Reviews with content warning for Body horror - Gleam

‘You can’t cut off the strings of your puppet and still expect it to move for you.’

4 ⭐️

Hands down my favourite of the series so far, it felt gritty and I couldn’t put it down. Was it the best book I ever read? No. Was it entertaining as hell though? Yes. Having the MC get some character development in this book was everything I needed, I was rooting for them and totally here for her villain era (which I hope we see a lot more of!) I didn’t expect a few of the reveals and I’m shocked to say it makes me want to reread the series from the beginning to see if they were plotter throughout or if the knowledge makes me see the series differently. Still felt it could’ve had *more* and while I do like the romance element I’m not sold on it as everyone else seems to be.

TWs: domestic abuse, controlling relationship, drugging, amputation as a form of punishment, ref to SA, graphic depictions and gore and violence

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kodafaith's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious 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? Yes

4.5

This book actually hurt me to read. Seeing all of the trauma that Auren has endured makes you truly understand her behaviors, why she holds so tightly to Midas and pushes everything else away. Seeing her start to open her eyes to her abuse and then to literally have no choice to but to see

Because dear God Midas did you have to literally drug, mutilate, and torture this poor girl like stalking, brainwashing, using and manipulating wasn’t enough…. Thank god you died

what he has been doing all along.
The breaking in the end was so deserved but so freaking painful. To read everything she went through and just to think “Slade are you almost here… Slade she needs you… SLADE” but to know that Auren really needs to save herself. It was so nauseating to see her endure such painful trauma but I think that is a reason why this series has hit me so much harder than a lot of other fantasy out there…
Just so good. Can’t wait for more and to see how this story is going to end.

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campisforever's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Listen, as part of the series the book is good. And the people who are upset about the perspective of the first sex scene are wrong—it’s great.

There is, however, absolutely no reason this book should be almost 700 pages long. This one is slower than the other two, it drags, it repeats itself, and it includes points of view that aren’t necessary. Especially the last 70-100 pages, and the last two chapters (which are the same scene, word for word, from two different characters perspectives) are so slow and repetitive. I’m not into the “give me the same scene from this perspective now” because I think it’s lazy writing, honestly, so if I’d known I would have only read one of those chapters instead of both, because there was nothing additive about the second one.

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cluckieduck's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

These books certainly keep getting better! Also, the fact that she’s managed to make the ribbons their own character is amazing (and heartbreaking, ngl).

I’m going to say that the extra length in this one that helped flesh out some of the characters and plot that was missing in books 1 & 2 for me, but the overall arc is settling in and progressing nicely, then BOOM. That last 20% was such an emotional roller coaster that left me reeling!

The expanding list of multiple POVs was appreciated, though I could do without any more from Malina (I get the reasons but man, she’s a whiny cow).

Excited to see where Glow takes us!

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ka_ke's review against another edition

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dark medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

The spice makes it worth it. Without the spice it would have been unbearable. I enjoyed the Wrath, if they had been more than supporting characters it may have helped the book. Ultimately the twist did catch me off guard, but I wonder what Glow will be about.

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alyssasaurus's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark tense medium-paced

5.0

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finnickdeservedbetter's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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