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kazli's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
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? It's complicated
4.25
AMAZING! Mark Lawrence's world-building is amazing and a treat to read.
Graphic: Abandonment, Death, Ableism, Blood, Grief, Murder, Child abuse, Classism, Confinement, Gore, Animal death, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Colonisation, and Death of parent
ailsaod's review against another edition
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
Not quite sure what to make of this book but it was much better than I was expecting from a premise that boils down to 'murder nuns'. Like everyone else the first paragraph had all my attention but then the following two pages or so of excessive purple prose about the cold put me right off again. Then we had some lovely child death immediately after and I was feeling decidedly unenthused. I got this book with the intention of giving it to my sibling when I finished it though so I had a deadline and continued to slog through the next fifty or so pages. Then the book slowly began to get good. We got to know the side characters, the world building turned out to be very interesting and Nona revealed herself to be a shameless liar and suddenly I was invested again. Then we reached the end of part one and what I thought was an exact repeat of that dreaded prologue but instead it dangled some very interesting hints (red herring that I absolutely fell for included) and then not only was I invested in the book's present but also in what was going to happen for the events of the prologue to occur at some point in the future!
This book is very engaging but it is also a bit on the edgy side - though it pulls it off without seeming ridiculous, unlike some books I could name. It is never quite explained why 'Red sisters' (AKA the aforementioned murder nuns) are a thing other some vague mentions of acting on behalf of the church which does leave me a bit puzzled.
The ending of this book felt like a lot. Tonnes of different things were going on and all were important, chekov's guns were going off all over the place and when it was over I had no idea what to make of it (I still don't) but plan to continue on with the series.
Moderate: Abandonment, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Death, Blood, Murder, Torture, and Violence
Minor: Classism and Death of parent
griffinthief's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-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? It's complicated
3.5
Graphic: Toxic friendship, Animal death, Blood, Violence, Gore, Death, Murder, Classism, Bullying, and Animal cruelty
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