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ryleelizabeth's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Graphic: Toxic friendship, Religious bigotry, Drug use, Drug abuse, Sexual content, Suicide attempt, and Toxic relationship
annamary54's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Suicide attempt, Vomit, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Alcoholism, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Fire/Fire injury, Medical content, Mental illness, Hate crime, Blood, Body horror, Violence, Death, and Gore
Minor: War and Child abuse
pagesbycaroline's review against another edition
- 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? It's complicated
4.5
Graphic: Blood, Medical trauma, Alcohol, Grief, Cursing, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Drug use, and Death
Moderate: Suicide attempt, Violence, Gun violence, Suicide, Drug abuse, and Sexual content
Minor: Suicidal thoughts
moond4ncer's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Vomit, Blood, Cursing, Drug abuse, Drug use, Grief, Medical trauma, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Xenophobia, Body horror, Car accident, Murder, Violence, Alcohol, Medical content, Sexual harassment, and Slavery
stephanieviolet's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Graphic: Death, Gore, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Grief, and Violence
Moderate: Vomit, Slavery, Sexual harassment, Panic attacks/disorders, Trafficking, Mental illness, and Addiction
Minor: Body horror, Gun violence, Colonisation, Mental illness, Drug use, Alcoholism, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Medical content, Torture, Medical trauma, Xenophobia, Abandonment, War, Toxic relationship, and Drug abuse
alixcalfa's review against another edition
4.0
Graphic: Death, Sexual harassment, Drug abuse, and Self harm
avialaeleigh's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
I definitely wasn't expecting a lot of the plot twists and surprise endings. Bryce is one of my favorite female characters in a fantasy novel. She is objectively the epitome of a dumb party girl but she is also a fucking badass and I can't even begin to explain how happy that combination makes me for some reason.
Also he relationship with Ruhn and Hunt and the sass between them all is just amazing. And the enemies to lovers between Bryce and Hunt is *chefs kiss* one of my favorite tropes. And they do it so well. Plus we have the whole golden retriever black cat relationship as well as two broken people healing each other which is also one of my favorites.
Also fuck the whole slave thing, that's ridiculous, people shouldn't be able to own other people that are able to make their own decisions and think for themselves. Otherwise I liked that this was different enough from SJMs other series but also similar enough to not be a weird read. Cannot wait to start the next book in the series.
Graphic: Drug abuse, Blood, Racism, Death, Suicidal thoughts, Alcohol, Body horror, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Classism, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Sexism, Slavery, Mental illness, and Torture
gretchenplz's review against another edition
- 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
3.5
The award for the most random and inexplicable "third-act breakup" goes to this book. Like... what is the actual hell just happened? No warning. No hinting. Just made up. Randomly. Out of nowhere. Absolutely absurd.
And then *POOF* magically erased like it never happened. Surely there was SOME other way to move forward the plot without THAT taking place???
All the other twists were painfully obvious, which is why I am so insulted by this one in particular. There was a better way to move the plot forward the same amount without it. But that might have cut 100 pages from the book. And God knows SJM can't possibly put out a book shorter than 800 pages these days.
Also… did SJM panic at JLA’s popularity and decide that she needed to come up with a similarly convoluted power hierarchy/structure?! There was no need!!!
And please don't get me started on the "sudden onset powers!"
I could go on about recycled characters/personalities, but I won't. I'm sure you noticed. Bryce is at least not blonde, so the self-insert is a TAD less obvious. Because she's sooooo not like other girls!!!
I will be waiting for Hunt's complete personality transplant in Book Two and for Bryce to end up with... One of her brother's buddies? Conner's brother? Idk, but I'm sure it will happen.
The ending making me emotional is not enough to erase my memory of all the bullshit. But that just seems to be how SJM's books go. One day she will change her formula and I will fall over in shock. But today is not that day.
Big fan of the demon cat, though!
Graphic: Drug use, Drug abuse, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt
suenoyume's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Blood, Violence, Torture, Murder, Grief, and Slavery
Moderate: Drug abuse, Drug use, Hate crime, Eating disorder, Animal cruelty, Injury/Injury detail, and Medical content
ashleynp24's review against another edition
- 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
4.75
The single reason I’m giving it a 4.75 is because I felt like there was a lot of romance between the two protagonists but it was such a slow burn for the whole book until the end when the climax hit. I wish there’d been just a little more before that point.
Overall I loved the book and am excited to start the second to see where it goes from there.
Graphic: War, Violence, Toxic friendship, Panic attacks/disorders, Mental illness, Drug use, Blood, Suicide attempt, Murder, Body shaming, Sexism, Death, Torture, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual assault, Alcohol, Suicide, Slavery, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Gun violence, Grief, and Drug abuse