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bluejayreads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Blood, Death, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Child death, Child abuse, Abandonment, Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Bullying
Minor: Ableism and Gore
thebetterstory'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
4.25
The writing is a lively mixture of classic tropes and new twists on the formula. The worldbuilding is doled out my preferred way, in tiny bursts and only when it's directly relevant to the characters lives' in some way. The prose is also pleasantly unpretentious, focusing on imparting clear information rather than dazzling with elaborate descriptions or turns of phrase. It makes this eminently readable, which is great for the tightly-paced plot and action sequences.
Nona, the protagonist, leans into being a power fantasy, which I suppose might annoy people who for some reason do not enjoy watching little girls behead grown men in vengeance, but as she's also being constantly beset by horrible circumstances I'd say she's still quite easy to root for, as is the motley cast of friends she gathers around herself as the novel progresses.
There was one particular bit I found annoying, which had to do with the girls (who do at least have the excuse of being very young) refusing to disclose important information to the adults in their lives because they're scared of the consequences, even when it becomes obvious those consequences could be dire. Luckily, nobody's holding onto the idiot ball for longer than a plot-essential arc or so before it's dropped.
By the time I was a quarter of the way through the book, I was already reserving the rest of the series from the library and settling in to marathon as much as I could. This was my first book by this author, and I'm certain I'll be digging back through his previous trilogies to see if they're as delightful as this one is so far.
Graphic: Animal cruelty and Animal death
Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, and Violence
Minor: Ableism and Bullying
miolla's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Graphic: Animal cruelty and Animal death
the_rainydayreader's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Violence
Moderate: Animal cruelty and Animal death
azaliz's review against another edition
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
I also love the lore and the universe of the story, it's fascinating! Plus the author is very good at explaining the way his world works, and at the beginning of Book Two he summarizes neatly what happened in the previous book, which is a nice touch.
The book contains some flash-forward and flashbacks that are very well done; we are often lead to believe certain things then discover ourselves that we were mistaken, without the characters explicitly explaining what the truth is. It feels very clever.
Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Death, Gore, Physical abuse, and Violence
Moderate: Bullying and Religious bigotry
Minor: Body shaming and Chronic illness
Lots of heavy and gory fighting. Some characters are treacherous (it's often the case in such books) but that's all the negative emotions the book contains: no sexism, no homophobia…littlestbiscuit's review against another edition
- Strong character development? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Violence, Torture, Physical abuse, and Gore
Moderate: Pedophilia
Pedophilia is fairly heavily implied but doesn't happen explicitly in the text. Fairly graphic descriptions of gore, I've got a strong threshold and the