Reviews tagging 'Classism'

Defy the Night by Brigid Kemmerer

13 reviews

kylosten's review against another edition

adventurous tense medium-paced

• 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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence

Moderate: Blood, Torture, and Classism

kfmcf's review against another edition

adventurous slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

There's something missing from this book for me. I don't know what it is, exactly, but it just feels like there's a layer that just never made it in. 
I also think that the pacing is just off. I never really felt the stakes of anything as I moved through the book because I just kept looking at how much was left and going...okay surely they're going to get to *something* and they didn't until the last like 2 chapters. 
I'm also just really not of fan of such a textbook ingenue. She has nothing that makes her interesting and yet the MMC is supposed to be so enamored with her. I was really excited in the beginning to have her alchemy be a major part of who she is but it's really not, which is a bummer. 
There were parts of the character interactions that I enjoyed, just not the characters themselves. There's some good banter, but it's just intermingled with a whole lot of NOTHING happening.

Also OBVIOUSLY Corrick was Wes. We did not need to wait that long for a mediocre reveal. Or if we WERE going to wait that long, there needed to be more stakes of it. She needed to hate Corrick himself and not just government. Ugh. Missed opportunity.

Something about the writing also just didn't gel with me. Maybe it's from just finishing a few books where the prose felt very mature and well written (also YA) and then moving into this just felt a bit patronizing to teens and their reading capabilities at times. Juvenile writing is not a bad thing in moments, but having the actual writing structure of the book feel juvenile was a miss for me.

CW: S Assault - Also, the scene where they're in his room after she's caught is CREEPY. It's creepily written and Corrick is creepy, he basically assaults her. And why did her breast need to pop out of her shirt in the struggle? It was gratuitous and made me uncomfortable and I don't think in the way that the writer was hoping for. I didn't feel her vulnerability, it just felt like an edition thrown in with no consideration to how it would affect the character. Also, like a line before it happened she made a joke (WHILST BEING ATTACKED) about his knife maybe being his boner (ala "is that a __ in your pocket or are you just happy to see me"). Took me out of the book, that whole interaction and really put a bad taste in my mouth for Corrick as a character.

However, all that said, I'm interested enough in the story and characters (not Tessa) to read the next one just to see if the exposition of the first book was just set up. If it isn't, then I'll probably drop this rating lower. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Classism, Violence, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Pandemic/Epidemic, Death of parent, Confinement, Gaslighting, and War

Minor: Sexual assault

thumbeleia's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Murder, Death, Death of parent, Terminal illness, Violence, Abandonment, Blood, Chronic illness, Gore, Body horror, Child death, Medical content, Pandemic/Epidemic, Physical abuse, Police brutality, War, Classism, and Torture

annelihghh's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Bullying, Death, Grief, Medical content, Child death, Pandemic/Epidemic, Blood, Death of parent, Classism, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder

Minor: Alcohol, Pregnancy, Vomit, and Sexual content

raineedayreader's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, War, Pandemic/Epidemic, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Death, Body horror, Classism, and Torture

Moderate: Death of parent

Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Child death, and Excrement

takarakei's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

• Robin Hood inspired
• court politics 
• herbal medicine
• angsty romance
• revolution rumblings
• brotherhood

Protect my poor baby Corrick! I love him so much. I was just getting back into my YA Fantasy era when I first read this a year ago, and coming back to it made me love it even more! 

1/5 🌶️

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Violence

Moderate: Alcohol, Blood, Child death, Classism, Injury/Injury detail, and Torture

Minor: Rape

Very brief mention of rape (off page no details)

mollysbooklist's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful tense medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

I loved this! Great character development and plot. Once I started I didn’t want to stop. I was immediately invested even through the world building. 


The story highlights that life is not always as simple as good vs. bad. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Death of parent, Classism, Murder, Violence, Death, Kidnapping, Fire/Fire injury, and Grief

thyroyalreader's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Death, War, Death of parent, and Violence

shannnne_reads_words's review against another edition

adventurous funny mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Death, Injury/Injury detail, and Violence

Moderate: Grief, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Sexual content

laurgrah's review against another edition

adventurous emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism