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bella_is_here's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
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? Yes
3.5
kaebirdie's review against another edition
4.0
No surprise that I loved seeing some of the old characters again :)
With all due respect, and maybe it's because I read my books a little sped up, I didn't find the audio as compelling on this one - and usually I like the author-read audiobooks. I really struggle with the way Sumi is read; I know she's characterized as (how do I put this nicely) "hyper" but reading her parts ridiculously fast sacrifices any inflection or tone that could be put into the words. It's unnecessary and it ruins the flow of the story because you're so busy trying to catch what she's saying and decipher its meaning contextually that you get pulled out of the story. It's kind of like unwanted accents. It's unnecessary. Just the regular reading is fine; we all know Sumi and we know her character. There are some lines that are fine to read fast, that might not have a lot of emphasis. But in a short book, there aren't a lot of fluff parts, and Sumi's pieces should be read at normal pace so the whole book reads evenly. You can bring exuberance or bounce to the vocals without additional speed.
With all due respect, and maybe it's because I read my books a little sped up, I didn't find the audio as compelling on this one - and usually I like the author-read audiobooks. I really struggle with the way Sumi is read; I know she's characterized as (how do I put this nicely) "hyper" but reading her parts ridiculously fast sacrifices any inflection or tone that could be put into the words. It's unnecessary and it ruins the flow of the story because you're so busy trying to catch what she's saying and decipher its meaning contextually that you get pulled out of the story. It's kind of like unwanted accents. It's unnecessary. Just the regular reading is fine; we all know Sumi and we know her character. There are some lines that are fine to read fast, that might not have a lot of emphasis. But in a short book, there aren't a lot of fluff parts, and Sumi's pieces should be read at normal pace so the whole book reads evenly. You can bring exuberance or bounce to the vocals without additional speed.
monarchbooks's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I loved reading from Christopher's point of view but I wish we got to see his happy ending
maeverose's review against another edition
DNFed @47%
I’m definitely losing interest in this series, it’s getting boring for me. I may jump to Lost in the Moment and Found, but otherwise I’m not gonna continue.
As I mentioned in my review for the previous book, this series is much more character and worldbuilding explanation focused than plot or world exploration focused, and that doesn’t work for me. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that at all, I think these books are very well written and well done, it’s just not what I personally want from the series.
This book felt very slow to me, the characters don’t get to the Moors until 43% in, and it focused very heavily on characters’ inner monologues and rehashed a lot of what we learned about them in previous books. I understand why it’s written that way, since you’re supposed to be able to read the books in almost any order, you wouldn’t know the characters or their backstories if you started with this one. But for me it just felt like it was dragging out the plot and I was waiting for things to get started. Even once they got to the Moors though, it was still so focused on the characters’ inner monologues that I just decided I wasn’t interested enough.
It didn’t bother me with the previous books, but most of the characters in this series don’t talk like real people talk, especially kids/teens. Seanan Mcguire writes a lot of the dialogue in a similar way to how she writes the narration (very pretty and neatly worded), just with a little of each character’s personality added. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, it feels intentional, but it’s starting to annoy me personally. People having an actual conversation wouldn’t be able to come up with such a perfectly thought out, well worded and almost poetic response on the spot. It reminds me I’m reading a book with fictional characters. It’s probably more obvious in this book because of the way characters raised in the Moors talk, but I have noticed it with all the books and most of the characters.
I’m definitely losing interest in this series, it’s getting boring for me. I may jump to Lost in the Moment and Found, but otherwise I’m not gonna continue.
As I mentioned in my review for the previous book, this series is much more character and worldbuilding explanation focused than plot or world exploration focused, and that doesn’t work for me. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that at all, I think these books are very well written and well done, it’s just not what I personally want from the series.
This book felt very slow to me, the characters don’t get to the Moors until 43% in, and it focused very heavily on characters’ inner monologues and rehashed a lot of what we learned about them in previous books. I understand why it’s written that way, since you’re supposed to be able to read the books in almost any order, you wouldn’t know the characters or their backstories if you started with this one. But for me it just felt like it was dragging out the plot and I was waiting for things to get started. Even once they got to the Moors though, it was still so focused on the characters’ inner monologues that I just decided I wasn’t interested enough.
It didn’t bother me with the previous books, but most of the characters in this series don’t talk like real people talk, especially kids/teens. Seanan Mcguire writes a lot of the dialogue in a similar way to how she writes the narration (very pretty and neatly worded), just with a little of each character’s personality added. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, it feels intentional, but it’s starting to annoy me personally. People having an actual conversation wouldn’t be able to come up with such a perfectly thought out, well worded and almost poetic response on the spot. It reminds me I’m reading a book with fictional characters. It’s probably more obvious in this book because of the way characters raised in the Moors talk, but I have noticed it with all the books and most of the characters.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Death, and Violence
Moderate: Body horror and Gore
I dnfed before the worst of the gore/body horror probably, so I just put them under moderate though it could be graphic, idkmikahmae's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
zeef33's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
93ali_mod's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
emldavis001's review against another edition
2.0
It's over. It's finally over. I am PRAYING this is the last book in this series because I cannot handle another book. I had such high expectations for this series and I am oh so disappointed. I don't even think that word describes how much I hate these books, and I never like to say that I hate a book. I am very upset that I made the decision to spend my money on these books, but luckily I know a place where I can sell these and get money back for something better. Oh and one more thing. The best part of all of this books was finishing them because now I can move on and read something better.
xxfirerainbowxx's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0