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piphux's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Violence, Body horror, Blood, Child death, and Murder
Moderate: Child abuse, Self harm, Genocide, Cancer, Cannibalism, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, and Terminal illness
Minor: Ableism and Adult/minor relationship
kalmia31's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.75
Graphic: Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Murder, Death, Death of parent, Gore, Medical trauma, Vomit, and Body horror
Moderate: Chronic illness, Misogyny, Forced institutionalization, Torture, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Child death, Bullying, Classism, Emotional abuse, Grief, Physical abuse, Abandonment, Ableism, Child abuse, Mental illness, Terminal illness, and Toxic friendship
Minor: Cannibalism, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Self harm, Cancer, Pregnancy, and Religious bigotry
katbsc's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Negatives:The exposition of this book is so dense and yet not dense enough. It's a complicated, unfamiliar world being built, and building it in your mind is quite the task. The language of the book has an air of trying a little too hard to sound profound, which can be off-putting. There is a HUGE cast of characters in this book, and each character is referred to in a rotation of 4 different ways: their first name, their last name, their house/role, and their physical description. This can be VERY confusing to try to keep straight (at least to me in my ADHD brain)
Graphic: Gore, Blood, Murder, Child death, Death, and Ableism
Moderate: War, Violence, Toxic friendship, Cancer, Xenophobia, Torture, Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, Chronic illness, Blood, and Terminal illness
templetoncecelia's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Blood, Death, Gore, Murder, and Violence
Moderate: Toxic friendship, Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Genocide, Child death, Chronic illness, Ableism, Bullying, Emotional abuse, and Death of parent
Minor: Suicide
annapox's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
Graphic: Cancer, Chronic illness, Torture, Vomit, Murder, Toxic friendship, Violence, Blood, Body horror, Death, Gore, Medical content, and Cursing
Moderate: Cannibalism, Blood, Grief, and Self harm
Minor: Ableism, Child abuse, Confinement, Excrement, Fire/Fire injury, Infertility, Kidnapping, Pregnancy, Religious bigotry, War, Child death, Death of parent, Suicide, and Slavery
emzhay's review against another edition
- 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
3.5
Graphic: Toxic friendship, Murder, Terminal illness, Suicide, Child death, Gore, Death, and Violence
Moderate: Ableism and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Cannibalism and Death of parent
toobendy's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
3.5
Graphic: Suicide, Slavery, Infertility, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Child death, and Ableism
booksthatburn's review against another edition
- 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
4.5
This book felt good to read; the blend of occasional older syntax and modern vocabulary made "necromancers in space", er, "necromancers on a desolate planet" feel complete. I love this depiction of magic co-existing with technology in a decidedly-futuristic space. I don't mean to play up the tech too much, it factors in about as much as the existence of elevators does... they're relevant whenever you need to use one. But their presence is a periodic whisper of "we're in the future and there's magic too..." The language has a visceral "crunch to it", which is a style I like.
Because the POV character isn't always up to speed on what's happening, there's a blend of heavy detail and suddenly important knowledge gaps which meant that for a large part of the book I was having trouble tracking what events were important and how everything connected. This is something I have difficulty with normally, so it's not necessarily a fault of the book, but if (like me) you struggle with that, this book might feel confusing for long stretches. However, the last quarter of the book pulled everything together in a satisfying way with enough explanation that as things were resolved I understood why and how they had resolved, even though I'd been having trouble tracking the details earlier. It meant that the ending felt complete, like a real resolution, despite my previous confusion. To me this is a strength of the book, since even if someone read this over a longer period of time than I did, the ending should still feel strong.
Most of the characters have several combinations of names, titles, and nicknames, but they are often used in ways that reinforce their connection back to each person and that made it easier for me to keep track. It made the level of formality in each interaction apparent immediately, even when no body language was described, and that did a lot to set up the tone of each scene in a succinct way.
Graphic: Death
Moderate: Body horror, Gore, and Terminal illness
Minor: Ableism, Child death, and Suicide