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selestre'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
5.0
Graphic: Grief, Cursing, Death, War, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, and Violence
Moderate: Kidnapping, Confinement, Gore, Classism, and Sexual content
Minor: Cannibalism, Animal death, Body shaming, Child death, Medical content, Fire/Fire injury, and Death of parent
abicaro17's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Murder, Alcohol, Body horror, Cursing, Sexual content, Grief, Medical content, Sexism, Kidnapping, Gore, Blood, Confinement, Body shaming, Death of parent, Gaslighting, War, Animal death, Classism, Death, Suicide attempt, and Violence
marine2907'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
Graphic: Torture, Violence, Blood, Body horror, Cannibalism, Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Murder, Death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Sexual content
eleek0609's review against another edition
- 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
4.25
Graphic: Blood, Child death, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Emotional abuse, Grief, Sexual content, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, War, and Murder
midnacine'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
5.0
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Blood, Grief, Cursing, Sexual content, Murder, Body horror, Death, and Gore
Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, War, Confinement, Medical content, Child death, Kidnapping, and Torture
Minor: Gaslighting, Misogyny, Alcohol, Religious bigotry, Infidelity, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Physical abuse, Stalking, Pregnancy, and Rape
leedolee'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
4.0
I like how many different characters there were and I easily began to find favorites among them. I look forward to the next novel.
Graphic: Child death, Gore, Medical trauma, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Misogyny, Death, Blood, Child abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual content, Kidnapping, Murder, Grief, Body horror, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, and War
theespressoedition's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
1. We get it - Poppy is violent. And she asks a lot of questions. These two things were repeated so many times that I think if you compiled each mention of them, they would comprise at least an eighth of the book.
2. Hawke is Casteel and Casteel is Hawke. And he's horny. Another repetition that drove me nuts. This would be another eighth of the book.
So now we have a quarter of the book just being statements about the characters that are repeated incessantly.
3. Suuuuper slooooow, drawn-out chapters where nothing happens, and then BAM! Majorly steamy sex scenes. It kind of threw me for a loop as I read because it was so back and forth and there didn't seem to be much of a rhythm.
4. Can someone explain to me why JLA likes to save the most interesting part of the plot until the last chapter? She did the same thing in the first book too! I get that there needs to be something to make you want to pick up the next book (and it worked because I totally will), but I just don't understand why this couldn't be brought in earlier or alluded to a bit better to drive up the anticipation.
One thing I did really appreciate was how they acknowledged the fact that their relationship was toxic from the jump. There wasn't any weaseling around the topic. They recognized the toxicity and they worked to communicate better from there on out. It wasn't perfect, but at least they didn't ignore the way they treated each other. While the violence is weirdly glorified, the actual "bully love" portion of it was tamed in this book.
I included the trigger warning for gore, but if you can't handle blood, you need to avoid this one entirely. It is disgustingly bloody and made me queasy on multiple occasions. Yikes!
I'm not the biggest fan of these kinds of books, and that's pretty obvious from this review, but I will say that I like it better than most of the "hyped" YA/NA fantasy series out there. At least it keeps me mostly interested!
Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Sexual content, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, and War
Moderate: Animal cruelty and Cannibalism