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kal517's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
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? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Torture, Kidnapping, Grief, and Murder
riverlasol's review against another edition
dark
emotional
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
5.0
oh my goodness, I am writing this review at around 11 pm after just finishing this book so my thoughts might be a little scattered but wow this was incredible. I finally got around to reading all of us villains this summer and I really enjoyed the concept and couldn’t wait to see how things got resolved in this book, but no matter how much I love the first book, nothing could’ve prepared for the sequel. even though I loved the first book, the world felt a little closed off because of how much of it centred around the champions and being inside of the tournament, so I absolutely adored how the sequel really opened up the world and we got to learn more about the fantasy setting, meet some new characters and even up the stakes beyond just the tournament/finding a way to end it. I admit there was a few moments where it felt like plot beats were dragged out a little longer than I would’ve expected, but that was probably just because the majority of this novel was very fast paced and full of heartbreaking twists. I also thought that the character development in this book was stellar. It was so satisfying to see how things that had started in the first book continued on and then got even more clear. And don’t even get me started on the romance. I thought the romance was done pretty convincingly in the first book, but in this one, it was just on a whole new level—Gavstair especially (is that their ship name?) is one of my new favourite ships and it’s not just because they’re queer because this ship in particular is absolutely enemies to lovers done right and I loved every second of it. I won’t be delving into spoilers so I will wrap this up here and just say that this book was even more bloody, brutal, and dramatic than the first of the duology and I truly loved it. I can definitely see myself re-reading this duology in the future and I highly highly recommend it to anyone who loves dark fantasy and wants a book with lots of twists and intensity.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, Blood, Vomit, and Death of parent
nicoledelairs's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Torture, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Gaslighting
crunchylettuce's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
- 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
2.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cursing, Death, and Torture
Moderate: Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol
isitcertain's review against another edition
dark
emotional
fast-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? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gore, Mental illness, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Outing, and Injury/Injury detail
directorpurry's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Blood, Vomit, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Child abuse
killetcak's review against another edition
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Self harm, Torture, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Kidnapping
saxymisty's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
This is the kind of book I love to read. Morally gray characters are so much fun, it just seemed to wrap up too quickly for me. It all happened in a way that made sense and was enjoyable though.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood and Abandonment
Moderate: Fire/Fire injury
jaimee_reads's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Emotional abuse
bzliz's review against another edition
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
The conclusion to this deadly tournament could not have clutched me in its grasp any harder. I know it would be easy to criticize certain character choices or plot points but I simply do not care that characters bounce from one alliance to the next like a ping pong ball (they are children faced with nothing but uncertain, impossible choices doing the best they can with the information they have in that exact moment) or just how convoluted the relationship between the spell makers, the government & the families ends up. I don’t even care about how convenient it is that the remaining champions- including a new addition, bound to the tournament against his will with hasty, experimental magick- end up with someone to pair off with.
The relationship between Alistair and Gavin is a fantastic development from enemies to lovers. Isobel and Reid also make sense to me, still enemies to lovers but in a more this relationship is definitely a little toxic considering we both took each other as prisoners at one point and we each have our own serious personal growth to do kind of way. Briony and Finley are the most predictable and boring but I think that has more to do with him being essentially a prop in her story than anything else. Briony’s final sacrifice made me tear up- she became a true hero rather than the heroic charade her family had been playing at.
There could not have been a better ending for this sequel and it certainly could not have been happier without completely betraying the horrors faced by everyone whose lives were impacted by the tournament curse.
There could not have been a better ending for this sequel and it certainly could not have been happier without completely betraying the horrors faced by everyone whose lives were impacted by the tournament curse.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Self harm, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail