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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
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
panickedhonking'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: Sexual content, Sexual violence, Incest, Confinement, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Rape, Blood, Body horror, Colonisation, Sexual assault, Slavery, Violence, Child death, Death of parent, Death, and Emotional abuse
traceyanderson's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Moderate: Child death, Death, Sexual violence, Slavery, Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Rape, Genocide, Sexual content, and Violence
lanid's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Moderate: Body horror, Child death, Grief, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Death, Genocide, Murder, Pregnancy, Rape, and Slavery
cookiecat73's review against another edition
- 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? No
2.75
Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Genocide, Murder, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, Suicide attempt, Violence, Xenophobia, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Child death, Death of parent, and Kidnapping
Minor: Pregnancy and Misogyny
hiddeninfantasy'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? It's complicated
4.0
Moderate: Blood, Confinement, Death of parent, Genocide, Gore, Hate crime, Abandonment, Body horror, Death, Emotional abuse, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Murder, Slavery, and Violence
oddduck's review against another edition
4.0
For starters, this is a very beautiful book. I love the cover, and the writing itself is also very lovely. I was especially drawn to the way she kept slipping absolutely knockout lines about the nature of humanity in amongst the description and exposition. The first time I read this and got to the part where Sarai tells Lazlo, "Good people do all the things bad people do. It's just that when they do them, they call it justice." I had to stop reading, copy the quote down, and just sit for a minute. And Laini Taylor drops lines like that everywhere in this book! It was quite delightful for me.
I also remembered how much I loved the complexity of this story. The relationship between the citizens of Weep and the surviving godspawn was especially fascinating to me because both sides have very valid feelings about what happened. The mesarthim very much terrorized and traumatized Weep for two centuries, so it's hard to feel bad about Eril-Fane murdering them. It's really the murder of the baby godspawn that is the sticking point. Because I understand why he did it, but I still can't help but wonder how those children might have grown up if they'd been sent somewhere else, where they could be raised with love (because that was never going to happen in Weep and after the trauma those people went through, raising the godspawn would only be inflicting further trauma on them). So I understand Eril-Fane's motivation and don't think he was really wrong in his actions, but we also get Sarai and Minya's views, and their feelings about this situation also make sense and are justified. This whole situation is very complicated and messy and it's one where there is no solution that will make everyone happy, which is very difficult to deal with, but it's handled very adeptly here.
Despite all the things I enjoyed in about this book, I did have a hard time getting into it and staying in it. Part of this, I think, is that I don't really care for full on fantasy worlds, which this is. It's nothing against this book or fantasy in general, it's just hard for me personally to read, and I acknowledge that and read accordingly. Beyond that though, this book was just very slow to me, especially at the beginning. The scene where Thyon Nero requisitions Lazlo's books about Weep spanned far too many chapters, for example, because there was a lot of backstory and exposition that got in the way. It was all interesting, and I know why it was included, but because the writing style itself is very slow, all of these extra scenes in the middle of the the action made parts of this really drag for me. This technique also made it difficult to remember what was happening in the present, even with the narrative clues, purely because there was so much other information I had to absorb. And this continued throughout the book. The last 50 or so pages were probably my favorite, because so much happened, and it all happened in a much faster pace. It was exciting and I wish the rest of the book had been more like that, because the story itself is very interesting.
Graphic: Toxic friendship, Body horror, Confinement, and Blood
Moderate: Child death, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Grief, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Murder, Slavery, Violence, and Xenophobia
Minor: Sexual violence, Sexual assault, War, and Rape