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rinku's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- 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
Cursed is one of the older novels of Armentrout but it was one of her works that I liked more, mainly because we have no touchy and arrogant love interest. It was a 3.5-star read for me though since this book felt a bit like prologue for a bigger story that never happened.
The premise of Cursed intrigued me right from the beginning: Ember and her dad had a car accident and while her dad died, she was brought back from the dead by the touch of her little sister Olivia. Since then, everything that Ember touches dies, and her mother doesn’t recognize her anymore, leading to her acting as the caretaker for her sister. After Ember kills her ex-boyfriend by accident , Hayden, who can touch her without dying, finds her and brings her to the Cromwell house where many other people with different abilities live. Ember isn’t sure who she can trust and is soon in greater danger than before.
I really liked this set-up, especially since the book takes place at one main setting which I always enjoy. The different abilities were so interesting as well, but I wish they would’ve been used more throughout the story. Nevertheless, the pacing of the story was good since quite a lot things happened that kept me interested. It was also so creepy to see how Ember gets more and more isolated from her old life which makes the mistrust towards those around her more understandable. In comparison to this, it was great to see how Ember slowly learns to control her ability.
The ending was also very dramatic but very predictable as well: Mr Theo was very suspicious from the beginning, and it was so obvious that he was the villain. I still liked the ending, especially the reveal that Ember’s dad wasn’t the good guy either but I don’t know how I should feel about the fact that she probably stays with Cromwell .
I don’t have much to say about Ember herself. She’s a bit cliché but still okay, I guess. Sadly (and predictably), we have no compelling female characters besides her. Her little sister annoyed the heck out of me, and the other female character, Phoebe, hates Ember because they love the same boy. I hated the fact that it was her terrorizing Ember , again feeding into the cliché of women hating each other.
I actually liked Hayden, ignoring the fact though that he kinda stalked Ember which makes me more uncomfortable the longer I think about it . When he was first introduced as being big, dark haired, and muscular, I was scared that he would be like every other love interest aka sarcastic and not respecting the boundaries of the main character. Luckily, he wasn’t. He was an interesting character; even though his backstory was a bit cliché, I liked the depiction of his struggle between his loyalty for Cromwell and his feelings for Ember.
Another thing I have to mention is that Armentrout recycles some character names which I find a bit weird? There was also an Olivia in the Covenant series which even written one year before, and we have here a teacher called Mrs Hawkes, a very similar name to Hawke from From Blood and Ash. I also hate that her female characters for some weird reasons always have to mention their virginity.
I agree with other reviewers that it seems that Cursed was intended to be the start of the series but never became one. The characters and especially the concepts and ideas introduced here had potential for something greater, but this potential wasn’t used. Still, this is an entertaining YA novel with a little bit more depth than I expected.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Animal cruelty, Car accident, Death, and Blood
Moderate: Death of parent, Self harm, Kidnapping, and Violence
Minor: Suicide and Fire/Fire injury
rillastone's review against another edition
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying
Moderate: Kidnapping, Death of parent, Car accident, and Animal death
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