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bunnylewis's review against another edition
mysterious
reflective
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
3.5
It was the first english book I ever read so take my rating with a little grain of salt. I loved the representation tho :)
Content Warnings
Moderate: Suicide attempt
yoursbia's review against another edition
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
I just finished this book, and now i can say with certainty that about 70% of it was just random rambling.
Yes, the way the author writes is beautiful, and I love the way she conjures up her sentences on paper, but that's the only good thing going on for this book (and as it might be important to mention, i read the self-published version). The problem is that this book was, possibly, 200 pages too long. There was no plot, and the whole thing felt like it was just a collection of beautiful sentences put together in order to fill up this book, saying everything and nothing at the same time.
More than halfway through this book, nothing had been explained. There are magicians—medeians, as they call them—, there are magic-less people, secret societies, elemental powers, mind-reading, and whatnot. But at no point in the book are these explained. We don't know how the magic system works, we don't know why some people have it, we don't know what they do with it or its impact on the world, we don't know why this is important.
Six people—the most powerful that exist—are invited to join this secret society, where they are promised access to all the knowledge in the world. I would say this is a pretty cool idea for a book, especially with magic involved. Academic secret societies and magic? Yes, please! This book had so much potential, but it was so boring to read because nothing ever happens! All we get to see is them researching some random philosophical topic that doesn't get explained properly, hating on each other, or the vague mention of them having sex.
If you're looking for a found family trope, this is also not the place to be. In the one year these six people had to live and study together, they didn't form any significant relationships with each other. All their conversations started and ended the same way: vague, poetic, and philosophical, with no character development or conclusion whatsoever.
This book was purely just vibes, pretty sentences, and a weird, undeniable sexual tension between all of the characters (and yes, I mean all of them!). Which would honestly not be a problem with me if it wasn't 400 pages! The only time something interesting starts to happen is at the end, when you're too tired to keep reading it. And I admit that I was confused most of the time while doing so.
And i don't mean to be too harsh on the author, especially since i haven't read the traditionally published version. There were definitely things i enjoyed reading too. I loved the ambiguity of the characters, not knowing whether their intentions were good or bad. I loved getting mad at them for their shit actions. I loved Parisa. And i would even say i started to like Callum towards the end, even with him being a literal psychopath (or at least portraying himself to the others as such). I loved Nico and Libby's relationship (which was pre-existent). And i honestly loved the tiny bits of actual plot that we got to see, especially near the end. But as i said, all of this went flat because of the lack of development and exploration of these characters.
Overall, I strongly believe that this book would've been an amazing read if it wasn't so long, possibly even 4 or 5 stars. And i wish i could know what happens next without having to go through another 400 tiring pages to read the next book (which i most likely won't).
Yes, the way the author writes is beautiful, and I love the way she conjures up her sentences on paper, but that's the only good thing going on for this book (and as it might be important to mention, i read the self-published version). The problem is that this book was, possibly, 200 pages too long. There was no plot, and the whole thing felt like it was just a collection of beautiful sentences put together in order to fill up this book, saying everything and nothing at the same time.
More than halfway through this book, nothing had been explained. There are magicians—medeians, as they call them—, there are magic-less people, secret societies, elemental powers, mind-reading, and whatnot. But at no point in the book are these explained. We don't know how the magic system works, we don't know why some people have it, we don't know what they do with it or its impact on the world, we don't know why this is important.
Six people—the most powerful that exist—are invited to join this secret society, where they are promised access to all the knowledge in the world. I would say this is a pretty cool idea for a book, especially with magic involved. Academic secret societies and magic? Yes, please! This book had so much potential, but it was so boring to read because nothing ever happens! All we get to see is them researching some random philosophical topic that doesn't get explained properly, hating on each other, or the vague mention of them having sex.
If you're looking for a found family trope, this is also not the place to be. In the one year these six people had to live and study together, they didn't form any significant relationships with each other. All their conversations started and ended the same way: vague, poetic, and philosophical, with no character development or conclusion whatsoever.
This book was purely just vibes, pretty sentences, and a weird, undeniable sexual tension between all of the characters (and yes, I mean all of them!). Which would honestly not be a problem with me if it wasn't 400 pages! The only time something interesting starts to happen is at the end, when you're too tired to keep reading it. And I admit that I was confused most of the time while doing so.
And i don't mean to be too harsh on the author, especially since i haven't read the traditionally published version. There were definitely things i enjoyed reading too. I loved the ambiguity of the characters, not knowing whether their intentions were good or bad. I loved getting mad at them for their shit actions. I loved Parisa. And i would even say i started to like Callum towards the end, even with him being a literal psychopath (or at least portraying himself to the others as such). I loved Nico and Libby's relationship (which was pre-existent). And i honestly loved the tiny bits of actual plot that we got to see, especially near the end. But as i said, all of this went flat because of the lack of development and exploration of these characters.
Overall, I strongly believe that this book would've been an amazing read if it wasn't so long, possibly even 4 or 5 stars. And i wish i could know what happens next without having to go through another 400 tiring pages to read the next book (which i most likely won't).
Content Warnings
Minor: Suicide attempt and Death
tomas_lw's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
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
4.5
Fun premise, exceptional characters, pretty good execution.
The plot is simple and fun. Six magicians with exceptionally powerful specialities are selected to join a secret society. But only five can actually join at the end. Cue intrigue, sex, betrayal, magic weirdness, love, hate, death and other fun things.
Over all the book was a great read.
I do have som complaints though.
First of all the author seemed to almost forgot entierly about Reina for almost the entire book which was disapointing since her opening chapter made me really attached to her. I really hope she gets more to do in the next book.
And the ending of the book is very out of left field and exposition heavy. It felt like the author at the last time decided to turn the book into a trilogy and rewrote the ending to set up the sequels. It's a bit heavy handed and not entirely satifying. So lets hope it pays of in the next books!
Also, the book could have had a bit more things happening as most of the book is either characters talking with or thinking about the other characters. Don't get me wrong, I love all these characters and the talking and plotting is terrific, but the pacing of the book could probably have been better with some more action in the middle.
Overall, a great read as I said above and I'm definitely getting the rest of the series ASAP.
The plot is simple and fun. Six magicians with exceptionally powerful specialities are selected to join a secret society. But only five can actually join at the end. Cue intrigue, sex, betrayal, magic weirdness, love, hate, death and other fun things.
Over all the book was a great read.
I do have som complaints though.
First of all the author seemed to almost forgot entierly about Reina for almost the entire book which was disapointing since her opening chapter made me really attached to her. I really hope she gets more to do in the next book.
And the ending of the book is very out of left field and exposition heavy. It felt like the author at the last time decided to turn the book into a trilogy and rewrote the ending to set up the sequels. It's a bit heavy handed and not entirely satifying. So lets hope it pays of in the next books!
Also, the book could have had a bit more things happening as most of the book is either characters talking with or thinking about the other characters. Don't get me wrong, I love all these characters and the talking and plotting is terrific, but the pacing of the book could probably have been better with some more action in the middle.
Overall, a great read as I said above and I'm definitely getting the rest of the series ASAP.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Toxic relationship, Violence, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, and Murder
Moderate: Alcohol and Death
Minor: Pedophilia
bergha1998's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-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? Yes
2.5
I just didn’t like it. The plot wasn’t very interesting and most of the main characters were insufferable. I’m okay with Libby and like 1/2 the time with Tristan and Nico. Also, the whole question of if knowledge should be kept or shared is utter bullshit, of course it should be shared.
Dark Academia, Secret Society, Magic, 1 🔥
“A uniquely upsetting curse, really, how little he knew how to exist when she wasn’t there.”
Dark Academia, Secret Society, Magic, 1 🔥
“A uniquely upsetting curse, really, how little he knew how to exist when she wasn’t there.”
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Grief, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Death of parent, Child death, Sexual content, Suicide attempt, and Violence
kryskross's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Toxic friendship
Moderate: Suicide attempt and Sexual content
Minor: Violence
amabile_cocco's review against another edition
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death of parent
Minor: Suicide attempt and Sexual harassment
jadorelecafe's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Kidnapping, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, Death, Murder, and Mass/school shootings
Moderate: Death, Kidnapping, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, Toxic friendship, Death of parent, Mass/school shootings, and Murder
Minor: Car accident, Child death, Alcoholism, Bullying, Chronic illness, and Addiction
eule's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
slow-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
A book that I surprisingly enjoyed even though it was heavily focused on the character dynamics (multiple povs). If you love a scientifically based magic system, diverse characters and a mysterious plotline this book is for you. Sometimes it seems slow-moving but it is all worth it for the cliffhanger in the end. All in all, we can agree that all of the characters are extremely hot (Parisa!!!) and we need to support Nico x Gideon. I cannot wait to read the sequel (sadly my friend will have to read it first :()
Ps: Thank you to my friend Tyler for recommending and lending me this book. Love you ^^
Ps: Thank you to my friend Tyler for recommending and lending me this book. Love you ^^
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Alcohol, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Blood, Murder, and Sexual content
Minor: Child death, Suicide attempt, Fire/Fire injury, Kidnapping, and Death of parent
nikogatts's review against another edition
challenging
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.75
Infuriating and disappointing. There are interesting ideas in this book, but they're undercut by the story, which is constructed like a Jenga tower with half of the pieces missing. I lost track of how many times a character knew a secret without being told or did something with no motivation other than a need to move the story forward.
Likewise, there are interesting characters and arcs to be explored -- particularly in the case of Reina, who resents her immense magical power and sees it as a way for both nature and society to take advantage of her -- but these are sacrificed in favor of chapter after chapter of Callum, the Wish.com version of Patrick Bateman, toying with sad boy Tristan.
The most painful of this book's failures was the worldbuilding, which led me to create this non-comprehensive list of things that went un- or underexplained, in ascending order of how angry I get when I think about it:
-General story bits that weren't described well and/or weren't believable.A sample: How exactly do two twenty-somethings (one fighting one-handed due to an injured arm) take out half a dozen trained and armed military operatives? Atlas's plan is...what exactly? How is it that no one over the centuries managed to figure out how to magically stop time or magically create a wormhole, but this specific group of people manages these feats on their first attempts?
-How magic and magical people interact with and impact the rest of the world.In the book's alternate Earth, magic users are a minority (about 5 million people out of 10 billion), but they have massive economic power, own international tech and finance companies, and hold high-ranking government positions. There are wealthy magical families and universities specifically for magical study. Magical items are commodities and "mortals" can buy everything from magically enhanced weapons to appearance-changing illusions to contraception charms.
There is no information given on non-magical people, even though they're 99.9995 percent of the world. One of the book's (attempted) themes is the exclusivity of information and whether world-changing (albeit dangerous) knowledge should be kept siloed instead of available to populations who could benefit from it. This theme would have been much more powerful if there had been any perspective from the have-nots of this world. (I think it was a missed opportunity to not have Ezra, Libby's boyfriend, be non-magical, or to have a more prominent presence from the Forum, the magical-info-for-all organization.)
Oh, and magical creatures exist, but they're only mentioned in relation to one character, so they're barely relevant.
-How the magic system works.The main characters each have a specialty, but the story also mentions summoning charms and illusions. Around page 250, curses and hexes are introduced and then barely mentioned again. Specialties range from very straightforward, like telepathy and animation, to concepts that could have used more explaining. Two characters are "physicists," meaning they can affect matter around them by manipulating the laws of physics. This is a tremendously broad skill and its limitations aren't ever discussed, nor is there a primer on which laws are being used. (Heat transfer and gravity are easy ones to guess, but what law deals with earthquakes?) It feels like the author just wanted these characters to be able to do a bunch of cool things, like create fire and increase the force of a punch, and the easiest way to do that was through vague physics powers.
I'm not even going to bother getting into Callum's empath powers, which often transcend sensing emotion and go straight into full mind-reading. Commander Deanna Troi >>>>>> this asshole, always and forever.
There are also overlaps in "rare" types of magic and casual magic that is done with little fanfare. One example is when two characters use physics magic to create a wormhole (for the first time ever, apparently) that can be used to teleport across physical space. But throughout the book, the characters travel internationally via magical portal, and the difference (if any) between this and the wormhole is never explained.
-Anything about the library.The author had the opportunity to imagine a modern-day Library of Alexandria -- both the physical structure and its contents. This was a chance to go all-out with imagination, to take inspiration from legends and history and architecture and fiction, to create a place that justifies the characters being willing to kill for continued access to it.
And what do the readers get? About a paragraph and a half about a big room with some pneumatic tubes, and some scattered references to ancient texts. That's it. That's fucking it.
New rule I'm setting for myself: If a book sounds interesting but got a lot of hype on certain social media sites with consistently poor track records, I get it from the library.
Likewise, there are interesting characters and arcs to be explored -- particularly in the case of Reina, who resents her immense magical power and sees it as a way for both nature and society to take advantage of her -- but these are sacrificed in favor of chapter after chapter of Callum, the Wish.com version of Patrick Bateman, toying with sad boy Tristan.
The most painful of this book's failures was the worldbuilding, which led me to create this non-comprehensive list of things that went un- or underexplained, in ascending order of how angry I get when I think about it:
-General story bits that weren't described well and/or weren't believable.
-How magic and magical people interact with and impact the rest of the world.
There is no information given on non-magical people, even though they're 99.9995 percent of the world. One of the book's (attempted) themes is the exclusivity of information and whether world-changing (albeit dangerous) knowledge should be kept siloed instead of available to populations who could benefit from it. This theme would have been much more powerful if there had been any perspective from the have-nots of this world. (I think it was a missed opportunity to not have Ezra, Libby's boyfriend, be non-magical, or to have a more prominent presence from the Forum, the magical-info-for-all organization.)
Oh, and magical creatures exist, but they're only mentioned in relation to one character, so they're barely relevant.
-How the magic system works.
I'm not even going to bother getting into Callum's empath powers, which often transcend sensing emotion and go straight into full mind-reading. Commander Deanna Troi >>>>>> this asshole, always and forever.
There are also overlaps in "rare" types of magic and casual magic that is done with little fanfare. One example is when two characters use physics magic to create a wormhole (for the first time ever, apparently) that can be used to teleport across physical space. But throughout the book, the characters travel internationally via magical portal, and the difference (if any) between this and the wormhole is never explained.
-Anything about the library.
And what do the readers get? About a paragraph and a half about a big room with some pneumatic tubes, and some scattered references to ancient texts. That's it. That's fucking it.
New rule I'm setting for myself: If a book sounds interesting but got a lot of hype on certain social media sites with consistently poor track records, I get it from the library.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide attempt and Suicide
Moderate: Blood and Murder
Minor: Colonisation, Terminal illness, Death, and Classism
inthearchive's review against another edition
challenging
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, Murder, and Death
Minor: Suicide attempt, Sexual assault, and Suicide