I've been spending all my free time reading these books.

Does the series really have to be over? There are a bunch of dangling plot threads because the characters decided to let somebody else save the world. They could change their minds and keep things going . . . .

Anyway, this series is about a group of 20-somethings who have finished wizard school and are now in college or starting careers. The final book is Any Way The Wind Blows. It's slightly less plot-focused than the previous books, which is kind of the point. What's a Chosen One supposed to do when his enemies have been vanquished? How's he supposed to live without the whole world watching? What if fighting monsters is his only job skill, and he doesn't want to do it anymore?

The humor and quirky characters are the best part of this series, but I also love that it's set after a wizard war. The characters have regrets about how they behaved during the battles. They're now trying to correct their mistakes. In the process, they make friends with the classmates who had to get out of their way during all the saving-the-world stuff.

This series is awesome because it takes the villains and background characters from traditional fantasy series and turns them into main characters.

My biggest complaint about the final book is the kissing scenes. Most of them become biting scenes. It makes sense because the characters involved are a vampire and a dragon boy who used to be enemies, but it grossed me out. Kissing is unsanitary enough without breaking the skin! I couldn't stop thinking about infections. I hope they brushed their teeth before literally attacking each other's faces.

I'm scared of germs. If you're normal, maybe the biting is fine. Don't let it stop you from reading the book. I enjoyed this series. I'm sad it's over. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death of parent, Sexual content, Blood, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Abandonment, Animal death, Cursing, and Violence

dreamer01's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death of parent, Mental illness, and Abandonment

Minor: Homophobia and Sexual content

arlaubscher's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective fast-paced

• 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Minor: Abandonment, Violence, Homophobia, and Mental illness

vaguely_pink's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Classism, Cursing, Death of parent, Grief, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, and Blood

Moderate: Homophobia, Medical content, Sexual content, Body shaming, Bullying, Biphobia, Animal death, Classism, Fatphobia, and Lesbophobia

Minor: Confinement, Alcohol, Suicide, Ableism, Deportation, Drug abuse, and Fire/Fire injury

reading_grin's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful lighthearted fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Ne zdaleka tak dobré jako první díl, ale lepší než druhý. Těžce soucítím s Bazem. Objevuje se zde můj oblíbený motiv: “schválně jak fungují končetiny navíc v této konkrétní knize”

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Blood, Animal death, Emotional abuse, Confinement, and Mental illness

Minor: Alcohol, Abandonment, Death of parent, Grief, Medical content, and Sexual content

breadbees's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Sexual content, and Animal death

Moderate: Abandonment, Blood, and Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Grief, Murder, Death of parent, Homophobia, Fatphobia, and Injury/Injury detail

msradiosilence's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

• 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

5.0

Tldr; there were some shortcomings, but this is one of the best ends to a trilogy I’ve ever read.

Read my full review at: https://www.rainyreader.com/single-post/any-way-the-wind-blows.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Fatphobia, Grief, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, War, Abandonment, Animal cruelty, Body shaming, Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Violence, and Gore

headachesince03's review against another edition

adventurous funny hopeful lighthearted fast-paced

• 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Minor: Death, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Sexual content, Confinement, Grief, Homophobia, Medical content, Classism, Panic attacks/disorders, Injury/Injury detail, Abandonment, Animal death, Cursing, and Death of parent

ridesthesun's review

adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful mysterious sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

OH THEY!!!!!!!!!!!!

The character work in this book is so damn brilliant. The journey they go on together and individually is beautiful. Everyone is dealing with so much trauma, and they're all a little bit of a mess, but the growth is SO GOOD. The antagonist in this one was really a fascinating twist, and seeing how it affected Simon was heartbreaking but made so much sense. 

The only thing keeping this from being a 5 is how suddenly it ended. I felt like we were just wrapping things up, we were healing, revelations were coming out, growth was sinking in, and then it ended. I just feel like there could have been a few more chapters to really wrap things up, to give closure to these characters and finish some of the loose storylines. I know that these are more character centric than plot centric stories, and I'm all for that, but it just felt like there were a lot of plot bits that never really got wrapped up. 

And what's gonna happen with Simon's magic?? What did Smith's spell actually do to him?? He was a mage all along, but what does that look like for him now?? It just felt like those were the questions that have been building for the last two books, and we never got them answered.

anyways, highly highly highly recommend. wingy and vampire boyfriends, rivals to lovers, magic goofiness, healing and growth and tender face touching. so much tender face touching. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Abandonment

Minor: Classism, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, Medical content, Confinement, and Death

bookswithlauren's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

 I am wavering between 3.5* and 4* for the last instalment of the Simon Snow universe.

Initially, I adored this world. Carry On was an incredible book with well thought out characters and plot. I was left on my seat, constantly want to read more. So much so, that I read the book in one sitting. Wayward Son was a completely different ball game and I felt it was quite a step down from Carry On. At times there was a plot and at times there was not, the characters behaviours and personalities were completely different from those built up and introduced to us in the first book. The 'main' plot was hyped up to then all come to an end within a few pages and the relationship between characters was just not good.

Because of this, I thought all of this would be resolved in Any Way the Wind Blows. For the most part, everything I disliked about Wayward Son was fixed in Any Way the Wind Blows and I really did enjoy reading the book. I found it easy to read and the characters were more themselves again. One of my favourite things about this series is the multiple character perspectives but in this book, it felt as if I we had three completely different main plot lines going on and I was reading three separate prequels instead of one book. I didn't hate this aspect but with the main characters being such a strong team, it was a bit strange. I absolutely adored each pairing of Baz and Simon, Penelope and Shephard (what a guy, I love him) and surprisingly, Niamh and Agatha. Agatha didn't make me eyeroll in this book! I do wish her friendship with Niamh was not rushed as much because it made her small plot line seem so out of the blue.

Another thing I just don't understand with the last two books in this series is the main plot being built up so much to then end over a few pages and never to be addressed again. If I have read over 400 pages building up this main plot line, I want more than 20 pages of it all unravelling and when we are given a prologue set 1 year later, I want more than just one paragraph that completely opens the world for more stories.

Overall, I really did enjoy Any Way the Wind Blows and it was incredibly easy to read, I just wish some things were thatched out a bit more and other things not so much.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Abandonment, Blood, Colonisation, Cursing, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical content, Mental illness, and Panic attacks/disorders