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stormeno's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
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
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Gore, Gun violence, Racism, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Addiction, Child death, Drug use, Mental illness, and Death of parent
bellabern'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? It's complicated
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Gun violence, Violence, Stalking, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Child death
colorwired's review
This book has an interesting premise but it moves so slowly that I found myself questioning whether I really liked it or not.
I was also very thrown off by The Boy That Lived trope that becomes glaringly present in the first quarter.
There are definitely parts that are dark and scary, but I somehow felt confined even though the story skips around the globe.
I didn’t finish this book because I didn’t want to do the work to plug through everything to get to the point.
I was very disappointed because I was initially very excited about this book.
I was also very thrown off by The Boy That Lived trope that becomes glaringly present in the first quarter.
There are definitely parts that are dark and scary, but I somehow felt confined even though the story skips around the globe.
I didn’t finish this book because I didn’t want to do the work to plug through everything to get to the point.
I was very disappointed because I was initially very excited about this book.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Addiction, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racism, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Grief, Cannibalism, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, and Classism
Minor: Trafficking
rosyapple's review
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
somewhere between miss peregrine's home for peculiar children and China Mieville's kraken. a medium amount of horror
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Mental illness, Racism, Torture, Police brutality, and Murder
Minor: Child death, Drug use, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, and Fire/Fire injury
callistag1's review
dark
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
1.5
This is one of those books that had potential, had intrigue, and even had a compelling start, but it failed to keep that engagement throughout the book and quickly turned into a snooze fest where I was just wanting to get done with this book.
So, for the good part: The beginning was very good at getting you hooked... for a while. The settings and events that revolve around the introduced characters have a great set up, especially for Marlowe (and Eliza), Alice, and Charlie. Their meetings and the events they go through with learning about the two boys' powers and what the mysterious shadow man they are running from, with the help of Alice, to get to an institute that is meant to protect them and help them harness/control their powers gets you hooked.
But after that, the story goes downhill from there. I think it has to do with Alice being split up from the boys, but also there were a lot of things that just made this book feels flat. None of the other characters interested me much besides Jacob and Brynt. Despite how annoyingly long this book was, it felt like the characters got no development and we just saw them on a surface level because we were "told" more than "shown."
Speaking of how long this book was, at least a good 100 pages could have been lopped off, possibly more, because so much of it felt unnecessary. I say this because I remember so little of this book and I just finished reading it. Things felt repetitive at times to the point I just started skimming it, and it felt like everything from the beginning of the book was a waste of a start for a book that became so very boring.
Also, you can definitely tell this book is written by a man because practically every woman who is around Marlowe is hit with sudden 'maternal instincts,' which isn't how that works. And you also know this was written by a man because Eliza, a "minor" character who helped raise Marlowe, is shown to have deep maternal love for him and care, but when she has a miscarriage of her own baby, the book quite literally says, "And that was that."
I understand Eliza's baby wasn't conceived out of love, but for a character that cares for Marlowe the way she did to have no reaction at all from miscarrying is odd. Even if she didn't mourn the child she lost, you would think she could have had a negative response as this pain would have reminded her of the sexual trauma she went through. But that was just glossed over.
Also Alice's feelings weren't really looked at besides skimming he surface. She learns her mother, who was obviously mentally unwell and had been in an alyssum that she never visited, had been dead for seven years because no one contacted her when it happened. And she has barely any reaction. I wasn't expecting her to burst into tears, but this just felt like these things were more to shock the audience that do anything in terms of the character's response and lives.
Just want to say, if you do decide to read this book, I'd say read a physical or digital copy if you can and not listen to the audiobook. I was doing both, but I mostly read it because the audiobook was not for me. I didn't care for the narrator personality. Some of the accents he did were too thick, as if he was trying to hard, and it made it hard to understand what he was saying.
I don't think I'll be continuing this series.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gore, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Blood, Police brutality, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Body horror, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Rape, Sexual assault, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Hate crime
mpbookreviews's review
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- 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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Misogyny, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail
anns_storybound_sanctuary's review
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-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
I love this book. Another 5/5 this year.
What impressed me the most was the story telling, the world building, the characters and how the author achieved it to give every character their own voice. The diction, punctuation and grammar is different for every character which gives them even more depth.
The prose is also just gorgeous. The way J. M. Mirow describes each scene, setting the mood before diving into the action. This for me makes the storytelling even more immersive
The story itself is set mostly in Vicotrian England, at the end of the 17th century. This gives this book a dark academia feeling even though half of the cast of characters is under the age of 18. The story is written in a lot of different POVs which contribute to the immersion.
I wouldn't rate this book as a YA novel as which it was marketed here. There is a lot of violence and loss in this book. Which I as an adult reader appreciated but is not fit for children.
What impressed me the most was the story telling, the world building, the characters and how the author achieved it to give every character their own voice. The diction, punctuation and grammar is different for every character which gives them even more depth.
The prose is also just gorgeous. The way J. M. Mirow describes each scene, setting the mood before diving into the action. This for me makes the storytelling even more immersive
The story itself is set mostly in Vicotrian England, at the end of the 17th century. This gives this book a dark academia feeling even though half of the cast of characters is under the age of 18. The story is written in a lot of different POVs which contribute to the immersion.
I wouldn't rate this book as a YA novel as which it was marketed here. There is a lot of violence and loss in this book. Which I as an adult reader appreciated but is not fit for children.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Death, Violence, Blood, Grief, and Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Torture, Murder, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Ableism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, and Death of parent
toopunkrockforshul's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
It was interesting but also felt like it didn't need to be as long as it did (though how much of that is skewed by me trying to finish it by the deadline I'm not sure). I'm not sure if I will read the sequel, I thought the take on powers and school for kids with powers was somewhat unique, and I liked a lot of the characters, but again felt long to me. Maybe it would have been different reading rather than listening?
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, Gore, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail
lauren_miller's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
this book was the very definition of slow burn. slow characterization. slow plot. slow action. slower resolution. everything about it took its time, and yet, I found myself engaged the entire time. I really wish this were a standalone b/c the thought of two more long-ass books like this has me already exhausted, but I'm so desperate to know what happens to Alice and the kids that I don't think I'll have a choice... would I recommend? maybe. if you're a fan of Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell or a Sanderfan, you will probably blink at the length and dive headlong right in without a second thought. if you're looking for intensity, energy, and a fast pace, please move right along; this is not the one for you.
4.25 out of 5 stars, ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
4.25 out of 5 stars, ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gun violence, Violence, and Murder
Moderate: Body horror
salemrose's review
challenging
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
The first half of this book is agonizingly slow, then the second half goes so fast it's almost hard to keep up and feels rushed. There's very little dialogue and a very heavy emphasis on plot and the telling of events rather than a focus on who the characters are and what their inner lives are like. Once the book hits it's stride it's not terrible but it takes a solid 400 pages to get there and I personally don't think it's worth the wait. Overall not the worst thing I've ever read but definitely not for me.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Child death, Racism, and Police brutality