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karenreadsbooks's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
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
I really enjoyed this book and am eagerly awaiting the sequel, especially since this book opened up so many questions and possibilities at the end.
This book was a single first person POV throughout, which I found refreshing so as not to have to keep up with so many POVs. That meant we really got to know Vis on a deep level, which I enjoyed. I had lots of highlighting and annotations throughout, and I can definitely see a reread at some point (probably before the next book comes out).
The book had my attention from the opening scene and kept it the entire time. We have Vis who is in hiding after his family was killed; he ends up in an elite school and has to work his way to the top and discover some of the secrets being hidden. In this world, the magic system is a pyramid-like structure with those on the lower levels ceding Will to those above, so the higher up in the pyramid you are, the more powerful, while those at the bottom are drained of energy all the time.
The motto of the Hierarchy is "Stronger Together" which seems to promise inclusion, protection, and belonging. But, as Vis points out, "you never have to look far to see its hypocrisy laid bare." At another point: "A fair system only works if there's an unbiased means of assessing merit. When there is no pride or selfishness involved....which means that fair systems cannot exist where people are involved." So much of what was wrong with the Hierarchy also feels like a commentary on our own society and the problems within it.
I cried a couple of times toward the end. And I'm so intrigued by what happened right at the end. I wrote a big WHAT?! on the final page. Excited to see where this goes.
This book was a single first person POV throughout, which I found refreshing so as not to have to keep up with so many POVs. That meant we really got to know Vis on a deep level, which I enjoyed. I had lots of highlighting and annotations throughout, and I can definitely see a reread at some point (probably before the next book comes out).
The book had my attention from the opening scene and kept it the entire time. We have Vis who is in hiding after his family was killed; he ends up in an elite school and has to work his way to the top and discover some of the secrets being hidden. In this world, the magic system is a pyramid-like structure with those on the lower levels ceding Will to those above, so the higher up in the pyramid you are, the more powerful, while those at the bottom are drained of energy all the time.
The motto of the Hierarchy is "Stronger Together" which seems to promise inclusion, protection, and belonging. But, as Vis points out, "you never have to look far to see its hypocrisy laid bare." At another point: "A fair system only works if there's an unbiased means of assessing merit. When there is no pride or selfishness involved....which means that fair systems cannot exist where people are involved." So much of what was wrong with the Hierarchy also feels like a commentary on our own society and the problems within it.
I cried a couple of times toward the end. And I'm so intrigued by what happened right at the end. I wrote a big WHAT?! on the final page. Excited to see where this goes.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Bullying, Classism, Colonisation, Death of parent, Death, Misogyny, and Violence
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