Scan barcode
mariya_g8's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
This book shattered my heart into million pieces. There were so many plot twists that I could not predict and the writing is full of metaphors.
I loved how the first two chapters are built. In them a parallel between love and death is drawn an I loved how the words in the love scenes and the death ones are almost the same. There are even whole sentences from the one scene that are repeated in the other but convey two opposite feeling - lust and horror.
There is not a single character that is the perfect hero. All of them have their dark secrets soaked in blood. However, I couldn't help it but fell in love with couple of the characters as well as I hated others from the bottom of my heart. And that's the reason why my hear was broken several times.
Moreover, I am a huge fan of the literary devices so it worked perfectly for me how something that may be said with 5 simple words was described with a lot more than that. Also, I loved how some of the sentences contained rhymes and rhythm. Despite my love for words, I did have hard time understanding some of the sentences. English is not my first language, therefore I do have unfamiliar words. Some of them I had to check up, the others - I figured out while reading. And despite these words, the book left its print on my soul. There were sever scenes after which I was staring in the wall for a couple of minutes, trying to comprehend what had just happened.
Although the narrator is the typical omnipotent one, they mainly intervene the narration by using footnotes. This was something I've never encountered before. In this way, the author builds the world in which the narration is set without technically breaking the pace of the scene. One can always skip the footnote, read till the end of the scene and then come back for the skipped part.
I did predict some of the outcomes but I feel that the writer wants us to do so. When Mia was trying to solve Spiderkiler's riddle, I was sure throughout the whole time that she was going to nail it. Also, as Mia's group of friends were 5, but the Blade's places were only 4, I knew that someone would die and it came as no surprise that Carlotta was killed. Furthermore, during the final duel between Trick and Mia, I knew that she wanted to be defeated and all the awful words she threw to Trick were mere to make him mad and kill all the softness he might express during the fight.
Despite these little scenes, I could not predict what was going to happen next in the book. It was a huge surprise that Hush was not responsible for the death of the two acolytes as well as I did not expect the siblings' betrayal. Also, the scene in which Trick 'breaks up' with Mia made me almost cry but as there were 100 more pages to the end and 2 more books, I had hope they'd get back together. Up until he was killed as well.
And as it was mentioned several times in the book - the Mother of the Night keeps what she finds usefull or something like that - I have a tiny hope that Trick will somehow magically come back to life. Furthermore, by the end of the first book they have not found his body anywhere which enkindle my hope even more.
Overall, I see why some people may not like the book. It has a lot of descriptions but I find this normal as the author should build imaginary universe and explain how everything works. Moreover, at places the language used is nothing like the way we speak in our daily life and it took me a while to get used to it. However, I loved it and cannot wait to read the next book.
I loved how the first two chapters are built. In them a parallel between love and death is drawn an I loved how the words in the love scenes and the death ones are almost the same. There are even whole sentences from the one scene that are repeated in the other but convey two opposite feeling - lust and horror.
There is not a single character that is the perfect hero. All of them have their dark secrets soaked in blood. However, I couldn't help it but fell in love with couple of the characters as well as I hated others from the bottom of my heart. And that's the reason why my hear was broken several times.
Moreover, I am a huge fan of the literary devices so it worked perfectly for me how something that may be said with 5 simple words was described with a lot more than that. Also, I loved how some of the sentences contained rhymes and rhythm. Despite my love for words, I did have hard time understanding some of the sentences. English is not my first language, therefore I do have unfamiliar words. Some of them I had to check up, the others - I figured out while reading. And despite these words, the book left its print on my soul. There were sever scenes after which I was staring in the wall for a couple of minutes, trying to comprehend what had just happened.
Although the narrator is the typical omnipotent one, they mainly intervene the narration by using footnotes. This was something I've never encountered before. In this way, the author builds the world in which the narration is set without technically breaking the pace of the scene. One can always skip the footnote, read till the end of the scene and then come back for the skipped part.
I did predict some of the outcomes but I feel that the writer wants us to do so.
Despite these little scenes, I could not predict what was going to happen next in the book. It was a huge surprise that Hush was not responsible for the death of the two acolytes as well as I did not expect the siblings' betrayal. Also, the scene in which Trick 'breaks up' with Mia made me almost cry but as there were 100 more pages to the end and 2 more books, I had hope they'd get back together. Up until he was killed as well.
And as it was mentioned several times in the book - the Mother of the Night keeps what she finds usefull or something like that - I have a tiny hope that Trick will somehow magically come back to life. Furthermore, by the end of the first book they have not found his body anywhere which enkindle my hope even more.
Overall, I see why some people may not like the book. It has a lot of descriptions but I find this normal as the author should build imaginary universe and explain how everything works. Moreover, at places the language used is nothing like the way we speak in our daily life and it took me a while to get used to it. However, I loved it and cannot wait to read the next book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Death
Although there are not many scenes with sexual context, only 2-3, they are described quite vividly.hazychapters's review against another edition
slow-paced
1.0
I found this reading to be quite lengthy, 750 pages in French, with lengths, descriptions of little interest and useless. Still, the author has potential, but there are far too many similes and metaphors that quite often mean nothing (aka the oinking sea). I would have preferred that the information passed more clearly. The footnotes are far too numerous: I didn't read most of them because I was lost in my reading.
Wordbuilding is pretty good, even if we are drowned by pieces of information. They are useless to us since we do not travel in the universe. The atmosphere is actually quite good, very dark (small trigger warning). I just wish Mia's powers were more emphasized, this is one of her peculiarities, and it is not "used" and even left out for much of the story. Some characters were quite good, but I must admit I didn't appreciate the competitiveness between girls while the guys stay aside to watch the show… Big up to Mister Kindly. I loved him! He is very well thought out, original and brilliant! As for the end, I can't find much to say, except maybe "All that fuss for nothing?". We end up with a kind of reversal of the situation that made me a little angry because it concerns a character we only see twice. So whether he is there or not, it does not change the plot. I also find that his end does not stick to the characters. The author gives us specific pictures of his characters, but he does not even respect them.
I hated the hyper-sexualization of Mia and women in general. I didn't like how the author described the female body (which really embarrassed me and made me feel like an object or a curiosity). This femme fatale role could have been well thought out if it had not been glued to a 16-year-old girl. He wrote scenes of s*xual relationships between two children (16 and 17 years old), and I found that very unhealthy. I don't understand what this brings to the story apart from voyeurism and unease. I could also talk for hours about my anger at Mia's body "transformation" scene. She does not give her consent. I did not feel any rebellion on her part. Aalea has a tremendous hold on her to the point of handling her. But a woman does not have to answer the criteria set by men to be beautiful and desirable. Warning, also romanticization of death and suicide through metaphors; some people can be triggered.
Wordbuilding is pretty good, even if we are drowned by pieces of information. They are useless to us since we do not travel in the universe. The atmosphere is actually quite good, very dark (small trigger warning). I just wish Mia's powers were more emphasized, this is one of her peculiarities, and it is not "used" and even left out for much of the story. Some characters were quite good, but I must admit I didn't appreciate the competitiveness between girls while the guys stay aside to watch the show… Big up to Mister Kindly. I loved him! He is very well thought out, original and brilliant! As for the end, I can't find much to say, except maybe "All that fuss for nothing?". We end up with a kind of reversal of the situation that made me a little angry because it concerns a character we only see twice. So whether he is there or not, it does not change the plot. I also find that his end does not stick to the characters. The author gives us specific pictures of his characters, but he does not even respect them.
I hated the hyper-sexualization of Mia and women in general. I didn't like how the author described the female body (which really embarrassed me and made me feel like an object or a curiosity). This femme fatale role could have been well thought out if it had not been glued to a 16-year-old girl. He wrote scenes of s*xual relationships between two children (16 and 17 years old), and I found that very unhealthy. I don't understand what this brings to the story apart from voyeurism and unease. I could also talk for hours about my anger at Mia's body "transformation" scene. She does not give her consent. I did not feel any rebellion on her part. Aalea has a tremendous hold on her to the point of handling her. But a woman does not have to answer the criteria set by men to be beautiful and desirable. Warning, also romanticization of death and suicide through metaphors; some people can be triggered.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment, Alcohol, Blood, Body shaming, Child abuse, Death, Gore, Murder, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicide, Torture, Violence, and Cultural appropriation
Plastic surgery (in form of Magic), graphic sex scenes involving painful intercourse, threatened rape (several)erenreads12's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-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? Yes
2.5
Whilst parts of this book were enjoyable and overall the plot points were knitted together well, this book annoyed me like no other. The best way I can describe it is that it feels like a lot happened, and yet nothing happened. Mia's training in the church was overall shallow and by the time her training had ended I felt as though I hadn't seen any of the great improvements she suddenly made. The plot twist was good in that I didn't see it coming, but there just wasn't any meat to it; I couldn't get myself emotionally invested at all.
The smut was admittedly quite well written, but I have major issues with the graphic nature of sex in this book considering the protagonist's young age (and don't get me started on the weird seduction class thing it was just so fkin weird).
But my most pressing gripe....the footnotes. Oh God, the footnotes. This for me was what made the writing feel, despite its flowery metaphors and poetic style, straight up lazy. These footnotes are clearly intended to enrich the world building and its history and culture, but the use of footnotes indicates to me an inability to actually build the world within the text. The footnotes are often incredibly lengthy and, in my opinion, seriously disruptive to the flow of the story, to the point that sometimes by the time I was done reading a footnote I had forgotten what was going on in the story. After a while they annoyed me so much I just stopped reading them and it made absolutely no difference to my understanding of the story, indicating to me that they are entirely unnecessary. And despite the attempts to deepen the worldbuilding in this way, it felt as though thr magic system was just....there. In fact, it was totally abandoned.
Best thing about this book was the ending - the pace really picks up and ends in a mostly satisfying manner. But this wasn't enough for me to remotely consider continuing the series. I know that this is a very popular fantasy, but it certainly wasn't for me.
The smut was admittedly quite well written, but I have major issues with the graphic nature of sex in this book considering the protagonist's young age (and don't get me started on the weird seduction class thing it was just so fkin weird).
But my most pressing gripe....the footnotes. Oh God, the footnotes. This for me was what made the writing feel, despite its flowery metaphors and poetic style, straight up lazy. These footnotes are clearly intended to enrich the world building and its history and culture, but the use of footnotes indicates to me an inability to actually build the world within the text. The footnotes are often incredibly lengthy and, in my opinion, seriously disruptive to the flow of the story, to the point that sometimes by the time I was done reading a footnote I had forgotten what was going on in the story. After a while they annoyed me so much I just stopped reading them and it made absolutely no difference to my understanding of the story, indicating to me that they are entirely unnecessary. And despite the attempts to deepen the worldbuilding in this way, it felt as though thr magic system was just....there. In fact, it was totally abandoned.
Best thing about this book was the ending - the pace really picks up and ends in a mostly satisfying manner. But this wasn't enough for me to remotely consider continuing the series. I know that this is a very popular fantasy, but it certainly wasn't for me.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Death, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Sexual content, and Violence
antmalllow's review
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
Nothing would have changed if she was 20 instead of 16 and it would have made the main relationship and book feel less creepy. The love interest seems to come from a culture that Maori based and is seen as coming from a culture that is vicious and backwards. The blood-speaker has so many anti-Semitic tropes. I really wanted to like this book but I can't ignore all of that
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content and Murder
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Antisemitism, Biphobia, Body shaming, Cultural appropriation, Death, Death of parent, Torture, Violence, Racism, and Murder
Minor: Child death
hailie_lloy'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? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Gore, Grief, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, and Cursing
Minor: Rape
lookingforatyd's review
Long world building + very noticibly written by a man ( ex : didn't like jokes on she's annoying when on her periods etc.)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, and Murder
t4vs's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
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
4.0
"Never flinch. Never fear. And never, ever, forget"
I was kinda receous for reading this book. It is not the kind of fantasy i usually read (YA fantasy, this is a NA dark fantasy). It is gory, VIOLENT (emphasys on that, seriously, this is the most violent book i've ever read), it is not gentle, and definitely, not cute or pretty. It has a lot of blood, descriptive scenes, and i already said that it has a lot bood? THERE IS A LOT OF BLOOD. But, guess what? I liked it.
So, let's start on the things that i did like:
1. The writing style: never seen footnotes on a fiction/fantasy book. In the beginning i thought that they were annoying, but i ended up liking them. Saw a lot of people saying that this annoyed them so much that they DNFed it. It is not for everyone, but, for me, it worked really well.
2. The worldbuilding: Excellent. I'm serious, this is good. The footnotes add up to it in really good way. It has politics and politic organization, its own history, countries with culture and religion.
3. Plot: Woul i say that it looks like dark Throne of Glass? Eh, maybe. Yes and no, specifically. The "i'm an assassin and both of my parents are dead and i am being trained by a random man that is kinda of a paternal figure" kinda trope is similar to this YA series, but this is NA. But the plot it is still interesting.
4. The shadow cat, Mr. Kingly: i have to create a bullet point just for him and Mia's powers beacause they are SO COOL. You mean, a cat? That feeds from her fear? Yes.
And now, the things i did not like (actually it is just one, but that bothered me so so so much, and i hated it):
1. Mia's sexualization: I feel that i have to talk about this because in some parts it made me feel really uncomfortable as a woman myself. She is 16. A minor. And the way Jay Cristoff describes her in some parts... ugh. And don't get me started on the (cringy) spicy scenes. The opening scene is one. This is why this book is not perfect in my opinion. Really, what was the author thinking? That it would be okay to describe a 16 year old with borderline unappropriate adjectives? It disgusted me and i will not turn a blind eye for it. (Oh, and she smokes! wow how sexy and edgy)
Overall, that's it. It had all the things to be perfect and be a five star. If i ignored the Mia issue it would be a five star. But i can't and won't. What a shame, really. But, still, it is a good book with excellent worldbuilding and plot quality. Would recommend it? Yes, go for it, but be aware of the problematics of the author. After buying it i discovered the issues with Jay Kristoff and i'm alerting you guys too.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Death, Gore, Sexual content, and Violence
Moderate: Animal death and Death of parent
Minor: Addiction and Drug use
sleepytessa's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Bullying, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Incest, Murder, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, and Violence
Minor: Cursing and Vomit
thecourtofreading's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
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
4.5
"well all is blood, blood is all."
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Gore, and Sexual content
Moderate: Bullying and Death
Minor: Drug use, Vomit, and Animal death
oliverreeds's review
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
i didn't like the sexualization of the teenagers in this book. the writing is good; the narration is incredibly unique in a good way so the book only lost points in my book for underage kids being wayyyyy too sexualized. the book (in my opinion i haven't read the others yet) would be ultimately unchanged if the author had aged up the kids 4-7 years (or if they just didn't write an explicit sex scenes between minors)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Child death, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Gore, Grief, Murder, Sexual content, Torture, and Violence
Moderate: Addiction, Alcohol, Bullying, Fire/Fire injury, Kidnapping, Rape, Sexual harassment, Slavery, Trafficking, and Vomit
don't read this book if you aren't cool with blood, gore, murder and death! they introduction is not joking!