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wildflower030'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? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Gore, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, and Religious bigotry
Moderate: Animal death, Child death, Cursing, Homophobia, and Abandonment
el_pender's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Graphic: Homophobia, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Religious bigotry, and Outing
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, and Child death
Minor: Addiction and Alcoholism
violet_gray's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
The “banter” is early 2000’s edgy stand up style humor.
The inconsistent mix of random French, faux old English and modern day English breaks all immersion.
I’m ok with mixing timelines but they don’t pay off. Also the contant moving of the goal post robs the story of anything remotely resembling a satisfying conclusion .
The world building is not there. There’s mushrooms, potatoes, water and vague other races. Where are they? How does that impact who they are and how the world treats them? 🤷🏼♀️
Now specifically for the audio version… oh dear. That was a hot mess of accents and styles.
Less objective thoughts.
This reads like fan fiction of many different properties , most blatantly The Vampire Chronicles (French Nobel woman in exile in the country side, married to drunk husband has a child that extra special and their name is Lion something) and The Last of Us (hear me out: grumpy dude who loses daughter must deliver children to authorities that will use her to save the world but then decides he’d rather burn the world than have her die. Also fungus monsters) but the author likes gritty comics and George Carlin humour and things they can do better and this was their attempt at that.
And as someone that likes all those things as well, I do wish this worked.
Hence the two starts instead of 1. But it doesn’t work cause the writing is bad. There is no real reason for this book to be this long unless you are aiming to appeal to Sanderson fans but can’t do all the world building he does.
If books were kids toys, Sarah j Maas would purple sparkly toy and this would the exact same crap plastic toy but in blue and black.
Moderate: Body horror, Homophobia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Religious bigotry, and Murder
haileyybean's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.5
Graphic: Alcoholism, Child death, Drug abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Sexism, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Outing, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Child death
cflag's review against another edition
Graphic: Misogyny, Sexual violence, and Violence
andromeda_1998's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Addiction, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
anntharai's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
The issues I have with it REALLY irk me.
The world building is immaculate if a bit on the nose, really vivid writing and visceral descriptions, a great mechanic. Love the use of tattoos and the lore building. Overall I liked the story itself.
The issues, though?
I found myself rolling my eyes at a lot of the vulgarity because it was genuinely ludicrous at times. Swearing doesn’t bother me in the slightest but the lengths to which these characters went just to get a “banged your relative” joke in was over the top.
Everything has a simile. Everything. The doors locked like a secret. The floors cold like the night. The night air cold like knives. Wind like knives. Words like knives. Running frightened like a startled horse in a barn on fire and the devil whipping it all the way. The lips red like red things.
The repetitive phrases (fuck my face, like his lady’s lips the last time he kissed her, better a bastard than a fool) stopped feeling symbolic and started feeling like a crutch about half way through and using the same *twist* mechanic used twice (gender neutral names being the crux of two stories told so closely together) made it feel less polished than it could have been.
Thanks to various reviews etc I was also expecting a “big thing” to shock me at the end but I kind of felt it was obvious…?
Anti-climactic, in a word, but I do want to know what happens so it’s not like I hated it.
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Hate crime, Homophobia, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Religious bigotry, Murder, Outing, Abandonment, War, and Injury/Injury detail
caitlinbutcher's review against another edition
Graphic: Addiction, Animal death, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, and War
darkmattersoybean'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? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Child death, Death, Sexual content, Violence, and Death of parent
Moderate: Sexual violence
hilwithonel's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Graphic: Cursing, Blood, and Murder
Moderate: Child death, Homophobia, and War
Minor: Addiction and Sexual violence