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katiethepenguin's review against another edition
adventurous
inspiring
tense
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
Content Warnings
Minor: Colonisation, Death, Blood, Murder, Genocide, War, Torture, Violence, and Grief
calamitywindpetal's review
adventurous
challenging
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
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, War, Torture, Medical content, Medical trauma, Racism, Violence, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Confinement, and Blood
Moderate: Pregnancy, Colonisation, Cultural appropriation, Grief, Abandonment, and Genocide
Minor: Death of parent, Vomit, and Police brutality
hckilgour's review
adventurous
emotional
inspiring
medium-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
2.5
Am I glad I read this series? Yes. Will I read it again? No.
While I liked the story of this book better, there were still some major issues for me.
The first one is actually the publishers fault and fairly major. About 50 pages in I noticed that periods and ellipses weren’t round, but diamond shaped. Not gonna lie, once I noticed it drove me up the wall.
Rue at the beginning very heavily blames herself for failing and it just felt unrealistic to me. However, how she dealt with the trauma (for the half the book she did) was a nice detail.
The romance aspects were also severely lacking in my opinion. Jhamal and Rue have this weird relationship that cropped up out of nowhere in the first book. We kind of see Rue wanting to just him every now and again, but for the most part she dropped him like a hot potato. Personally I like Julius, but the romance with him was implied more than seen. We didn’t get to see their relationship develop, it was just there.
Also, why the hell would Rue bring Julius into the middle of a battle?! Like what? Homeboy has no magic. And why didn’t the Ghizoni put up a fight about him coming along like they did with Bri? Also, Rue wtf you doing texting while you’re hiking through a war zone on an important mission?
There is a scene where Rue goes back to East Row for cornbread. I understand she needed a slice of home. But that scene just didn’t feel like it belonged to me.
The fact there were betrayals were good, it was something to keep the reader guessing. However there was so much, they did the thing, no they didn’t, they did the thing, that it all felt jumbled. I’m also still not convinced the betrayers’ motivations were all that good.
I did like what happens to Jhamal at the end. I think it fit his character well and it was a brave choice by the author.
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Content Warnings
Minor: Torture
stormywolf's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
This was kind of a surprise pickup for me. I didn't love the first book, finding it just okay when compared to some of the other books surrounding the same sort of topics, so I wasn't exactly chomping at the bit to return to Rue's world. But when ads described this as the conclusion to a duology—a surprise to me—I figured it would be a good idea to go ahead and finish the series. So I went ahead and re-read Wings of Ebony and jumped straight in on this sequel.
Read my full review at The Wolf's Den
Overall, despite all the problems I had, I'd still definitely recommend this series. I think there are some great messages for younger readers about overcoming adversity and finding inner strength, of forgiveness and mercy, and of learning from the past and moving forward. I can't say I loved everything about these books, but I'm sure others will see things that I didn't and connect to the story in ways I couldn't. There's definitely an audience for this series, it just didn't happen to include me this time. If there's ever another book set in Ghizon, I'll probably check it out, but in the meantime I'll be seeing what other fantasy worlds have in store for me.
Read my full review at The Wolf's Den
Overall, despite all the problems I had, I'd still definitely recommend this series. I think there are some great messages for younger readers about overcoming adversity and finding inner strength, of forgiveness and mercy, and of learning from the past and moving forward. I can't say I loved everything about these books, but I'm sure others will see things that I didn't and connect to the story in ways I couldn't. There's definitely an audience for this series, it just didn't happen to include me this time. If there's ever another book set in Ghizon, I'll probably check it out, but in the meantime I'll be seeing what other fantasy worlds have in store for me.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Confinement, Blood, Classism, Death of parent, Death, Genocide, Grief, Medical content, Murder, Racism, Violence, and War
Minor: Torture and Panic attacks/disorders
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