Scan barcode
errie's review against another edition
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Child death, Confinement, Death, Genocide, Grief, Toxic friendship, and Violence
Moderate: Rape, Sexual violence, Kidnapping, and Slavery
nclausel25'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: Genocide, Violence, Child death, Death, Kidnapping, War, and Slavery
Moderate: Blood, Body horror, and Sexual content
kathrynleereads'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
4.75
Other than the gods themselves, there were no characters that I didn’t like.
The only two who came close were Minya and Thyon, but even the two of them weren’t evil, they just lacked compassion.
And the dreams.
Laini Taylor’s writing truly encompasses and deserves the word “art.”
I have long wished that I could dive into the worlds I read about, and then there I was, reading about a world I wanted to dive into, and within that world they were doing the same thing.
Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Genocide, Grief, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Emotional abuse, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Abandonment, Physical abuse, Child death, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Rape, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Slavery, Torture, Toxic relationship, Trafficking, Violence, and War
Moderate: Body horror, Confinement, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, and Child abuse
Minor: Homophobia
grets_reads's review against another edition
- 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? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Child death and Death of parent
Moderate: Xenophobia, Murder, Grief, Bullying, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Blood, Child abuse, Sexual violence, Kidnapping, and Genocide
Minor: Pregnancy and Rape
kylemhaggerty'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
Moderate: Blood, Toxic friendship, Death, Kidnapping, Murder, Child death, Colonisation, Rape, Sexual assault, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Abandonment, and Fire/Fire injury
initial's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Loveable characters? Yes
Graphic: Genocide, Rape, and Child death
nyree42's review against another edition
4.0
On the negative side:
Note that the adult/minor relationship tag refers to a 20-year-old in a romantic relationship with a 17-year-old, which I personally think is close enough in age to be acceptable in the world of this story, although other readers may not agree, as in our real world it seems rather sus for a 3rd year college student to be dating an 11th grader in high school.
There are also descriptions of a sexually active 15-year-old with their teenage lover, plus mentions of another young couple who are sleeping together. All the teenage sex, despite not being graphically described but only alluded to artistically, was rather off-putting because an adult writer should not be encouraging her adolescent readers to engage in sex - it leads to consequences like STDs/STIs, unwanted pregnancies, and emotions that are too complicated for most young people to understand.
This inevitably results in broken hearts and emotional trauma in the majority of cases, which then leads to some (or many) people having difficulty finding love as adults because their teen romances ripped a hole in their heart they've not been able to repair so far. For real, I know people in their 50s who still haven't recovered from their adolescent entanglements and that's why they are single today... and that's why their would-be partner is also single. These are consequences that resulted in the unhappiness of two people (much like Eril-Fane and Azareen in this book, although in their case they had no choice in the matter).
So if you're a teenager reading this review - don't be inspired by the exploits of the young lovers in this book, and instead wait until you're older to chase... "that." You'll have more of a chance to mature and develop so that you also meet somebody mature who can give you the true love you'll want to receive and give in return.
Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Racial slurs, Slavery, Toxic friendship, Bullying, Child abuse, Gore, Death of parent, Grief, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, Child death, Confinement, Genocide, Murder, and Racism
Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, War, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Suicidal thoughts, and Violence
lilifane'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
I knew there was a sequel, but I was not expecting the first book to end on a CLIFFHANGER!
At least it's already written and published... But I didn't plan to read Muse of Nightmares this month, or even this year? Guess I need to squeeze it in somewhere in April.
Because this was SO good. Much longer than I had expected tbh, but I also couldn't put it down.
I loved the writing and world building, they are phenomenal. I also loved the plot, but this is definitely more of a "the journey is the reward" kind of story (only without the reward because it ends on a cliffhanger!!!). Yes, I want the plot to progress and all the mysteries and questions to be answered. No, I don't mind reading hundreds of pages of dream descriptions and fairy tales while I'm waiting. This is truly a love letter to reading and dreaming and story telling and magic. And it's such an interesting world with many interesting and complex characters and character dynamics and a heartbreaking conflict. It actually gets pretty dark and there is a lot of trauma. So much trauma. I have so many feelings for the characters and what they went through/are still going through, the decisions they made. It physically hurts. And I don't know how, but there better be some kind of happy ending.
Graphic: Blood, Confinement, Death, Grief, Hate crime, Slavery, Violence, Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Genocide, and Racism
Minor: Suicidal thoughts, War, Rape, and Death of parent
vagrantheather's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
I loved the bits in Lazlo's dreams. The whole book does have a dreamy, timeless quality.
"Good people do all the things bad people do, Lazlo. It's just that when they do them, they call it justice."
Graphic: Death
Moderate: Child death, Death of parent, Xenophobia, and Violence
Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Emotional abuse, and Genocide
nofy'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
4.5
Graphic: Genocide
Moderate: Child abuse and Rape