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glund_01's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Blood, Injury/Injury detail, and Violence
Moderate: Child abuse and Death
Minor: Homophobia and Sexual content
seastheday's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
However, I did notice a few things that were inconsistent from SOM to FTOP. My main ones were that Rhy has fire magic in the first book. It’s not a ton, but it’s there. However, in this book he has absolutely none. But the inconsistent part that annoyed me the most was that, you can’t travel from boat to land/vice versa using Antari magic. But that rule was thrown out the window for FTOP.
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Blood, and Death
bessadams's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Blood, Injury/Injury detail, and Violence
Moderate: Death, Torture, and Child abuse
Minor: Alcohol and Sexual content
annmeyer's review against another edition
- 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
4.75
as far as this specific novel goes, it takes place in the same world but is set 7 years after the conclusion of a conjuring of light. it introduces new characters who find themselves fitting in nicely alongside the old ones. tes is my favorite new addition to the series, and i really liked the parts dedicated to her past.
much of the story is told through flashbacks (for all characters) of events that have happened in that time, but they were generally enjoyable. the pacing in these parts will certainly be an issue for some, but i am fond enough of the characters/world i had to persist. i definitely felt like some of the white london sections were a slog to get through, which led me to put this book down a lot more than the other three set in this magical universe (thus why i don't want to give it 5 stars), but it's clear that schwab used those sections to set something larger up. in a similar vein, i did enjoy the plot twists throughout this story (and was caught surprisingly off guard by some things) and the ending, which implies of more to come. great prose and imagery as usual, with lots of nice quotable bits and small pieces of wisdom.
i think my favorite concept / recurring theme in this book, and perhaps all the ones set in this universe, involves the ways in which peoples' magical powers can be weaponized against them by people who seek to control or enslave them. how this affects the character development of said powerful people as well as their decision-making and their ability to empathize with those like them is pretty interesting; it also serves as a sort of "thread of power," so to speak, throughout the overarching story.
delilah bard remains one of my favorite female main characters that i've encountered in a fantasy series, and i was so grateful to read from her perspective again. she's up there with aelin galathynius, which is to say that thieving, cunning women who love as bright as they burn hold a dear place in my heart. after reading some other reviews of this book online, it's clear that some other readers strongly dislike lila because she is so brash and rude (maybe akin to criticism of nesta from sjm's ACOTAR series), but whatever, the world she lives in is much more brash and rude and violent than she is. she's a badass and not everyone needs to be likeable — even though i, personally, do like her a lot. nobody could ever make me hate you, pookie.
i will simply wait for more and read it hungrily when it comes
Graphic: Blood and Injury/Injury detail
jackiepreston's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Graphic: Blood, Kidnapping, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Death
Moderate: Homophobia and Child abuse
artmuseam's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Graphic: Violence, Death, Torture, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder
Moderate: Cursing
quinnyquinnquinn's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Death, Violence, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Child abuse, Blood, and Torture
maddiebusick's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Death, Violence, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Alcohol, Classism, Mental illness, Murder, and Domestic abuse
Minor: Cursing, Sexual content, Drug use, Grief, Medical content, Physical abuse, Child abuse, and Confinement
g_monaghan's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.25
Graphic: Death, Violence, and Torture
Moderate: Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Blood, Grief, and Ableism
Minor: Classism and Suicidal thoughts
martinatan's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
My favorite character coming out of this was Tes though I’m a long-time Lila stan. I really enjoyed her personality and the choices she made that felt true to her background. There were so many intriguing hooks for the next installment to build on and I am really interested to see where everyone ends up—hopefully coming together to overcome
Some things I’d really like to see developed in the next book:
Also, something I was a little dissatisfied with at no real fault of the author is the “disabled guy gets healed” plot that played out with Kell’s arc this book. I am much more satisfied these days by stories that don’t post the potentially forever-injured hero as someone who needs to be cured. It felt wrong to see Kell sort of revert to his normal power at the end—even if he went through such undeserved and intense pain throughout the book. More to the point of what disability could look like in this amazing world Schwab has created, what does it look like for an Antari to never be quite physically recovered from a traumatic event? I hope we explore more of the consequences and changes to Kell’s outlook, since it would also feel wrong for him to not have learned anything about himself or how he thinks about magic from having lost his own powers.
That kind of leads me to one last thing I liked along the lines of disability/neurodivergence in this book: Tes! She really resonated with me as a character because of how neurodivergent-coded she was. It hit me so hard when I read one line about her devising techniques over the years to mask her own power—and then to have her suddenly recognized for that gift, albeit by very powerful and ambitious people who perhaps are reluctant to release or distribute their power (royalty kind of sucks that way). I am interested to see if Schwab picks up on any of these narrative themes that interest me because they hold so much space in my head in the real world. I don’t need to see a complete replication of all the power dynamics in my world in this one, but it is a really fun thought exercise for me to imagine how social justice and disability representation would play out.
Anyway great book! I love fantasy dawg
Moderate: Murder, Violence, Ableism, and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Medical content, Cursing, Adult/minor relationship, Torture, Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, Grief, Biphobia, Classism, Alcohol, Blood, Child abuse, Death, and Death of parent