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beary_bookwormish's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
inspiring
tense
slow-paced
- 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
As always Miss Cashore spends a wonderful yarn. I love that her characters have a lot of depth and they are very human. It's a fantasy without it being too fantastical. The characters are very flawed. The character Lavesa is extremely complicated. She has so many things going on and she is always trying to figure out something, about someone or something. Her mind is constantly in overdrive. Her journey is very different that's the best way to put it. I was really surprised about the promiscuity of the main character Lavesa she had no Scruples whatsoever which was surprising.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Drug use, Gaslighting, Torture, Toxic relationship, Death, Violence, Death of parent, Mental illness, Abandonment, Child abuse, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, and Sexual content
how_sweet_the_sound's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-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
5.0
This book is very different from the rest of the Graceling realm series, especially with it’s multiple POVs, but it’s a beautiful story of love for each other and for one’s country as Bitterblue wants to continue to right the wrongs done to Monsea and Lovisa wants to right the wrongs done to herself and her family.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, War, Abandonment, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Child abuse, Murder, Animal cruelty, Blood, Emotional abuse, and Kidnapping
imds's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Kidnapping, Child abuse, Death, Torture, Emotional abuse, Child death, Suicidal thoughts, Abandonment, Classism, Confinement, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Violence, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Grief
amillacay's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
slow-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
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gaslighting and Child abuse
ksykes's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
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? It's complicated
4.5
I really enjoyed this but I’m not 100% sure what to think of it yet. My favourite points of view are the telepathic fox and telepathic sea monster, and I also really loved Giddon’s character arc. It threw me that, because of the world expansion, the vibe of this book is distinctly more dystopian in flavour than previous ones (it actually reminded me a lot of The Queen of the Tearling). I didn’t dislike it but it wasn’t necessarily what I was hoping for from the book.
I haven’t read enough race theory to have formed a confident opinion on this but her portrayal of race struck me as a bit problematic. It was hard not to lay our own world and culture over top of the ones she has created and I don’t think the expectation should be that readers <em>can</em> do that. In context of the series as a whole her depiction of race becomes a little less problematic but I think these books are still meant to operate as standalones?
All that to say I really enjoyed this. It’s more in the vein of Bitterblue than Fire or Graceling and has a riveting mystery at its centre.
One final thing, there should be a huge trigger warning for extreme emotional and physical abuse of a main point-of-view character and other children.
I haven’t read enough race theory to have formed a confident opinion on this but her portrayal of race struck me as a bit problematic. It was hard not to lay our own world and culture over top of the ones she has created and I don’t think the expectation should be that readers <em>can</em> do that. In context of the series as a whole her depiction of race becomes a little less problematic but I think these books are still meant to operate as standalones?
All that to say I really enjoyed this. It’s more in the vein of Bitterblue than Fire or Graceling and has a riveting mystery at its centre.
One final thing, there should be a huge trigger warning for extreme emotional and physical abuse of a main point-of-view character and other children.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Kidnapping and Death of parent
Moderate: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, and Physical abuse
Minor: Gaslighting
margaret_k30's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, and Kidnapping
Moderate: Xenophobia, Toxic relationship, Sexual assault, and Death
Minor: Sexual content, Animal death, and Animal cruelty
talonsontypewriters's review against another edition
adventurous
hopeful
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Kidnapping, Confinement, Classism, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Child abuse, and Emotional abuse
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Animal death, Violence, Death of parent, Toxic relationship, Drug use, Sexual content, Gaslighting, Blood, War, Bullying, and Animal cruelty
Minor: Vomit, Sexual assault, Infidelity, Addiction, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Torture
Drowning. Slut shaming. Starvation. Relationship between characters who are currently both adults, but almost definitely met when one was around 10 and the other was an older teenager/adult.aseel_reads's review
adventurous
slow-paced
- 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
loved all the twists and turns this plot, big fan of how the world expanded and loved the characters as always
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death of parent, Kidnapping, Confinement, Murder, Death, Sexual assault, Emotional abuse, Child abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail
alizirrah's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
A bit disappointed and frustrated with this book, which I fully expected to be at least a 4-star read based on my enjoyment of the rest of this series. Unfortunately it was "just okay" overall - the prose itself flowed well and was generally pretty good, and there were a few moments I really enjoyed, but not enough to get past a lot of the worldbuilding and character motivation issues.
Things I did enjoy:
* Some of the world building was pretty cool! I liked the concept of the ambles, the description of the landscape, and the politics of the different airship fuel sources.
* Enjoyed getting more Giddon and Hava! Their parts were probably my favorite; I wish there was a bit more of it.
* The action, when it happened, was exciting. Like the escape from Lovisa's family home, and the fox figuring out how to help Bitterblue. Actually, Adventure Fox was one of my favorites too.
Here are some of the things that bothered me about this book:
* Why does it seem like all world exploration is happening during the main characters' lifetime, despite things like boats and apparently airships already being in existence? Bitterblue and Co. really didn't know the Dells or Winterkeep even existed, nor had anyone ever visited from those places, until just now? I repeat, there are AIRSHIPS.
* Apparently the language of the Middluns is called Lingian, after Gracelings. This is like if a country's language was named after like, a unique disease or mental health condition. But an outsider named their language. Did they not have a name for their own language before? What.
* Okay, so. Let's talk about race. The first couple of books only had white people and vaguely tan Lianid people. Sure. So in this book, the 4th in the series, you introduce a continent where everyone is dark-skinned/brown. Sure. They live in the far north, where it snows all the time and has glaciers. ...Pardon? (If this was the only worldbuilding issue, I'd shrug because I don't really care if having POC in particular settings "makes sense." Representation and diversity is a good thing. But it just feels like.. kind of a weird geographical choice, I don't know. The map in general has a clear "making this up as I go" vibe, especially with how squared off the Middluns are.)
* The blue foxes. Did you know they're not actually blue, they're gray? If you didn't know, you'll be told about 3 or 4 times. They definitely feel, hmm, a bit derivative of His Dark Materials daemons, though I do understand that Pullman's books don't have a monopoly on bonded animals that talk to you and spy on people. But honestly Lavisa's parents feel a lot like Lyra's parents, too. Down to the fur coats and traveling around on airships and uh, the abuse.
* Almost all of the characters have dialogue that has a shallow, slightly ditzy and childish vibe, to the point that I couldn't tell the difference in maturity between a 16 year old protagonist and the ones in their 20s or 30s.
* Characters have a... strange relationship with casual sex in this book. Don't get me wrong, I am 100% pro-casual sex if a person wants that. But what feels like a disproportionate amount of time is spent thinking about it compared to the actual plot. The way Bitterblue is like "oh yes, I have so many lovers but I don't actually care about any of them" doesn't really fit with how otherwise sensitive and empathetic she is. It at least makes more sense for Lovisa to kind of have a fucked up relationship with it, considering her upbringing and how manipulative the people around her are. There is also a very odd exchange where Nev asks her grandfather if he has "ever experienced sexual jealousy" and he's like, oh yeah, totally, your grandmother slept with lots of guys before me. (... Okay?) And then Lovisa leaves the room because it's making her feel weird/bad. There's really no point to this exchange other than that.
I feel a bit bad that this review is so negative, I really enjoy the Graceling series normally, but this one just wasn't it for me. Will I read Seasparrow? Upon reflection, even though I think it features Hava, who I do like... probably not. I think I'll stick with my nostalgia for the first book, as if it were a standalone.
Things I did enjoy:
* Some of the world building was pretty cool! I liked the concept of the ambles, the description of the landscape, and the politics of the different airship fuel sources.
* Enjoyed getting more Giddon and Hava! Their parts were probably my favorite; I wish there was a bit more of it.
* The action, when it happened, was exciting. Like the escape from Lovisa's family home, and the fox figuring out how to help Bitterblue. Actually, Adventure Fox was one of my favorites too.
Here are some of the things that bothered me about this book:
* Why does it seem like all world exploration is happening during the main characters' lifetime, despite things like boats and apparently airships already being in existence? Bitterblue and Co. really didn't know the Dells or Winterkeep even existed, nor had anyone ever visited from those places, until just now? I repeat, there are AIRSHIPS.
* Apparently the language of the Middluns is called Lingian, after Gracelings. This is like if a country's language was named after like, a unique disease or mental health condition. But an outsider named their language. Did they not have a name for their own language before? What.
* Okay, so. Let's talk about race. The first couple of books only had white people and vaguely tan Lianid people. Sure. So in this book, the 4th in the series, you introduce a continent where everyone is dark-skinned/brown. Sure. They live in the far north, where it snows all the time and has glaciers. ...Pardon? (If this was the only worldbuilding issue, I'd shrug because I don't really care if having POC in particular settings "makes sense." Representation and diversity is a good thing. But it just feels like.. kind of a weird geographical choice, I don't know. The map in general has a clear "making this up as I go" vibe, especially with how squared off the Middluns are.)
* The blue foxes. Did you know they're not actually blue, they're gray? If you didn't know, you'll be told about 3 or 4 times. They definitely feel, hmm, a bit derivative of His Dark Materials daemons, though I do understand that Pullman's books don't have a monopoly on bonded animals that talk to you and spy on people. But honestly Lavisa's parents feel a lot like Lyra's parents, too. Down to the fur coats and traveling around on airships and uh, the abuse.
* Almost all of the characters have dialogue that has a shallow, slightly ditzy and childish vibe, to the point that I couldn't tell the difference in maturity between a 16 year old protagonist and the ones in their 20s or 30s.
* Characters have a... strange relationship with casual sex in this book. Don't get me wrong, I am 100% pro-casual sex if a person wants that. But what feels like a disproportionate amount of time is spent thinking about it compared to the actual plot. The way Bitterblue is like "oh yes, I have so many lovers but I don't actually care about any of them" doesn't really fit with how otherwise sensitive and empathetic she is. It at least makes more sense for Lovisa to kind of have a fucked up relationship with it, considering her upbringing and how manipulative the people around her are. There is also a very odd exchange where Nev asks her grandfather if he has "ever experienced sexual jealousy" and he's like, oh yeah, totally, your grandmother slept with lots of guys before me. (... Okay?) And then Lovisa leaves the room because it's making her feel weird/bad. There's really no point to this exchange other than that.
I feel a bit bad that this review is so negative, I really enjoy the Graceling series normally, but this one just wasn't it for me. Will I read Seasparrow? Upon reflection, even though I think it features Hava, who I do like... probably not. I think I'll stick with my nostalgia for the first book, as if it were a standalone.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gaslighting, Abandonment, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Sexual content, Injury/Injury detail, and Drug use
traceyanderson's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
tense
fast-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
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Classism, Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic relationship, Child abuse, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Death, Murder, Kidnapping, and Violence