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lvl52_grant's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Graphic: Medical trauma, Grief, War, Torture, and Violence
Moderate: Sexual violence
ehknits's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
Graphic: War and Violence
Moderate: Rape, Slavery, and Sexual violence
Minor: Cannibalism and Injury/Injury detail
emmalaya's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
Graphic: Blood, Colonisation, Violence, Death, Rape, Child death, Classism, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Sexism, and War
Moderate: Homophobia and Sexual violence
linkwoodpub's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Graphic: Murder, Torture, Toxic relationship, War, Vomit, Fire/Fire injury, Hate crime, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual harassment, Racism, Rape, Death, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Classism, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Medical content, Xenophobia, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Slavery
kaylanicholsmith's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
I feel like I was really excited to get to this finally because of all the hype that I've heard over all the years and it was... fine? This book is kinda dense. You get thrown right into the world of Darrow, the main character, and you are learning as you go. There is nothing about the world, the language, the setting that is really explained to you. Darrow, as a character, kinda expects people to just know what he is talking about. Sometimes this narrative style works for me and other times it doesn't. Ultimately, the writing style as a whole just wasn't my favorite. I kept trying to remind myself that we are primarily reading from the perspective of teenage boys (yuck) but it just felt over the top with the juvenile quality sometimes. Also, my biggest pet peeve in books, any genre, is when the author has to insert fart jokes or fart commentary (usually as an insult to another character). I just can't stand it. The amount of times the author used "turd" could also warrant some kind of an award.
Despite the issues with the writing my biggest question with this story was the handling of sexual assault. On one hand, I feel like the author did do something a little different than a lot of other male fantasy/scifi writers - the female characters were not only there to be sexually assaulted and serve no other purpose. However, on the other hand, the amount of sexual assault still felt gratuitous and the female characters underdeveloped. While there is nothing graphic on the page, there is ample talk about the sexual assaults taking place, and not all of it is condemning the actions taking place. Granted, sexual violence is quite commonplace in war situations and the bystander effect is a terrible thing that happens everyday, but the author didn't really seem to tackle the issue quite as head on as he might have thought he was. Perhaps that was because there is SO MUCH going on in this first book - I think that we cover about 2 years in the course of this first book - and it flies. There is no real delving into any of the social issues that are being raised in the book. Everything felt super surface level.
I haven't totally written off the rest of the series but I'm in no major rush to continue on. I wonder if, as the story continues to build, that the commentary will become stronger and the writing more palatable but who knows. Maybe I never will... we'll see.
Graphic: Gore, Torture, Blood, and Violence
Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Classism, Bullying, Racism, Sexual violence, Vomit, Ableism, Cannibalism, Animal cruelty, Sexual assault, Slavery, War, Gore, Murder, Animal death, and Blood
morbidqueen19's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Graphic: War, Vomit, Rape, Violence, Torture, Slavery, Sexual violence, Physical abuse, and Murder
anniefwrites's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
1.5
Graphic: Blood, Rape, Sexual violence, and Violence
porcinitortellini's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Graphic: War, Child death, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Classism, Death, Rape, Murder, and Sexual assault
Moderate: Alcoholism and Sexism
Minor: Sexual content
There is a trope in here that is usually a MAJOR turn-off for me in sci-fi, but is unfortunately hard to avoid in the genre (I think some of you can see where I'm going with this...). It's a little bit of a spoiler so read at your own risk:marigold_summer's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Murder and Torture
Minor: Sexual violence
aliciaallisonmorgan's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Graphic: Classism, Gore, Physical abuse, Colonisation, Slavery, War, Murder, Violence, Death, and Genocide
Moderate: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Rape, Physical abuse, Murder, and Torture