popcprof's review against another edition

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challenging dark reflective fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This book deals with a lot of challenging issues of violence against women and children, and I'm struggling with how necessary or healthy it is to engage with, at least for me.

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splendidduchess's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25


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zephyrlestrange's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense medium-paced
  • 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? It's complicated

5.0

Coming back to properly review this book because I needed a few days to recover from reading something so incredibly perfect, it’s cemented a spot in my top ten of all time - along with Clive Barker’s Books of The Art series, Hiron Enne’s Leech and Murakami’s Kafka on the Shore if that gives you an idea of my tastes. 

Sprawling doesn’t do it justice - the sheer size and scope of the story is so incredibly impressive for an author’s first book. Every character has an opportunity to evolve and grow and in such a way I feel like this should be mandatory reading for those wanting to write. 

It was in all ways the perfect balance of awe inspiring beauty, nail biting dread and bald faced horrific violence - nothing was gratuitous and it all added to the tension of the story. I will say the end of the book feels a little rushed but I could not imagine trying to pull all the threads of this tapestry together with such grace. 

If you like strong female leads, sci-fi, mythology, language, absurdism, terror, violence, revenge, you will love this book. 1000000/10

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aducharme4's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced
  • 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


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antimony's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated

4.0

only complaint is that the pacing was kinda weird. like the first half was rapid fire everything happening all at once and then it slows down like crazy after
carolyn kills david and brings steve into the library
. i thought all the stuff with the Library was super interesting as well & i would have loved like a list at the front or something of what all the catalogs are..we know abt healing, war, languages, mathematics(?), animals, death/the forgotten lands, time, & like possible timelines (whatever rachel is doing), but like that's just 8!! there are 4 more!!

ok actually wait. 3 hrs out from finishing it i have some more thoughts. mainly . like i said before the other librarians were so interesting and totally underutilized (i mean we only get NAMES for like 7 or 8 of them!!!) and it felt so cheap that
they 100% really did all die (except michael) when the military showed up at mrs mcgillicutty's house. like seriously?? they're all part of the way to being gods but all it takes is a bunch of guns to kill them:/?
and kinda
none of steve's and carolyn's problems were really solved at all except for the ending of the famines and whatnot by her turning him into the sun. idk if a steve epilogue was possible but i would have liked that a lot better than the erwin one we got
and also the narrative sorta justifies all the torture that the father put carolyn and her siblings through at the end. as if there was no other way for
him to choose a successor and then retire??

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camille_harakal's review against another edition

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4.75


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mbzoller's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0


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lori007's review against another edition

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challenging dark fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0


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mcft37's review against another edition

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Seemed like an interesting premise, I really wanted to see what the buzz was about and what the twist was at the end... But I just couldn't get past all the violence and gore. (I would categorize this as gore horror.) I really tried. Guess I'm too sensitive. Or perhaps I should be wondering WTF it says about society that people enjoy it.

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mrgriffit's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

A book for anyone who supports women’s wrongs and women’s rights. Also for people who enjoy stories where characters have incredibly intricate plans that have small details that pile up into big successes. 

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