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aysha_blake's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- 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? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Murder, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Rape, Sexual assault, Grief, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, and War
friendly_neighborhood_grandma's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infertility, Physical abuse, Forced institutionalization, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail
_alyssar_'s review against another edition
dark
tense
medium-paced
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Violence, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Animal death, Infertility, Blood, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Alcohol
anastashamarie's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
⚠️ Warning: this one has a lot of childhood trauma in it.
❄️ As a character study of Wren and her trauma, this is A+. As an adventure odyssey, it's enjoyable. As a romantic fantasy, I kind of wanted more.
🏰 I wish the romance burned a little slower. I LOVE friends-to-lovers, but I don't think it had the chemistry I was seeking. There was also a surprising about of plot armor, and at times, it felt like the book was rushed, not in terms of pacing (pacing was actually pretty good) but in terms of publication? Like it wasn't as polished as a lot of Holly Black's other plotlines.
🗡️ BUT I love grown-up Oak's arrogance. I double loved the exploration of Wren's trauma and character. I loved getting to see Elfhame again. And, yeah, okay, even for my complaints, I will be anxiously awaiting the next one.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Gaslighting, and Abandonment
Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Torture, Kidnapping, and Murder
Minor: Child death, Infertility, and Suicidal thoughts
kimmykelly's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Blood, and Death of parent
nebraskanwriter's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Abandonment, War, and Injury/Injury detail
olivialandryxo's review against another edition
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I’ve joked that Holly Black peaked when she wrote The Folk of the Air, but I didn’t think it would actually be true.
Unfortunately, it is.
That’s not to say this book was terrible, because it wasn’t. That’s also not to say I wanted it to be exactly like TFOTA, because I knew it wouldn’t be. But, having just reread the trilogy before diving into this, I had refreshed my memory on exactly how brilliant it was and thus expected similar brilliance, even if it was a different sort… only for this to be so startlingly, disappointingly mediocre.
I do love Wren, though; I really do. She was such a compelling protagonist, very easy to root for. I love the way she was written, I love her character arc, and if she’s a little unhinged, so what? We respect that here. I want to give her a nice, hot bowl of soup, and a big, warm sweater, and an even bigger, warmer hug. She deserves all the good things.
One thing we don’t do in this house? Wren slander. I will protect my daughter. I decided to look at some other reviews after finishing the book because I felt so conflicted, and the number of people I saw calling her “boring,” “whiny,” “bland”… y’all are tasteless. This poor girl is traumatized and trying her best, and she absolutely does not deserve to be attacked for it. (If I had the spoons, I could go on a whole rant about how everyone would probably love Wren, if only she had been written as a boy, because I’ve been thinking about this and I have feelings… but, alas, I don’t have the spoons.)
I will make one (1) admission, though—her behavior did shift rather abruptly in the final few chapters. I’m here for the new Wren, no question, but I can still admit that it felt a bit too sudden.
The other characters, though? My feelings ranged from “I have none” (Hyacinthe) to “I actually can’t stand you” (Oak and Tiernan). Honestly, I feel like Oak was done so dirty. I was looking so forward to seeing what he was like now that he’d grown up, but Holly turned him into a much shallower, blonde The Cruel Prince-era Cardan, with nothing between his ears and no reason to root for him. He had a few moments where I thought he was clever or impressive, but that’s about it. If the next book is really from his perspective, that relationship’s gonna be doomed from the start.
And don’t even get me started on Tiernan. He reminded me so strongly of one of my favorite video game characters, but like… said character is what Tiernan could’ve been if he had any personality traits aside from grumpy asshole. I don’t know what his problem was with Wren or why he was so awful to her, but I do know that by the time he (finally) lightened up, it was far too little, far too late.
Now, possibly my biggest beef with this book—we didn’t get to see Jude or Cardan, not even ONCE!! I kept seeing teasers of how there were ~familiar faces~ in this book, and I was waiting the whole goddamn time to see them, BUT NO. The only ~familiar faces~ we see are antagonists, and I am. SO SALTY.
Moving on, for my own sanity.
The romance?? If you can call it that?? felt very much like secondhand Jurdan, like Holly was just trying to see exactly how many of the same stunts she could pull again and still get away with. There was no slow development of feelings, no angst or pining or attempted murder, just boom! Feelings! And it felt clumsy. Like, we know this woman can write an absolutely DELIGHTFUL slow-burn, we’ve seen it with our own eyes, but this time, she was just like… nah. And that’s truly tragic.
Seriously though. Wren and Oak have literally no chemistry. Holly seems to think that some sort-of-cute childhood flashbacks will work in place of present-day chemistry, but spoiler alert: no. They will not.
Now, for the plot… to be quite honest, it didn’t feel like there was one. There was an end goal, but the entire book was just a glorified road trip (except they don’t actually have a car). Most of it was just very boring, very typical fantasy journeying, from point A to point B to point C, which really is so disappointing. In TCP, even when there’s not really any action, there are still things happening. Here? Not so much. And any conflict the trio did find themselves in just seemed resolved far too easily.
(The spoiler tag applies to both The Queen of Nothing and The Stolen Heir. In summary, I found the reason for this book’s quest asinine—due to events from TQON—and guessed the ending’s plot twist. Details below.)
And the fact that all of this was for Madoc??? SERIOUSLY??? I didn’t give a crap about him before, and that hasn’t changed. Not a very compelling point for a quest AT ALL. He almost killed Jude in The Queen of Nothing!! He was the cause of most of that whole trilogy’s problems!! And I’m supposed to care now if he’s imprisoned or not? If he lives or dies? As if!!
And then, moving on—the whole “Wren has Mellith’s heart inside her” thing?? Called it. I absolutely called it. I saw it coming a mile away, and I. Was. Right. The thing is, I’m not sure how to feel about it. Normally I’d scoff, say it was too predictable. But I saw a tweet recently saying that maybe a book being predictable isn’t entirely a bad thing, because that meant the author did a good job laying the groundwork, or something like that?? So I’m torn, because like. I can see where they’re coming from. But I also (usually) want a book to surprise me, to thrill and entertain me. And this one… didn’t.
So, yeah. I think I’ve said all I have to say about this book. And in doing so, I’ve realized that I really didn’t like it that much, that it was quite disappointing. Wren is basically the only reason I’m giving it 3 stars instead of something lower. I’ll read the sequel when it comes out for her and her alone, because I want to support my daughter—and hopefully, HOPEFULLY, I’ll get to see Jude and Cardan too—but my expectations are going to be a hell of a lot lower.
Representation:
Unfortunately, it is.
That’s not to say this book was terrible, because it wasn’t. That’s also not to say I wanted it to be exactly like TFOTA, because I knew it wouldn’t be. But, having just reread the trilogy before diving into this, I had refreshed my memory on exactly how brilliant it was and thus expected similar brilliance, even if it was a different sort… only for this to be so startlingly, disappointingly mediocre.
I do love Wren, though; I really do. She was such a compelling protagonist, very easy to root for. I love the way she was written, I love her character arc, and if she’s a little unhinged, so what? We respect that here. I want to give her a nice, hot bowl of soup, and a big, warm sweater, and an even bigger, warmer hug. She deserves all the good things.
One thing we don’t do in this house? Wren slander. I will protect my daughter. I decided to look at some other reviews after finishing the book because I felt so conflicted, and the number of people I saw calling her “boring,” “whiny,” “bland”… y’all are tasteless. This poor girl is traumatized and trying her best, and she absolutely does not deserve to be attacked for it. (If I had the spoons, I could go on a whole rant about how everyone would probably love Wren, if only she had been written as a boy, because I’ve been thinking about this and I have feelings… but, alas, I don’t have the spoons.)
I will make one (1) admission, though—her behavior did shift rather abruptly in the final few chapters. I’m here for the new Wren, no question, but I can still admit that it felt a bit too sudden.
The other characters, though? My feelings ranged from “I have none” (Hyacinthe) to “I actually can’t stand you” (Oak and Tiernan). Honestly, I feel like Oak was done so dirty. I was looking so forward to seeing what he was like now that he’d grown up, but Holly turned him into a much shallower, blonde The Cruel Prince-era Cardan, with nothing between his ears and no reason to root for him. He had a few moments where I thought he was clever or impressive, but that’s about it. If the next book is really from his perspective, that relationship’s gonna be doomed from the start.
And don’t even get me started on Tiernan. He reminded me so strongly of one of my favorite video game characters, but like… said character is what Tiernan could’ve been if he had any personality traits aside from grumpy asshole. I don’t know what his problem was with Wren or why he was so awful to her, but I do know that by the time he (finally) lightened up, it was far too little, far too late.
Now, possibly my biggest beef with this book—we didn’t get to see Jude or Cardan, not even ONCE!! I kept seeing teasers of how there were ~familiar faces~ in this book, and I was waiting the whole goddamn time to see them, BUT NO. The only ~familiar faces~ we see are antagonists, and I am. SO SALTY.
Moving on, for my own sanity.
The romance?? If you can call it that?? felt very much like secondhand Jurdan, like Holly was just trying to see exactly how many of the same stunts she could pull again and still get away with. There was no slow development of feelings, no angst or pining or attempted murder, just boom! Feelings! And it felt clumsy. Like, we know this woman can write an absolutely DELIGHTFUL slow-burn, we’ve seen it with our own eyes, but this time, she was just like… nah. And that’s truly tragic.
Seriously though. Wren and Oak have literally no chemistry. Holly seems to think that some sort-of-cute childhood flashbacks will work in place of present-day chemistry, but spoiler alert: no. They will not.
Now, for the plot… to be quite honest, it didn’t feel like there was one. There was an end goal, but the entire book was just a glorified road trip (except they don’t actually have a car). Most of it was just very boring, very typical fantasy journeying, from point A to point B to point C, which really is so disappointing. In TCP, even when there’s not really any action, there are still things happening. Here? Not so much. And any conflict the trio did find themselves in just seemed resolved far too easily.
(The spoiler tag applies to both The Queen of Nothing and The Stolen Heir. In summary, I found the reason for this book’s quest asinine—due to events from TQON—and guessed the ending’s plot twist. Details below.)
And then, moving on—the whole “Wren has Mellith’s heart inside her” thing?? Called it. I absolutely called it. I saw it coming a mile away, and I. Was. Right. The thing is, I’m not sure how to feel about it. Normally I’d scoff, say it was too predictable. But I saw a tweet recently saying that maybe a book being predictable isn’t entirely a bad thing, because that meant the author did a good job laying the groundwork, or something like that?? So I’m torn, because like. I can see where they’re coming from. But I also (usually) want a book to surprise me, to thrill and entertain me. And this one… didn’t.
So, yeah. I think I’ve said all I have to say about this book. And in doing so, I’ve realized that I really didn’t like it that much, that it was quite disappointing. Wren is basically the only reason I’m giving it 3 stars instead of something lower. I’ll read the sequel when it comes out for her and her alone, because I want to support my daughter—and hopefully, HOPEFULLY, I’ll get to see Jude and Cardan too—but my expectations are going to be a hell of a lot lower.
Representation:
- two achillean side characters
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Confinement and Kidnapping
Minor: Death of parent
Abuse: the protagonist recalls all the ways she was horribly mistreated as a child, including but not limited to being muzzled, beaten and neglected. Blood/gore/injuries: a few various instances, but the most severe is in the final third of the book, when the protagonist’s tongue is cut out on-page. Violence: pertains mostly to sword fights. Murder: committed by side characters. Includes one decapitation, if I remember correctly. Body horror: enchanted decapitated heads, human bodies flayed for experimentation. Parent death: a prominent side character’s mother was killed (poisoned) prior to the story, whilst pregnant with them.socialphobia_88's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- 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? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Blood, Death of parent, and Abandonment
winterwoodbooks's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
fast-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
4.5
This is the definition of a perfectly good YA Fantasy book. (And *really* YA)
It's really fast paced, a little to fast for me, and here and there a little flat/on the nose, but it really fits the characters.
With it's easy, but still beautiful writing it's got me out of a reading slump and I adore this World!
However, I also loved the first book in the latest triology set in this world, but the other ones... Well, we'll see!
I liked this book and am excited to see where this leads :)
Also the art in it is gorgeous.
It's really fast paced, a little to fast for me, and here and there a little flat/on the nose, but it really fits the characters.
With it's easy, but still beautiful writing it's got me out of a reading slump and I adore this World!
However, I also loved the first book in the latest triology set in this world, but the other ones... Well, we'll see!
I liked this book and am excited to see where this leads :)
Also the art in it is gorgeous.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Vomit, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Classism
krisalexcole's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
medium-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? It's complicated
3.5
Content Warnings
Minor: Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail