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4.23 AVERAGE
4.23 AVERAGE
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
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:
Complicated
dark
emotional
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Blood, Stalking, Car accident, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship
adventurous
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
dark
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This book wrecked me.
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
MAN. THIS WAS A 4.5 STAR READ THROUGH THE LAST 40 PAGES. And then????
Let me start with: I think VE Schwab is a master at tragic characters. I think she does a fantastic job with crafting immersive, high-stakes worlds that her characters are able to measure to. This is a feat I do not take lightly! And she has you rooting for characters even as you realize that they are going to be faced with unimaginable tragedy. This book, through the first 550 pages, asks the question of "What is a worse than death when you are a hot lesbian vampire?" And then this book proceeds to trip and fall on its place for the last 30 pages and had me staring slack-jawed at the page.
Let's get into what I loved about this book. The main three characters, Maria, Charlotte, and Alice are fully fledged, interesting characters with lives and motives of their own. After a one-night stand attempting to live up to the spirit of her recently-dead, always-kinda-freaky sister, Alice finds herself suuuuuper hungover (spoiler alert: it's worse than that) and confused. She's like "bitch wtf" because she wants to eat her roommate now and she's #shy so this causes problems. Cue the Bella from Twilight researching scene and she's like. Damn. I'm a vampire. That sucks. And you know what? That does suck. She's driven by the grief of her dead sister and mom the whole time, which is made, at times, painfully obvious to the reader.
You know whose else life sucks? Maria, also known as Sabine, one of the other main characters. Sabine starts out as a Spanish woman seeking to leave a provincial life, headstrong and determined to change whatever man of higher status she is able to become betrothed to. MY FAV CHARACTER FROM THIS BOOK. She is successful in marrying a Viscount, except he SUCKS. She so has this super classic yearning gay affair with a maid and then turns into a vampire and kills her husband and the person who made her. Sabine is selfish, self-serving and cruel, but she is also someone that you spend the most time with in this book and come to root for. You know that her soul is going rotten, as you see her friends and peers around grow evil. And then she is a Baddie in the middle and end of the book and I love evil women so this was going in the 5 star direction for me. AND GUESS WHAT. She got evil in the end and ruined people's lives. She died in a super stupid way though so that pissed me off. I wanted a cool fight and it was like "stabbed by a piece of the bathroom sink" so to be honestly lowkey the literary equivalent of my childhood dog dying from anal gland cancer. Like yeah, that could totally happen, but what are the odds and what a bummer way to go.
The third main character, Charlotte, is also good, but comes to a very underwhelming end. I also liked Charlotte and the fact that her major flaw is the vulnerability of her heart. She's turned into a vampire by Sabine when she decides she doesn't want to participate in British high society courting anymore and then Sabine makes her drink from the body of the man she rejected. Again, hot, except Sabine is the crazy brand of hot and this gets toxic fast. Charlotte flees and Sabine pursues, over and over again, killing her lovers when Charlotte's heart cannot stand to be alone. Charlotte is fucked up for needing people and Sabine is evil! So obliviously this is an issue.
My biggest gripe with this book is the underwhelming ending. You spent several hundred pages with three flawed characters that you see for their many exes and ohs, and yet still, the end leaves you being like "well. huh." And that KILLED ME. I loved these characters. It's been Voltron Season 8ed. Tragic. Will recommend this to people with the caveat of "talk to me when it's over bc I liked it but I had Thoughts ™"
Let me start with: I think VE Schwab is a master at tragic characters. I think she does a fantastic job with crafting immersive, high-stakes worlds that her characters are able to measure to. This is a feat I do not take lightly! And she has you rooting for characters even as you realize that they are going to be faced with unimaginable tragedy. This book, through the first 550 pages, asks the question of "What is a worse than death when you are a hot lesbian vampire?" And then this book proceeds to trip and fall on its place for the last 30 pages and had me staring slack-jawed at the page.
Let's get into what I loved about this book. The main three characters, Maria, Charlotte, and Alice are fully fledged, interesting characters with lives and motives of their own. After a one-night stand attempting to live up to the spirit of her recently-dead, always-kinda-freaky sister, Alice finds herself suuuuuper hungover (spoiler alert: it's worse than that) and confused. She's like "bitch wtf" because she wants to eat her roommate now and she's #shy so this causes problems. Cue the Bella from Twilight researching scene and she's like. Damn. I'm a vampire. That sucks. And you know what? That does suck. She's driven by the grief of her dead sister and mom the whole time, which is made, at times, painfully obvious to the reader.
You know whose else life sucks? Maria, also known as Sabine, one of the other main characters. Sabine starts out as a Spanish woman seeking to leave a provincial life, headstrong and determined to change whatever man of higher status she is able to become betrothed to. MY FAV CHARACTER FROM THIS BOOK. She is successful in marrying a Viscount, except he SUCKS. She so has this super classic yearning gay affair with a maid and then turns into a vampire and kills her husband and the person who made her. Sabine is selfish, self-serving and cruel, but she is also someone that you spend the most time with in this book and come to root for. You know that her soul is going rotten, as you see her friends and peers around grow evil. And then she is a Baddie in the middle and end of the book and I love evil women so this was going in the 5 star direction for me. AND GUESS WHAT. She got evil in the end and ruined people's lives. She died in a super stupid way though so that pissed me off. I wanted a cool fight and it was like "stabbed by a piece of the bathroom sink" so to be honestly lowkey the literary equivalent of my childhood dog dying from anal gland cancer. Like yeah, that could totally happen, but what are the odds and what a bummer way to go.
The third main character, Charlotte, is also good, but comes to a very underwhelming end. I also liked Charlotte and the fact that her major flaw is the vulnerability of her heart. She's turned into a vampire by Sabine when she decides she doesn't want to participate in British high society courting anymore and then Sabine makes her drink from the body of the man she rejected. Again, hot, except Sabine is the crazy brand of hot and this gets toxic fast. Charlotte flees and Sabine pursues, over and over again, killing her lovers when Charlotte's heart cannot stand to be alone. Charlotte is fucked up for needing people and Sabine is evil! So obliviously this is an issue.
My biggest gripe with this book is the underwhelming ending. You spent several hundred pages with three flawed characters that you see for their many exes and ohs, and yet still, the end leaves you being like "well. huh." And that KILLED ME. I loved these characters. It's been Voltron Season 8ed. Tragic. Will recommend this to people with the caveat of "talk to me when it's over bc I liked it but I had Thoughts ™"
dark
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
After almost 400 pages, the story began feeling redundant. I may try reading it again when I need a moody/slow burn book.