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recorderkfk's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
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
3.75
Immensely satisfying conclusion to the trilogy. Would have loved to 15 more pages at the end, but Novak pulls it all together in a story that feels finished, but in someway like life and making change: is still somehow continuing. The book also scales up dramatically in terms of visiting other enclaves from the first two books. If you ever curious about where all the students lived and came from this is the book where you learn all of that.
Highly recommend the entire trilogy, one of the best series that I have read in the last two years!!
* some additional thoughts post reading (reviews right after you read the book are not always the best)
- some of the character choices novak makes don't feel consistent with the previous two books. El's graduation alliance for example is really pushed into the background in favor of other chatacters
- resolution feels a little "happy ever after" on q certain scale.
Highly recommend the entire trilogy, one of the best series that I have read in the last two years!!
* some additional thoughts post reading (reviews right after you read the book are not always the best)
- some of the character choices novak makes don't feel consistent with the previous two books. El's graduation alliance for example is really pushed into the background in favor of other chatacters
- resolution feels a little "happy ever after" on q certain scale.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror and Gore
Moderate: Vomit
missmali's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child death, Death, Gore, and Violence
queenie_ofthe_void's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
sad
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
3.0
Not sure how I feel about the ending and the pacing. It seemed like this could have been two books, and a lot of side characters fell by the wayside (Chloe, Magnus, Liu, etc). For a final book with a lot of ground to cover, I felt too much time was spent building a relationship between Liesel and El. Not the relationship itself, but that time could've been used to a better purpose. REALLY not happy with how things ended for Orion. His entire arc was learning how to be a 'person' and not 'a hero who kills monsters' but then ended up choosing to spend his life away from loved ones and killing monsters full time. Disappointing tbh.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Body horror, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
mayabaxx's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
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? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, Drug use, Gore, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, and Murder
nefariousbee's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
reflective
relaxing
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
after a while, I found a series that gets better with every book. the last one really surprised me in its depth, I didn't think it would be more than a nice, fun read you can get immersed in magic in. but somehow it took this unexpected, serious turn, and I really loved that.
the pacing is wobbly and the characters are not always up to my expectations but the something you want from a book, it's there.
the pacing is wobbly and the characters are not always up to my expectations but the something you want from a book, it's there.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Torture, Violence, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Gore, Vomit, and War
wickedreads's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
I hate this book. five stars. I'm holding Naomi personally responsible for the therapy i will need after the roller coaster of emotions she just put me through. Final book. No cliffhanger.
Tags: I've actually never heard of a heterosexual, fade to black, poly, mf, ff, sapphic, dead dove do not eat, magic, magic boarding school, truly I was screaming, naomi we need to have a talk, demons, soulmates?, secret identities, war, mass casualties
TWings: grief, trauma, literally everyone has PTSD, war, dubious cheating? idk if it really counts as them being together at the time (no one is bothered from what i can tell but I know this stresses a lot of people out so i wanna give the maybe warning), mass killings, gore, no really its so gross, graphic
Tags: I've actually never heard of a heterosexual, fade to black, poly, mf, ff, sapphic, dead dove do not eat, magic, magic boarding school, truly I was screaming, naomi we need to have a talk, demons, soulmates?, secret identities, war, mass casualties
TWings: grief, trauma, literally everyone has PTSD, war, dubious cheating? idk if it really counts as them being together at the time (no one is bothered from what i can tell but I know this stresses a lot of people out so i wanna give the maybe warning), mass killings, gore, no really its so gross, graphic
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore and Violence
5aru's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
inspiring
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
4.5
What a fulfilling conclusion to the trilogy. I truly appreciated how the gray morality of certain characters was handled, and the twists felt like having the rug pulled out from under me — in a good way. I really admire the world and magic system Novik has built here, and these characters (El, in particular) have made room for themselves in my heart; I was rooting for them all the way through.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, and Grief
Moderate: Child abuse
stardust_heidi's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-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
4.0
For whatever reason, this book dragged in ways the first two didn't. I had to switch back and forth between audio and kindle multiple times in order to better follow the story. The ending was satisfying, and the plot twists and revelations were mind boggling. I enjoyed those a lot.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror and Gore
smithreads's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Gore, Mental illness, Sexual content, Violence, Kidnapping, Grief, Alcohol, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Moderate: Death of parent and Murder
Minor: Homophobia
gowlstick's review against another edition
dark
emotional
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
I had this on pre-order and was incredibly excited to finally get to it! It wraps up the trilogy in such a satisfying way that I didn't predict. It was exciting to have the characters finally out of the Scholomance and in the real world; there is a lot of cross continental travel. The only thing that really bothered me was how the travel time was handled, lots of the events in the book are high stakes situations for the characters so just having blank bits of travel was a bit jarring sometimes. This also gave a pretty fast paced non-stop feel to their actions at the same time.
I was pretty tickled when I got to the section where we discover that Orion is a mawmouth, I'd pretty much just been describing the series to a friend and said something along the lines of "he's like a human mawmouth" - and I still felt a bit of a surprise when it was officially droppped.
I think it follows the other two books incredibly well. I's very different but they all feel relatively even in terms of quality to me unlike what can happen with other trilogies. I hope that the series becomes bigger in name and carves itself out a spot in newer fantasy must-reads.
I think it follows the other two books incredibly well. I's very different but they all feel relatively even in terms of quality to me unlike what can happen with other trilogies. I hope that the series becomes bigger in name and carves itself out a spot in newer fantasy must-reads.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror and Gore
Moderate: Child death, Death, Death of parent, and Classism
Minor: Confinement, Grief, Alcohol, and Colonisation