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kbowles24's review against another edition
- 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
4.5
Graphic: Death
Moderate: Addiction, Violence, Religious bigotry, Murder, Cursing, Injury/Injury detail, Abandonment, Confinement, Child death, and Animal death
Minor: War, Terminal illness, and Pregnancy
manaledi's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Graphic: Classism, Death, and Religious bigotry
Moderate: Abandonment, Drug abuse, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Murder, War, Addiction, Animal death, Child death, Cursing, and Grief
jaynovara's review against another edition
- 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? No
3.5
Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Animal death, Drug use, Child death, Animal cruelty, Death, and Murder
Moderate: Genocide, Confinement, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, Abandonment, and Religious bigotry
clairew97's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Toxic relationship, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Vomit, Murder, Gore, Violence, Gaslighting, Sexual content, Alcohol, Body horror, Bullying, Misogyny, Kidnapping, Child death, Grief, Addiction, Blood, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Terminal illness, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Fire/Fire injury, War, Religious bigotry, Classism, and Death of parent
maregred's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Moderate: Drug abuse, War, Abandonment, Alcohol, Child death, Classism, Injury/Injury detail, Colonisation, Cursing, Drug use, Death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, and Toxic friendship
krystlethegreat's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
I thoroughly enjoyed this book on audio - what a narrator! Each character had a distinct voice, from one narrator! A total thrill to listen to.
My only complaint is: There is soooo much going on, that I didn't get to explore each thing as much as I wanted to. Magic, poison running, catacombs, citadel, monks, Gods, kingdom, world beyond the kingdom... We get the gist of why each is important to the story, but I hope the next book immerses us in each of the areas more. (I'm in full support of a longer book!)
Overall, I couldn't stay away from this book and can't wait until The Hemlock Queen!
Graphic: Death, Drug abuse, Religious bigotry, and Drug use
Moderate: Addiction, Animal death, and Abandonment
Minor: Violence
camiclarkbooks's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
It was long…too long, in my opinion. There was some repetition of story beats that felt unnecessary, like they had been added just to lengthen the book. By the 70% point, I was just trying to power through and couldn’t give an accurate summary.
All I kept thinking through the book was, “this is ‘Serpent and Dove’ but in a palace and with a lot more dead people.” And I stand by that.
Moderate: Addiction, Animal death, Drug use, Abandonment, Blood, Drug abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Death
Minor: War, Murder, Cursing, Alcohol, and Death of parent
alilbitofeveryth1ng's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Graphic: Genocide, Kidnapping, Terminal illness, Death, Drug abuse, War, Abandonment, Animal death, Confinement, and Religious bigotry
lilfirebird's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Violence
Moderate: Gaslighting, Abandonment, Drug abuse, Drug use, Addiction, and Animal death
hq_reads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
The characters were fine, I wasn't crazily enamoured with any of them. I did care what happened to them, particularly Lore, but I wasn't overly invested in their feelings. Also, is it strange that I was Team Gabe??? I thought Gabe and Lore had a lot more chemistry than Lore and Bastian.
I felt the story was quite good - I'm intrigued to see where it goes. I found the scene in the catacombs with Bastian and Lore really creepy and I thought the author did a good job of building tension during the scarier moments. The religion built is also a really interesting and well thought out. However, writing-wise I felt there were a few issues. This is written in third person from Lore's POV... yet a lot of the time Lore was telling us what other characters were feeling or thinking which I found strange. 1) How does Lore know exactly what Gabe's expression means? 2) The author shouldn't have needed to explain characters expressions, tone of voice etc and should have let the reader come to that conclusion themselves. It was almost as if the author didn't trust the readers to understand or pick up on the chemistry and tension between the characters.
All in all, it's a good story and I definitely want to see where it goes but maybe because it was the first book in a series, I wasn't dying to pick it up... I also feel the author can do much more with the characters and the magic system, but I will definitely be reading the second book.
Spoiler thoughts:
- Is Bastian suddenly going to be slightly evil? Why did I feel that his entire character shifted the moment he became king?? I cannot tell if I'm mad about this or not, because the ending I wanted was for Bastian to be the bad guy all along - I thought that would have made for a more interesting story. I know me being conflicted about this contradicts what I wanted... the potential for Bastian to be bad was always there, but the moment they were caught after the catacombs, that theory was out the window for me. Therefore, him suddenly turning Anton into a rose bush and (in Lore's words, because she is all knowing apparently) becomes "a brutal king" seemed really out of character for me...
- Why do I get the feeling the emperor of the rival empire is going to be a love interest? Did he deliberately save Gabe?? I did the maths - he's only 30, haha, still potential here
Graphic: Abandonment