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kkm88's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Violence, Physical abuse, Murder, Abandonment, Blood, Bullying, Classism, Trafficking, Torture, Slavery, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Death, and Death of parent
Moderate: Suicide, Medical trauma, Kidnapping, War, Injury/Injury detail, Child abuse, Grief, and Genocide
Minor: Racism, Vomit, Rape, Pregnancy, Abortion, and Child death
bookishchef'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
4.0
Graphic: Gore, Sexual violence, Violence, Slavery, Classism, Grief, Blood, Cursing, Death, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, and Sexual harassment
Moderate: War, Misogyny, Kidnapping, Genocide, Rape, and Trafficking
Minor: Vomit, Abortion, and Pregnancy
marissasa's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Violence, Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Murder, Slavery, Torture, Death of parent, Genocide, Vomit, Blood, Colonisation, Grief, Physical abuse, and Sexual assault
eve_reads'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
4.0
⁕ The character development is strong, especially for the two main heroes. Laila's growth into bravery especially can be well tracked and pinpointed to specific moments.
⁕ There was a lot of scenes of violence (many of them tied to enslavement and/or sexual harassment). Sometimes these scenes served to aid the plot or character development, but other times they acted as unnecessary shock value.
⁕ Roman history/culture has a decent influence on the world-building. If this is something that interests you, it's pretty obvious but well done!
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Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Child death, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Child abuse, Violence, Slavery, Genocide, Gore, and Torture
scandinavian_queen's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death of parent, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual assault, Slavery, Torture, War, Xenophobia, Blood, Death, Emotional abuse, Classism, Colonisation, Sexual violence, Genocide, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual harassment, and Violence
Minor: Abortion
emilinkaa'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
4.75
An Ember in the Ashes is based on Ancient Rome, and is griping. You alternate between Laia and Ellias' perspectives and while they're both main characters, they have very different goals. But both of them are trying to be better, to save the people they love and themselves. I couldn't read fast enough. Then tension between the two main characters, as well as a host of secondary characters, had me staying up way too late to finish this novel, and immediately reaching for the second in the series.
The book is not light by any means, and I can't check enough content warnings for it. But it's griping, and wonderfully written, and shows that sometimes, the thing that makes us human, is our need to persevere, even when the odds are against us.
Graphic: Trafficking, Violence, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Torture, Physical abuse, Medical trauma, Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, Genocide, Death, Rape, Medical content, Hate crime, Gore, Animal death, Death of parent, Child death, Murder, Slavery, Sexual violence, Police brutality, and Sexual assault
ranjanireviewsreads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
I thought I could start this review with what I liked - honestly, it's not a lot. I liked the romantic tension, which doesn't count for much in the face of the novel as a whole.
So here are the things I didn't like:
--> The characters are extremely half-baked. I understand that many YA novels are about some kind of character growth, but this one just didn't hit the nail on the head. This is the first book in a series, yes. But I should have seen something. Some growth, some decline. Instead, these characters fall flat.
--> The plot. It's simple. Too simple. In the face of developing characters, I would expect the plot, other characters (mainly the antagonist), or the world politics to take over. Alas, that did not happen here.
--> The sadism. I just read the description of this novel on Goodreads and it's supposed to be based on Rome?
But where are the positive Roman attributes of this empire? This novel focused on the deaths, the slavery, the wars, the bitter reality of being conquered. But Rome also had a well-formed legal system. They were open to gaining and using knowledge from their conquered.
This novel was a mess; the military-based leadership would not get along with the religious sect. How did they maintain peace in the first place?
Maybe the last point and my thousands of questions about the world get answered in the next book. Who knows. I will be reading A Torch Against The Night but mainly for the romance and to hopefully get answers.
Graphic: Trafficking, Classism, Physical abuse, Slavery, Blood, Bullying, Confinement, Death, Genocide, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Violence, and War
isi_lemonx05'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? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Graphic: Blood, Child abuse, Colonisation, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Torture, Violence, and War
trazimmariju'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? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Abandonment, Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Hate crime, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Murder, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, and Violence
iwasagiftedkid'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? N/A
5.0
Graphic: Bullying, Child death, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Genocide, Grief, Hate crime, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Sexual harassment, and Violence
Moderate: Child abuse, Torture, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Rape