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fionamatilda's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Graphic: Self harm, Blood, Violence, and Child abuse
Moderate: Death of parent, Abandonment, and Grief
trippalli's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
The other characters introduced who are trying to help with their magic are failing and also start self cutting to pull power which seems both dark, repeatative and unhelpful. The narrator makes a deal with the dark underlord and gives up her family... The love triangle between the undrowned traffic love survivor and the dark underlord both seem like abusive relationships full of gaslighting, darn deals and unfortunately violent power dynamics.. Giving up positive things in their lives to try to save this cursed land.
It all became redundant, dark and pointless. There's really no plot, the relationships aren't founded in love but more power dynamics, pity, and tragedy. I skimmed through entire book speed reading after the first half trying to see if it would evolve and a plot would evolve. Nothing evolved.
Sadly I can't recommend this, as despite the promising descriptive language and world building, the characters relationships are very triggering for me as an abuse survivor, and the self cutting is horrific, knowing people who suffered with cutting in real life this is not ok to weave into a young adult book as a source of magic. It's not cutting is just tragic self harm.
Graphic: Death of parent, Toxic friendship, Violence, Self harm, Child death, Gaslighting, Death, Toxic relationship, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, and Blood
jwhitlow91'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? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Blood, Medical content, Physical abuse, Child abuse, Death, Body horror, Self harm, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, and Murder
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Vomit
Minor: Suicide attempt and Sexual content
r_a_bell's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
At the beginning, the main character refer to the (initial) antagonist as “the monster” constantly. After hearing a single rumor about him, being told that he’s called a monster and having like 2 interactions with him. It’s like it was just easier to have the main character keep calling him a monster instead of actually illustrating it and leading you to that conclusion yourself. The entire book just felt like it was trying to hard to be dark and scary, without actually delivering.
My biggest complaint, though, is the descriptions throughout do not line up. When I read, I have a movie that plays in my head of what’s going on in the book. And the way actions were described, it completely took me out of the story almost constantly! For example, if it describes two characters in the same room, at first it will describe them as being on opposite side of the room, and then 2 seconds later it’ll be saying that character A grabbed Character B’s hand. When did they cross the room?? Did I miss something or do they just have super long arms??
My final note:
Graphic: Death of parent, Vomit, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Self harm, Suicide attempt, Blood, Death, Gore, and Suicide
Moderate: Child death, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Physical abuse, Sexual content, and Abandonment
karapillar's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Blood, Vomit, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, and Self harm
Moderate: Violence and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Sexual content
reading_ani's review against another edition
- 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 have to confess I had zero expectations towards this book. When I received my edition in an Owlcrate box I read the blurb and was intrigued, but didn’t expect great things from it. But oh boy was I wrong! I absolutely loved and wholeheartedly enjoyed this book! When I finally picked it up to read it, I knew that it would be part of a series, but honestly, even if I hadn’t, there were a lot of things foreshadowing this fact very early on.
Graphic: Blood and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Death of parent, Grief, and Death
haley49's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Blood, Child abuse, and Body horror
Moderate: Self harm, Death of parent, Vomit, Gore, and Grief
Minor: Sexual content and Suicide attempt
laceyc1's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Graphic: Blood
Minor: Child death, Death, Death of parent, and Grief
caidyn's review against another edition
Graphic: Blood, Child abuse, and Self harm
Moderate: Death of parent and Grief
rebthack's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.25
Graphic: Child abuse, Blood, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, and Self harm
Moderate: Blood, Child death, Emotional abuse, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, and Kidnapping