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sadiebreed's review against another edition
adventurous
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? It's complicated
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death
Moderate: Trafficking and Slavery
Minor: Rape
hanarama's review
adventurous
emotional
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
5.0
The Good:
• Beautiful prose
• Omniscient narrator, looks into all POV
• Expanded world building
The Bad:
• Shallow romance
• Lazlo felt useless
You Might Like This if You Like:
• Frozen
• Devoted sisters
• Sympathetic antagonists
While the first book reminded me a lot of Atlantis, thus one reminds me more of Frozen due to the Nova's arc.
Here we learn more about the gods, and more specifically about Kora, who was the goddess of secrets. We learn about her past and about her sister, Nova who is a POV character. Through Nova, significant world building is accomplished. We see the true nature of the gods as well as learn what their purpose in Weep was. It really helps to set Nova up as a very sympathetic antagonist.
And though Minya is at times very frustrating, we learn a great deal about her backstory here. As a result, Minya becomes more than just a vengeful permanent-child.
There is a lot more time spent exploring side characters in this book. It really helps to flesh out the world. It also helped me to connect with the larger picture of the story.
The biggest let down was in how utterly useless Lazlo was through most of the story. He's wholly devoted himself to Sarai in this book, and thus undergoes very little development, and he makes little use of his abilities in dealing with the antagonists.
• Beautiful prose
• Omniscient narrator, looks into all POV
• Expanded world building
The Bad:
• Shallow romance
• Lazlo felt useless
You Might Like This if You Like:
• Frozen
• Devoted sisters
• Sympathetic antagonists
While the first book reminded me a lot of Atlantis, thus one reminds me more of Frozen due to the Nova's arc.
Here we learn more about the gods, and more specifically about Kora, who was the goddess of secrets. We learn about her past and about her sister, Nova who is a POV character. Through Nova, significant world building is accomplished. We see the true nature of the gods as well as learn what their purpose in Weep was. It really helps to set Nova up as a very sympathetic antagonist.
And though Minya is at times very frustrating, we learn a great deal about her backstory here. As a result, Minya becomes more than just a vengeful permanent-child.
There is a lot more time spent exploring side characters in this book. It really helps to flesh out the world. It also helped me to connect with the larger picture of the story.
The biggest let down was in how utterly useless Lazlo was through most of the story. He's wholly devoted himself to Sarai in this book, and thus undergoes very little development, and he makes little use of his abilities in dealing with the antagonists.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, and Gaslighting
Moderate: Blood, Child death, Domestic abuse, and Injury/Injury detail
hotpinkmess's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment, Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Grief, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Murder, Rape, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, and Violence
anushar's review
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
sad
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
3.75
This book was overall really good and the ending had me in my feels, unfortunately I found that I was skimming a lot in this book, it’s rather slow paced and despite the beautiful writing the story definitely feels longer than it needs to be. I would recommend it overall though.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and Murder
Moderate: Sexual violence
bookcaptivated's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Grief, and Gore
Moderate: Death of parent, Kidnapping, Murder, Suicide, and Violence
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Slavery, Genocide, Trafficking, and Xenophobia
daydreamermoonwalker's review
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
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
4.0
I liked this more than the first book because I thought the plot picked up a lot faster. I loved Serai and Minya's character development, and several of the side characters got really interesting development too. My only complaint is that Lazlo was a pretty static character. His whole purpose and personality in this book was his love for Serai, while she had motivations outside of her relationship with him. There was a subplot with some side characters that was gripping and achingly sad which I absolutely adored. I also loved the themes of forgiveness and redemption. Overall I think that if you liked the first book, you'll like this one!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Grief, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Murder, Rape, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Trafficking
journeythroughthechapters's review
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Thoughts
This took me forever to read. I don’t know if it was a slump or if it was the book. I was just bored. The story took a long time to get going. While the book took off where the first one left off which was a major cliffhanger it took a while for anything to really happen.
Things I liked:
- The atmosphere. This world is stunning and super vivid. This is one of the few books that I really can visualise what it would look like and generally for me this is hard. So that is a testament to the writing
- The characters. I feel like some of the character developments were a bit unrealistic and the changes from the first to the second book were fairly drastic but I didn’t mind that. The two that come to mind are Minya and Nero. Minya’s development I can understand but Nero’s does a complete 180 but he’s minor so I didn’t really care. So while they are not my favourite characters I liked them.
Things I didn’t like:
- The writing. On this a lot of people will disagree with me on but I don’t like floral writing. I like straight forward writing that is to the point. Laini Taylor’s writing is beautiful it’s just not for me personally
- The plot. Deary me did this book drag. The first 200-250 felt like it went on forever. Things happened but I was captivated or intrigued which I’m sad to say. It gets more interesting in the last quarter but that doesn’t make up for the rest of the novel. I am both a plot and character driven reader and for me the characters couldn’t carry this book for me.
I’m definitely the unpopular opinion in this instance. But I Strange the Dreamer as well wasn’t a favourite so I’m not that surprised.
Content Warning: Death/Dead Body, Sexism, Suspected Self Harm, Suicide, Grief
Representation: Lesbian - Side Character, POC
This took me forever to read. I don’t know if it was a slump or if it was the book. I was just bored. The story took a long time to get going. While the book took off where the first one left off which was a major cliffhanger it took a while for anything to really happen.
Things I liked:
- The atmosphere. This world is stunning and super vivid. This is one of the few books that I really can visualise what it would look like and generally for me this is hard. So that is a testament to the writing
- The characters. I feel like some of the character developments were a bit unrealistic and the changes from the first to the second book were fairly drastic but I didn’t mind that. The two that come to mind are Minya and Nero. Minya’s development I can understand but Nero’s does a complete 180 but he’s minor so I didn’t really care. So while they are not my favourite characters I liked them.
Things I didn’t like:
- The writing. On this a lot of people will disagree with me on but I don’t like floral writing. I like straight forward writing that is to the point. Laini Taylor’s writing is beautiful it’s just not for me personally
- The plot. Deary me did this book drag. The first 200-250 felt like it went on forever. Things happened but I was captivated or intrigued which I’m sad to say. It gets more interesting in the last quarter but that doesn’t make up for the rest of the novel. I am both a plot and character driven reader and for me the characters couldn’t carry this book for me.
I’m definitely the unpopular opinion in this instance. But I Strange the Dreamer as well wasn’t a favourite so I’m not that surprised.
Content Warning: Death/Dead Body, Sexism, Suspected Self Harm, Suicide, Grief
Representation: Lesbian - Side Character, POC
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and Grief
Moderate: Sexism and Suicide
Minor: Self harm
angelareads's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Confinement, Death, Gore, Grief, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, and Violence
Moderate: Body horror, Child death, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide, and Torture
Minor: Child abuse and Panic attacks/disorders
ivana's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood and Death
aimeereads's review
dark
emotional
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
minya, thyon nero, and calixte are the only characters that made this bearable
the plot swerved so suddenly and so out of the way of my expectations??
there was so much backstory?? maybe 40% of the book actually happened in the present? and everything just ties back to characters that are already d***
there was a wide array of povs and interesting characters, but not enough interesting interactions or any actual growth?
also, the reveal of weep's hidden name? a letdown if i ever saw one
the plot swerved so suddenly and so out of the way of my expectations??
there was so much backstory?? maybe 40% of the book actually happened in the present? and everything just ties back to characters that are already d***
there was a wide array of povs and interesting characters, but not enough interesting interactions or any actual growth?
also, the reveal of weep's hidden name? a letdown if i ever saw one
Content Warnings
Moderate: Blood, Child death, Death, Gore, Grief, Kidnapping, Rape, Sexual assault, Slavery, and Trafficking
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