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sarahsbooklife's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
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
4.5
A really good conclusion to this duology! đź‘Ź I loved reading about Valeria's decent into madness, the shift from subtly unhingedness to outright madness was so well done too I barely noticed to start with.
Honestly, this was such a good duology and I loved reading it!
Honestly, this was such a good duology and I loved reading it!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Death, Violence, Blood, and War
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Torture
Minor: Genocide, Vomit, Gaslighting, Gore, and Grief
feuillycakes's review
dark
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
In my review for The Bright & The Pale I made mention of the main character becoming the villain. There was enough time between then and now that I had completely forgotten that little aspect, so when I started reading this book I was very confused why I found Valeria so very annoying. Turns out I figured out what was happening exactly one page from it being revealed explicitly.
I can’t say this wasn’t a frustrating book but it was effective. I’m not personally one for war stories so I did get a bit bored of the constant planning for fights then fighting then repeating the process, but the mystery that shouldn’t have been a mystery kept me interested enough.
I do wish that the terror I felt while reading some very specific scenes in the first book had carried through a bit here, but honestly the most scary thing was the hands/chest scene that I will not elaborate on for those trying to avoid spoilers.
I can’t say this wasn’t a frustrating book but it was effective. I’m not personally one for war stories so I did get a bit bored of the constant planning for fights then fighting then repeating the process, but the mystery that shouldn’t have been a mystery kept me interested enough.
I do wish that the terror I felt while reading some very specific scenes in the first book had carried through a bit here, but honestly the most scary thing was the hands/chest scene that I will not elaborate on for those trying to avoid spoilers.
Content Warnings
Graphic: War, Death, and Violence
Moderate: Child death
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