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Graphic: Death, Violence, Murder
Moderate: Animal death, Drug abuse, Drug use
Minor: Sexual assault, Slavery
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Grief, Death of parent
Moderate: Slavery
pros:
- the ingenuity and originality of the magical system is fab, I love the dark rituals and magic that the societies come up with.
- the plot is intricate and intriguing, with plot twists, but theres always hints that the reader can spot afterwards
- I do really like the characters, they're all so different and their own people, Alex, Darlington, Turner, Dawes and Mercy, but also all the side characters have their own motivations
- the writing is very good, with some rly vivid imagery and turns of phrase that I wish I'd marked
- I love the extremely grey morality in how we have a lot of compassion for Alex, but she is a dark soldier of a character and so is Darlington. that's never minimalised and actually takes front stage in the book.
- the setting is basically a character itself and while I didnt really fall in love with it, I still appreciated the research and beauty of it all
- I also liked how it didnt shy away from linking magical exploitation to real life, like with the runaway slaves map, and how it was never brushed aside. it showed the dark side of the magical and wealthy.
cons:
- it's a dense book, with a lot of time switches near the start, which threw me. keeping track of characters can be tricky and I definitely needed the summary of the 1st bk to remember a lot of things. the complexity if the book all comes together near the end but it takes some getting your head round and was partly why it took me a longer time to read.
- I do kind of wish the series had started at a different point. leigh mentioned it might have been a much longer series and I kind of wish we'd seen the events with hellie and Alex's introduction to lethe by Darlington first hand, rather than in erratic flashbacks. it was hard to feel very invested in Darlington's return for a lot of it because we dont get to view himself ourselves, only through glimpses through Alex.
- sometimes things happened in the plot that felt a bit random, too much out of nowhere.
but overall I did really like it, especially the badass last scene and I very much want to read the next one. (it was also amazing to meet and see leigh talk, would do that again also)
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Police brutality, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, Classism
Minor: Addiction, Racism, Self harm, Sexual assault, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, Alcohol
Moderate: Violence, Vomit, Murder
Minor: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Suicide attempt, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment
Graphic: Animal death, Death, Grief, Murder
Minor: Confinement, Slavery, Torture
Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Cursing, Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, Murder, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Grief, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Sexism, Slavery
As always, please check trigger warnings for this series! The Alex Stern novels are heavy, dark, and fully adult novels, unlike Bardugo's YA Grishaverse series.
Graphic: Death, Sexual content, Violence, Blood
Moderate: Animal death, Drug abuse, Drug use
Minor: Sexual assault, Slavery, Suicide attempt
-Literally the prologue I am already "WTF"ing
-Leigh Bardugo is a goddamn genius. That is all.
-Cat scream gif forever.
-I AM READY TO GO TO HELL!
-IT HURTS (& theories)
-THE GASP I GUSP
-I AM ON FIRE
Anyway I really wish we didn't have to wait years for the next book :')
It's also somehow technically 0/5 🌶️ but still I'm 🥵
Graphic: Death, Violence, Blood, Murder
Moderate: Animal death, Drug use, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual assault, Death of parent
Minor: Racism, Sexual content, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Police brutality, Grief, Suicide attempt
Graphic: Death, Violence, Murder, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Animal death
Minor: Drug use, Sexual assault, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt
Graphic: Animal death, Death, Drug use, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Murder, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Gun violence, Mental illness, Misogyny, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Slavery, Suicide, Torture