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winterwoodbooks's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Vomit, Alcohol, Chronic illness, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, Child death, Suicidal thoughts, Animal death, Gore, Infidelity, Sexual harassment, Suicide, Hate crime, Torture, War, Addiction, Body horror, Grief, Infertility, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Self harm, Genocide, Violence, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Animal cruelty, Sexism, Dysphoria, Emotional abuse, Medical content, Suicide attempt, Mental illness, Sexual content, Slavery, Cursing, Murder, Pregnancy, Rape, Blood, Death, Sexual violence, Excrement, and Gaslighting
naturally'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? It's complicated
4.0
despite this, i thought gold was a strong addition to the plated prisoner series and i enjoyed it more than glow. the slow pace and dragged out storylines of the last book pay off. in gold, the readers get to reap the benefits of the connected dots (saira turley storyline + malina's disjointed travels throughout the kingdoms + slade's long backstory/flashback chapters), mainly through auren and malina's character development.
although auren in the main character of this series, i must admit, malina stole the show in book 5!
Graphic: Police brutality, Suicidal thoughts, War, Fire/Fire injury, Kidnapping, Murder, Torture, Blood, Body horror, Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Animal cruelty, Sexual content, and Violence
Moderate: Grief and Confinement
Minor: Pregnancy, Religious bigotry, Addiction, and Infertility
riverofhorton's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
This book was partially set in Annwyn, which could have lead to some amazing lore and world building opportunities that the author just missed completely. Why have such a story set in a complete fantasy world, without exploring how that world works in detail?
It was the perfect opportunity for the author to explore the aftermath of abusive relationships from two different perspectives, while the abuser remained the same person. Instead it seemed like the author had forgotten about the abuse for the most part, only briefly mentioning it three or four times in the whole 672 pages.
Additionally, it did not need to be that long. So many times the events were being recapped mere pages after they had happened. I understand characters needing to know about events they weren't present for, but does the reader need to read a blow by blow account in the form of a conversation with another character? Even worse was when characters were recapping in their own head.
There seems to be very much the Holocaust allegory in this book, as well. I'm not going to pass judgement on that, since I don't feel it's my place (as someone who isn't Jewish) to do so.
Some specific examples of things that tipped me off:
Auren was described as being hidden in an attic to hide her from the rulers. There was constant othering and enslavement of Oreans. The tyrannical rulers Annwyn see Oreans as having impure blood and lesser beings. Oreans are brutalised by the rulers on a regular basis. There's also a resistance which aims to overthrow these rulers and bring peace to Annwyn. The resistance rescues the Oreans from their captors. The rulers are attempting to invade Orea, and murder all the Oreans.
There were two specific examples of confusing lore-breaking choices (or perhaps laziness) that I can think of off the top of my head. These will be explained without major plot spoilers. So for context for anyone that hasn't read the books in this series, this is high fantasy with no links to the real world, medical science in this series is somewhere around "You have a grievous wound, put this salve on it", additionally, there has been no mention of Abrahamic religions, instead preferring what seems to be a matriarchal polytheism of some description.
To the points:
- Something rather chaotic happens, and one of the characters describes this as being 'Bedlam' which is quite a common phrase in our world. However, this word came into our vernacular from St Mary Bethlehem Hospital. Which implies both the existence of psychiatric hospitals, the existence of Christianity, as well as the existence of a place called Bethlehem in a world where not only have these things never been mentioned previously, but there is evidence to suggest the opposite.
- At one point, a character is describing some bars on something, likening them to "the iron cages often bolted over graves to keep robbers at bay". Although I will give credit for recognising why the cages were actually used, this doesn't fit in the world. The reason those cages were needed was so people couldn't steal the bodies and sell them to anatomy schools. This only started happening in the 19th Century, and (to my knowledge) only in England and Scotland. In this book, implying a medical science vastly more advanced than it's currently stated to be, as well as there being a British Isles, which again is not only never mentioned but there is evidence against this.
There were also several examples of formatting and spelling errors in this book, I picked up on 4 in the last 300 or so pages of the book alone and don't doubt for a second that there are many more such errors that I missed.
Worst of all, this book didn't really add a vast amount to the overall narrative and gave the overall impression that what was originally meant to be one book has been spread over two books and so this needed a lot of filler.
Overall, I wouldn't recommend this book. I found it to be such a disappointment in so many ways. It was such a shame when the first three books to this day mean so much to me, having helped me realise and ultimately leave a relationship similar to the one Auren was in with Midas. I will go back to the first three books in the future, but now whenever I recommend the series, I specify that the first three are worth while, the fourth and fifth are just let downs. I will still be reading the next book, as stated, so I'll see how that one goes. Hopefully it gets better.
Graphic: Classism, Colonisation, Domestic abuse, Sexual content, Antisemitism, Hate crime, Murder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infertility, Kidnapping, Police brutality, Racism, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Torture, Racial slurs, Confinement, Fire/Fire injury, Mental illness, Death, Death of parent, Child abuse, Deportation, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Stalking, Body horror, Genocide, Xenophobia, Slavery, Toxic relationship, War, Ableism, Blood, Violence, Bullying, Rape, Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Chronic illness, Dysphoria, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Trafficking, Gaslighting, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexual harassment, and Sexual violence
kayanoelle's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
I loved the multiple POVs because all of the perspectives were interesting and gave us information to fathom the situation all over Orea (and elsewhere).
Malinaās point of view was my favorite in this book, ngl. Thatās a redemption arc right there. You go, Queenie.
My mind is still a jumbled mess after having just finished this book and Iām trying to gather my thoughts haha.
Auren is honestly so great and the ending????? What?? WHAT?
Kaila deserves every bad thing that could possibly happen to a person and I mean that with everything I have.
To use one of my favorite quotes: āI wouldnāt wish that upon my worst enemy, unless weāre talking about my enemy Kaila. Fuck you, Kaila, you know what you did.ā
Iām pretty sure āGoldfinchā is gonna give me like 20 almost-heartattacks but at least we still have loads of time to recover til then.
Graphic: Blood, Gore, Torture, and War
Moderate: Vomit and Kidnapping
yarisbooksandbevs's review
- 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
Graphic: Confinement, Cursing, Death, Genocide, Sexual content, Violence, War, Animal cruelty, Blood, Body horror, Grief, Kidnapping, Murder, and Torture
Moderate: Gaslighting, Vomit, Gore, Infidelity, Terminal illness, and Child abuse
Minor: Pregnancy, Emotional abuse, Trafficking, Domestic abuse, Abandonment, Alcohol, Child death, Drug use, and Infertility
condls27's review
- 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? No
5.0
Graphic: War, Sexual content, Gore, and Torture
midnacine's review
- 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
Graphic: Death, Torture, War, Violence, Genocide, Gore, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder
Moderate: Grief, Sexual content, Animal cruelty, Kidnapping, and Medical content
Minor: Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Death of parent, Infertility, and Child abuse