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Graphic: Child death, Death of parent
Moderate: Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Genocide, Sexual violence, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Rape, Pregnancy
Moderate: Child death, Confinement, Rape, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Pregnancy
Just really beautiful writing, very descriptive imagery that built a very lush and intriguing world. I am very excited to read the sequel.
Graphic: Child death, Death, Blood, Murder
Moderate: Confinement, Rape, Slavery, Violence, Kidnapping
Minor: Sexual assault, Sexual content, Pregnancy
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 5 Stars
I adored this book 😭 I was so worried at the start as I went in blind. The descriptive writing, whilst beautiful, had me doubting if I could make it through this chonk of a book. But I needn’t have worried 🥰
Laini creates such a clear picture of the world. The premise of the book, the plot itself - so original. Books opening with the promise of adventure, aren’t usually my thing but I was absorbed completely once we met Sarai and her fellow blues 👀
The characters are the reason this book won my heart. They were really well developed, I felt I knew each and every one of them. The whole romance thing was done in such a delicate way, I didn’t mind it. 💕
And that ending! How dare you!! I’ll never recover 🤯
Graphic: Confinement, Death, Rape, Violence, Murder, War, Injury/Injury detail
Graphic: Slavery, Xenophobia
Moderate: Bullying, Child death, Confinement, Death, Rape, Violence, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Colonisation
Minor: Sexual content, Pregnancy
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: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Hate crime, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual content, Slavery, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Sexual harassment, War
Moderate: Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual violence, Violence, Kidnapping, Pregnancy, Abandonment
Moderate: Violence, War
Minor: Rape
Graphic: Child death, Death, Violence, War
Moderate: Rape, Sexual violence, Slavery
Minor: Sexual content
Graphic: Child death, Death, Rape, Sexual assault, Violence, Blood, Murder
Moderate: Grief, Death of parent