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The writing in this was fantastic. It was incredibly lyrical and descriptive in a way I personally haven't seen in Leigh Bardugos other books. Especially the way grief and guilt were described was phenomenal.
The ending is definitely a cliff hanger and sets up for a third book, but it also had a pretty good conclusion so the wait for the next book won't be as torturous as the wait for Hell Bent was. I will say if Darlington and Alex don't hook up in the next book I'm gonna scream, their sexual tension is too much. Also I am kinda shipping Mercy and Tripp but with the way the book ends idk if it could really work...
Graphic: Death, Violence
Moderate: Animal death, Drug use, Murder
Graphic: Police brutality
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexism, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, Classism
Minor: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Cancer, Cursing, Gore, Gun violence, Racism, Sexual content, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Drug abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Classism
Moderate: Gun violence, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Police brutality, Medical trauma
Minor: Rape
Graphic: Death, Misogyny, Racism, Violence, Blood
Moderate: Animal death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Mental illness, Alcohol, Colonisation, Classism
Minor: Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Vomit, Suicide attempt, Murder
Graphic: Animal death, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Torture, Toxic relationship, Blood, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Misogyny, Abandonment, Classism
Minor: Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt
Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Death, Drug abuse, Gore, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail
Graphic: Cursing, Death, Drug use, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Body shaming
it was well written and entertaining, pretty fast to get through and kept me turning the pages.
it had a nice mixture of murder mystery, supernatural elements, friendships and past trauma that kept it interesting.
it could have been a little shorter and some sections could have been cut out completely to just love the entire plot along a little faster but it’s a good read.
i think that it’s a good addition and a well done second book.
i can’t imagine that too many readers will dislike this book or hate it or they liked the first one to continue on reading this.
the story picks up the plot from where it was left at the end of “ninth house”.
that doesn’t mean that it’s necessary to read the books back to back or even still know exactly what happened in ninth house since Bardugo does offer little reminders throughout it the book of who people, places and things where and how things happened.
and now getting into the actual book itself:
i still really enjoyed alex.
she is such a great character, i just enjoy those characters that are neither good nor bad, just in it to survive and get things done, no matter how hard, horrible or for some people unthinkable it seems.
Still there were a few moments in this book where i was questioning if the punches and other alterations Alex that throughout the story so far have actually gave her some brain damage.
the moments i mean are those where Alex is just a tad to slow to understand, not seeing something utterly obvious coming or reacting just a smidgen to late.
and i am not sure why Bardugo wrote those scenes that way exactly because?
because someone like alex, i would think and expect, would see most if not all those things that the book alex missed.
sure it offered a bit of a longer plot point in that moment but how this entire book was ploted out overall didn’t need the “dear god alex just wake up and THINK!” moments Bardugo added.
thankfully there weren’t too many of those.
i still really liked the female friendships -general friendships really but especially the one between mercy, dowen and alex- fantastic.
also the sarcasm and snark?
right up there in this book with the best of them.
the lethe plot line and magical moments… where okay?
they were similar to the first book but with a bit of a step up. as of alex leveled up to the next level of bad guys. she’s no longer the freshman - she deserves the next highest big bad. (not sure if that makes sense but it’s almost 3 in the freaking morning here so let’s just go with the game level up thingy)
i am not sure yet what i think of this demon stuff since some elements that interesting and i liked those but most aspect didn’t surprise me because it’s demons you know? if you like supernatural stuff and seen a show, a movie or read a different book with demons it’s very likely that you know what will happen here.
is it necessary to try and do something completely different or but a unique spin on this elements? not really but trying i thought that bardugo leaned a little heavy on the demon things that could be foreseen if this isn’t your first supernatural elements story and tried to make them into something that couldn’t possible be predicted.
i understand that the characters might not have been able to see some things connect some dots because they where busy with other stuff but at the same time i am also not the biggest fan of the reader knowing more than the characters and then having to go along with the unknowing characters until they finally see or understand what’s happening.
as i said a bit torn about that particular aspect of the book.
i liked it but didn’t love it.
i liked and disliked how the darlington aspect was done.
won’t say more about that.
i enjoyed my time reading this and would recommend it.
Graphic: Bullying, Death, Drug use, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder
Graphic: Addiction, Death, Drug use, Gore, Violence, Blood, Murder
Graphic: Death, Violence, Blood, Murder
Moderate: Drug abuse, Drug use, Sexual assault, Sexual violence
Minor: Slavery, Suicide