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Graphic: Sexual content, Violence
Moderate: Physical abuse, Blood, Vomit
Minor: Drug abuse
Graphic: Sexual content, Violence
Moderate: Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Blood, Police brutality, Stalking, Murder, War
Graphic: Cursing, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail
Graphic: Death, Sexual content, Violence, Trafficking, Stalking, Murder, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail
Graphic: Sexual content, Violence, Blood
Moderate: Child abuse, Trafficking, Abandonment
Minor: Medical content, Death of parent, War
Moderate: Death, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Kidnapping
tl;dr of my review: this book was boring and nothing left an impact on me. barely remembered most of the character's names, barely remembered things that happened in it a week later, and even the sex scenes were boring. it has the effect of a michael bay transformer's movie, which is to say that a lot of shit is happening but at the same time nothing is happening, and a few days after watching it, you probably couldn't tell someone what it was about without looking at a wikipedia summary. how was this 16 hours? jesus christ.
with that out of the way.
this book hits a very big pet-peeve and grievance of mine: when the friends of the main character are supposedly the most important thing in the world to them, but we barely know them and the love interest takes up most of the screen time.
i really love irish mythology, lore, culture--have been finding time to research and read about it the past couple years--and it was just so fucking irritating to slog through this book and get the reveal we did in the end. a reveal that didn't feel earned, didn't feel genuine, and that felt so empty to me that i wanted to start clawing at the walls, burrow through the ceiling onto the roof and howl at the sky.
i hate... SO very much... that the relationship of these three characters feels like a footnote. i hate that we're told time and time again how close and found-family they are to each other, but we're almost never shown it through actions that aren't done directly to move the plot along. kierse has just about all of her "big moments" with graves. i have no reason to believe kierse cares about her friends outside of her telling me she does or insisting--with her words--that they're her closest friends, her family.
i dunno. i just. i'm so sick of the platonic relationships being sidelined until there's a big dramatic moment. i'm tired of them barely being explored, so when they are said to be important and/or meaningful all we really have to go off of is the MC being like "source: trust me, bro".
ugh. the fight scenes were clunky, i don't believe any of the relationships, the characters themselves have the impact of sopping wet cardboard, and i'm just glad to be free of this book. will absolutely not be reaching for the sequel.
Moderate: Death, Drug use, Gun violence, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Murder, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Sexual harassment
Moderate: Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail
Graphic: Physical abuse, Violence, War
Graphic: Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Gun violence, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Murder, Abandonment, Alcohol
Moderate: Kidnapping, Stalking, Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Emotional abuse, Medical content, Death of parent