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karienga's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
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
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Blood, Death, Gore, Murder, Sexual content, and Violence
mothman19's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
sad
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
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Violence, Murder, Grief, Gore, Forced institutionalization, Death of parent, Death, Confinement, and Child death
Moderate: Animal death, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, and Torture
Minor: Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual content, and Vomit
vanessa_reads_a_lot's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Suicide, Blood, Gore, Violence, and Sexual content
Minor: Death and Death of parent
scribblesandsuch's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
I enjoyed the universe and the main characters a lot. Unfortunately the narrator's voice was annoying, and at times a clumsy tool for gratuitous world building that hindered the narrative rather than aiding it. Also there was an unnecessary obsession around sex that I don't think made sense with the rest of the book. Still, I look forward to reading the sequel
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Murder, Gore, Death, and Blood
readwithria's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-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
3.75
EDIT TO ADD: about a year after I read this book I learned about some tropes that I want to call out. This entire written review is a slight spoiler.
TW for antisemitism.
There is one particular character that, in my current opinion, is thinly veiled antisemitism. This character is the blood sorcerer, Adonai (For cultural sensitivity purposes I will no longer be using his name).
Right of the bat, this character’s name is the Hebrew word meaning God, which in Judaism is NEVER to be said aloud except during prayer. This on its own could be a coincidence, however, practices magic from the Ashkahi culture. The name for people who are ethnically Eastern European Jews (as opposed to culturally or religiously) is Ashkenazi. Again, this is an ethnic group and not specifically a religious or cultural group, but the ethnicity was originally jewish.
Okay, so this man who’s name is the Jewish word for God practices magic from a culture that’s name is similar to a jewish ethnic group. So? WELL. The magic that he practices is blood magic, specifically he drinks blood so that he can manipulate it. This feels to me like the medieval Christian idea of blood libel. How is this antisemitic? This was a belief held by Christian people that Jews practiced blood sacrifices, and this belief led to many Jewish people being killed from the medieval times all the way to early modern Europe.
These three things in combination make me feel really uncomfortable with promoting the text. I will not be changing my original rating, but I would no longer recommend this book because it perpetuates harm.
I also think this character is a strong case for having sensitivity readers be a part of the publishing process. Making sure you have people who are familiar with these types of less publicly known stigmas read books before they are published will help limit their publication. Changing this character’s name and the name of culture the blood magic is from would have drastically decreased the antisemitic undertones without changing much of the book.
While I can see a non Jewish person not knowing that these things are antisemitic, I think that there are too many coincidences for it to have been unintentional on Jay Kristoff’s part. Based on this knowledge, as well as reviews I have read regarding relationships in his other books, I will no longer be supporting his work. If you are interested in reading his books, please consider checking them out from the library or buying them secondhand. If you have a platform, try not to promote his books without context. I hope that this review is helpful for folks who may not be aware of the discourse surrounding Jay Kristoff (as well as Emily A Duncan, but I haven’t read her books).
TW for antisemitism.
There is one particular character that, in my current opinion, is thinly veiled antisemitism. This character is the blood sorcerer, Adonai (For cultural sensitivity purposes I will no longer be using his name).
Right of the bat, this character’s name is the Hebrew word meaning God, which in Judaism is NEVER to be said aloud except during prayer. This on its own could be a coincidence, however, practices magic from the Ashkahi culture. The name for people who are ethnically Eastern European Jews (as opposed to culturally or religiously) is Ashkenazi. Again, this is an ethnic group and not specifically a religious or cultural group, but the ethnicity was originally jewish.
Okay, so this man who’s name is the Jewish word for God practices magic from a culture that’s name is similar to a jewish ethnic group. So? WELL. The magic that he practices is blood magic, specifically he drinks blood so that he can manipulate it. This feels to me like the medieval Christian idea of blood libel. How is this antisemitic? This was a belief held by Christian people that Jews practiced blood sacrifices, and this belief led to many Jewish people being killed from the medieval times all the way to early modern Europe.
These three things in combination make me feel really uncomfortable with promoting the text. I will not be changing my original rating, but I would no longer recommend this book because it perpetuates harm.
I also think this character is a strong case for having sensitivity readers be a part of the publishing process. Making sure you have people who are familiar with these types of less publicly known stigmas read books before they are published will help limit their publication. Changing this character’s name and the name of culture the blood magic is from would have drastically decreased the antisemitic undertones without changing much of the book.
While I can see a non Jewish person not knowing that these things are antisemitic, I think that there are too many coincidences for it to have been unintentional on Jay Kristoff’s part. Based on this knowledge, as well as reviews I have read regarding relationships in his other books, I will no longer be supporting his work. If you are interested in reading his books, please consider checking them out from the library or buying them secondhand. If you have a platform, try not to promote his books without context. I hope that this review is helpful for folks who may not be aware of the discourse surrounding Jay Kristoff (as well as Emily A Duncan, but I haven’t read her books).
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Gore, Sexual content, and Violence
Moderate: Antisemitism
Minor: Slavery
This book contains a character who, in my opinion, is thinly veiled antisemitism. For more information, see my full review.catchmereadingnotsleeping's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Death, Death of parent, Gore, Murder, Torture, and Violence
ashlyn's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Sexual content, Murder, Death, and Child death
Moderate: Sexual violence, Torture, Grief, Gore, and Cursing
Minor: Drug use, Vomit, Slavery, Sexual assault, Rape, and Blood
eve_reads's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Overall Thoughts:
⁕ The split narration is incredibly confusing for the first 30-40 pages, and even once I figured out what was going on I felt the pacing of one “perspective” was slower than the other until about page 100. After that it was totally gripping.
⁕ The snarky/sadistic comments of the narrator(s?) and the use footnotes to provide unnecessary but detailed world-building were sometimes fun, sometimes really distracting. I’m still torn on these elements.
⁕ The story is far more driven by the plot and overall suspense than character development and nuance.
To read my full review, visit: https://evereads.online/
For regular book-related content, follow my Instagram account: @eve_reads
⁕ The split narration is incredibly confusing for the first 30-40 pages, and even once I figured out what was going on I felt the pacing of one “perspective” was slower than the other until about page 100. After that it was totally gripping.
⁕ The snarky/sadistic comments of the narrator(s?) and the use footnotes to provide unnecessary but detailed world-building were sometimes fun, sometimes really distracting. I’m still torn on these elements.
⁕ The story is far more driven by the plot and overall suspense than character development and nuance.
To read my full review, visit: https://evereads.online/
For regular book-related content, follow my Instagram account: @eve_reads
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault, Gore, Torture, Cursing, Sexual content, Death of parent, Death, Slavery, Child death, and Body horror
nikkiyrj's review
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
I had fun reading this but I'll admit there were moments that I did not as much as I would've liked. The prose of the book was slightly offputting when I read the first chapter but thankfully it improved from there. Also, very interesting choice of a first chapter scene to introduce the 16 year old main character.
I did however, find the whole concept of assassin training really cool and that kept me going through the book. The romance to be honest was just okay and I didn't really feel much for the pairing but I've read that things do improve in the sequels. I will be continuing on the series as the author left a whole lot of questions unanswered and the plot twist at the end was pretty good too! Overall it was a decent read, although I can see a lot of people being put off with the writing style.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Death
snake's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Death, Gore, Sexual content, and Violence