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sirpasta's review
- 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
Graphic: Suicide
Moderate: Colonisation, Death, War, Xenophobia, Violence, Slavery, Murder, Drug use, Genocide, Fire/Fire injury, and Torture
Minor: Child abuse, Animal death, Bullying, Child death, Cursing, Sexual violence, Confinement, Animal cruelty, Alcohol, and Cannibalism
kendal_reads'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
Graphic: Blood, Grief, War, Death of parent, Violence, and Death
Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Classism, Rape, and Torture
Minor: Vomit and Pregnancy
roaming_enn'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
5.0
The story picks up a few years after the ending of the Grace of Kings, when Kuni's children are in their pre-teens, and ends when they are in their late teens and early twenties. The story has scholarly elements, which I love. I cried so much while reading (I cry fairly easily, but not as much, especially not reading books). It was heartbreaking, infuriating, hopeful, and I felt all of the emotions! So many of my favorite characters died. I was devastated to see them go, but you know what? All of their deaths were very meaningful. Of course, the engineering and military strategy surpassed even what there was in the Grace of Kings!
This review is being written after my 2nd read of this book. I had originally rated this book as 4.50, but after rereading it, I'm gonna have to give it a full 5 stars. It really was that good!
Graphic: Death and Murder
Moderate: Rape and Sexual assault
astraeal's review against another edition
4.75
Graphic: Death, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Animal death, Murder, and War
Moderate: Sexual assault, Slavery, Rape, and Drug use
onthebooksel's review against another edition
5.0
I want to firstly mention that while Liu does a really good job subverting many narrative tropes - his attempt at subverting the barbarian trope with one conversation between two warring peoples about who really belongs on the land when you know that your people also settled here at some point fails because of the rape of the one character almost immediately afterwards.
Otherwise Liu proves himself to be an all around outstanding author and if you want a more in depth review I would check out Tammie’s review here:
https://goodreads.com/review/show/3723995676?book_show_action=false&from_review_page=1
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Blood, Animal death, Death, Grief, Violence, Slavery, Torture, War, Kidnapping, Rape, and Sexual assault
booksthatburn's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Suicide, Violence, Torture, Murder, Animal death, and Death
Moderate: Gore, Sexual assault, Colonisation, Ableism, Alcohol, Emotional abuse, Blood, and Rape
Minor: Self harm