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yas_sezer's review against another edition
4.0
4/5 - after sitting with this book for a few days, i realised the characters have really sunken into my heart and i’m starting to miss them? they have randomly popped into my head throughout the day as if i KNEW them, and it’s been one book.
before i get into my broad thoughts on each crow, i need to acknowledge the plot. this was so much fun, and despite it being long the pacing was perfect for me. it felt like i was learning the characters and the details of their lives alongside the story rather than just info dumps which i always love. compared to shadow and bone, this targets character depth and thought out relationships a lot better which i appreciate.
there were times when i was just rolling with the plot because there was a lot going on at once (how did inej somehow backflip slip into the tank room and then into a tank at the ice court? my brain couldn’t picture it but we accepted it anyway). but honestly, i don’t even care because it didn’t take away from the story or my enjoyment of it.
KAZ - i honestly really liked him, but cannot picture him to be 17. to me he’s 25+ and it’s because of the way he carries himself. hes tough, smart, strong, mysterious, and underneath the hard exterior there is a soft young boy. i’m looking forward to seeing his character develop in crooked kingdom, and i want to see more of his quick plans and hopefully relationship with inej. i liked seeing his childhood and his grief from his brother (swimming with your brothers corpse as your floatie is tough, especially after he’s indirectly killed by some scam artist). i hope he gets his revenge.
INEJ - diversity, good to see. i liked her and want to see her do MORE (i know she’s kinda kidnapped rn but i’m sure she will be back). her skill of being a ghost/shadow gave me shadow and bone vibes which i welcome with open arms. i hope she has an arc where she can open up more and i am praying for burning tension with her and kaz. she’s badass, great fighter, and a girls girl with nina. just need to see more from her. her past is sad, i didn’t expect sex work in brothels to be such a common theme in this series, but getting an insight into how that industry can potentially operate irl too was sad.
MATTHIAS - you complicated man. a grisha hunter in love with a heartrender. tbh idk if i believe they are endgame, but knowing that she gave him up broke my heart especially since he was working to protect her, which is completely against his core values. i understand she thought it would be a better outcome and didn’t know he would be imprisoned but damn. i find him interesting, seeing his inner conflict kept me intrigued with his character who is so set in his country’s values and traditions. i’d also like to see more from him in terms of fighting and brains. i enjoyed his little betrayal moment with his old boss (i knew he wouldn’t do us dirty like that, man can’t help but be whipped for nina atp).
NINA - grishaaaaaa. bringing shadow and bone back. i liked that she is a heartrender because we didn’t see too much of it in the trilogy and i find her power interesting. she is essentially the hot one, and rightfully so. keep seducing men and then destroying their lives bbg. i don’t have any too many negative things to say about her, not even in terms of how she treated/treats matthias because they’re essentially in the same position but opposite ends. her people are BURNT at the stake, to a black crisp with red flesh cracking through, left to die slowly, while his are brutally murdered in camps. i feel for both of them, and want to see more of them both individually and together. similar to inej, ninas brothel work made me feel really bad for her
JESPER - LETS GO ANOTHER GRISHA. cheeky lil fabrikator. i’m ngl jesper is a uk light skin man in my mind, i can’t get rid of the accent. i like his character and especially his dynamic with wylan (first i saw it as a sibling bond, but then he kinda flirted with him so maybe not…?). i like his personality, he’s more out there and open, but i do want to see more with him and kaz. he did accidentally leak info that got them fully ambushed, BUT it was stupidity so hopefully kaz and him can heal and strengthen their friendship.
WYLAN - he feels super young to me while everyone else feels old. everyone else i see to be 22-24, but wylan feels 14. somehow in reality wylan is 16 and everyone else is 17 (not matthias who is 18). i like his character and knew he wouldn’t really be effective bait in the long run especially when he basically confirmed it by telling us his daddy didn’t really care. his dads an ass, writing letters to his son who CANT READ nah that’s cold. i want to see more from wylan and hope his character gets a huge development and arc.
quick summary: oceans 11 but fantasy. everyone has their own motives for needing 4 million bucks from the heist to go get this man from the ice court and deliver him to the merchant council. this man is the one who develops jurda panem which is a drug that makes grisha super addicted instantly most of the time, and also makes their power extremely enhanced. we don’t want this bc it is likely to cause a war and crash the economy, plus we want the 30 million bucks total offered so we go on this heist. the ice court is the most difficult protected place to get into, but w information from matthias and wylan, we draw up a map and make plans. there’s lots of complications and improv along the way, but we manage to get the guy. turns out the guy is actually dead and his kid is here, so we steal the kid. everyone gets back with no money really coz the merchant council betrays us and inej gets kidnapped
before i get into my broad thoughts on each crow, i need to acknowledge the plot. this was so much fun, and despite it being long the pacing was perfect for me. it felt like i was learning the characters and the details of their lives alongside the story rather than just info dumps which i always love. compared to shadow and bone, this targets character depth and thought out relationships a lot better which i appreciate.
there were times when i was just rolling with the plot because there was a lot going on at once (how did inej somehow backflip slip into the tank room and then into a tank at the ice court? my brain couldn’t picture it but we accepted it anyway). but honestly, i don’t even care because it didn’t take away from the story or my enjoyment of it.
KAZ - i honestly really liked him, but cannot picture him to be 17. to me he’s 25+ and it’s because of the way he carries himself. hes tough, smart, strong, mysterious, and underneath the hard exterior there is a soft young boy. i’m looking forward to seeing his character develop in crooked kingdom, and i want to see more of his quick plans and hopefully relationship with inej. i liked seeing his childhood and his grief from his brother (swimming with your brothers corpse as your floatie is tough, especially after he’s indirectly killed by some scam artist). i hope he gets his revenge.
INEJ - diversity, good to see. i liked her and want to see her do MORE (i know she’s kinda kidnapped rn but i’m sure she will be back). her skill of being a ghost/shadow gave me shadow and bone vibes which i welcome with open arms. i hope she has an arc where she can open up more and i am praying for burning tension with her and kaz. she’s badass, great fighter, and a girls girl with nina. just need to see more from her. her past is sad, i didn’t expect sex work in brothels to be such a common theme in this series, but getting an insight into how that industry can potentially operate irl too was sad.
MATTHIAS - you complicated man. a grisha hunter in love with a heartrender. tbh idk if i believe they are endgame, but knowing that she gave him up broke my heart especially since he was working to protect her, which is completely against his core values. i understand she thought it would be a better outcome and didn’t know he would be imprisoned but damn. i find him interesting, seeing his inner conflict kept me intrigued with his character who is so set in his country’s values and traditions. i’d also like to see more from him in terms of fighting and brains. i enjoyed his little betrayal moment with his old boss (i knew he wouldn’t do us dirty like that, man can’t help but be whipped for nina atp).
NINA - grishaaaaaa. bringing shadow and bone back. i liked that she is a heartrender because we didn’t see too much of it in the trilogy and i find her power interesting. she is essentially the hot one, and rightfully so. keep seducing men and then destroying their lives bbg. i don’t have any too many negative things to say about her, not even in terms of how she treated/treats matthias because they’re essentially in the same position but opposite ends. her people are BURNT at the stake, to a black crisp with red flesh cracking through, left to die slowly, while his are brutally murdered in camps. i feel for both of them, and want to see more of them both individually and together. similar to inej, ninas brothel work made me feel really bad for her
JESPER - LETS GO ANOTHER GRISHA. cheeky lil fabrikator. i’m ngl jesper is a uk light skin man in my mind, i can’t get rid of the accent. i like his character and especially his dynamic with wylan (first i saw it as a sibling bond, but then he kinda flirted with him so maybe not…?). i like his personality, he’s more out there and open, but i do want to see more with him and kaz. he did accidentally leak info that got them fully ambushed, BUT it was stupidity so hopefully kaz and him can heal and strengthen their friendship.
WYLAN - he feels super young to me while everyone else feels old. everyone else i see to be 22-24, but wylan feels 14. somehow in reality wylan is 16 and everyone else is 17 (not matthias who is 18). i like his character and knew he wouldn’t really be effective bait in the long run especially when he basically confirmed it by telling us his daddy didn’t really care. his dads an ass, writing letters to his son who CANT READ nah that’s cold. i want to see more from wylan and hope his character gets a huge development and arc.
quick summary: oceans 11 but fantasy. everyone has their own motives for needing 4 million bucks from the heist to go get this man from the ice court and deliver him to the merchant council. this man is the one who develops jurda panem which is a drug that makes grisha super addicted instantly most of the time, and also makes their power extremely enhanced. we don’t want this bc it is likely to cause a war and crash the economy, plus we want the 30 million bucks total offered so we go on this heist. the ice court is the most difficult protected place to get into, but w information from matthias and wylan, we draw up a map and make plans. there’s lots of complications and improv along the way, but we manage to get the guy. turns out the guy is actually dead and his kid is here, so we steal the kid. everyone gets back with no money really coz the merchant council betrays us and inej gets kidnapped
schoolmarmette's review against another edition
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
jaimeacevesm's review against another edition
4.0
It's a great story, it's just that some parts of it feel way too cliché, as in heist-movie cliché.
It's fast-paced, action-packed; yet, the closure feels rushed.
It's fast-paced, action-packed; yet, the closure feels rushed.
teajay_'s review against another edition
adventurous
funny
mysterious
fast-paced
- 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
4.75
Content Warnings
Moderate: Trafficking, Mental illness, Violence, Kidnapping, Child death, and Panic attacks/disorders
reesemunson's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
tense
medium-paced
- 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
4.75
Idk why I don’t rate this 5 stars tbh
kirsteny's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
tense
medium-paced
- 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
4.75
jacintasousa's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
rachaeltangtang's review
3.0
3.5 - took me awhile to get into it, the world building and magic system was a harder one for me to grasp but when it started to pick up?? oh boy, was i hooked. Inej is my absolute fave out of the crew!! a fun read, can’t wait to finish this duology!!
nevedunn's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0