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brynalexa's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Graphic: Classism, Death of parent, Child death, Death, Deportation, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Kidnapping, Violence, War, Misogyny, Racism, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Grief, and Medical content
Minor: Alcohol and Animal death
bookishperseus'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? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Racism, Emotional abuse, Gore, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, Death, Blood, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Physical abuse, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Genocide, Grief, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Racial slurs, Violence, War, and Xenophobia
Moderate: Torture and Fire/Fire injury
sweetchocolatez'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
4.5
Graphic: Racism, Racial slurs, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Violence, Murder, War, and Death
Moderate: Toxic friendship, Slavery, Torture, Genocide, Blood, Body horror, and Child death
Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Sexual content, Death of parent, and Alcohol
someryarns'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? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Racial slurs, Murder, War, Xenophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Genocide, Violence, Grief, and Racism
Moderate: Death of parent and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Kidnapping
pacifickat's review against another edition
- 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? Yes
3.75
In truth, I was a bit baffled by Inan's chapters, as he repeatedly experienced horrific realizations regarding his family's past and the corruption of the monarchy, and yet (for the most part) continued on their side in spite of feeling sick about it. He is truly a slow-turning vehicle, and it felt unbelievable to see him continue to believe in his corrupt institution. A bit on the nose in today's political climate? Perhaps.
And Amari, my favorite character through the bulk of this story, arguing for a future with peace for all Orïshans, had an enormous, disappointing twist. I'm not sure the author did enough to develop Amari to then make her murder of civilians a believable course of action, but she did sprinkle in Amari's (violently abusive) father's voice in Amari's head throughout the book as she becomes increasingly desperate to succeed. It's a clever use of POV to capture internal monologue that I am unsure will translate well into movie form should they decide to do a live action version of this series. Ultimately, she learns that peace at any price is too high a cost to pay. The author makes it sound like Amari could have a path back to grace following this murderous episode, but that will be a difficult pill for some readers to swallow after she massacred an entire village (even if the author copped out of it by conveniently resurrecting everyone...but this is YA after all).
Ultimately, it turns out that Roën, the mercenary side-character without a POV chapter of his own, displayed the most character development of anyone. He pulls a Severus Snape, going from a grey area of working for both sides for personal gain to finding a reason to fight for something better, a transformation nearly entirely driven by his love for Zélie. While I remain skeptical that two highly-volatile characters who have been primarily fueled by rage and pain can make for a successful long term relationship (perhaps one of the Healers can invent cognitive therapy), their story still felt like one of the few satisfying elements of the entire book.
So, in the end, it turns out war, genocide, structural racism, and governmental overthrow are messy. Everyone involved has mixed motivations and violence is a near a guarantee. Are vengeance-fueled teens frustrating and a little scary? Yes. Can idealism turn dark? For sure. Are child warriors disturbing? Absolutely. All in all, this is a book with complicated plot and subject matter that meanders so much I wasn't sure how the author would wrap it all up. An abrupt, cliff-hanger, twist ending may not be what we, the faithful readers, disserved after hanging on through this entire book. But what did we expect? I guess we'll have to wait for the third and final installment to see if we get any real resolution to what has been a wild ride of a series.
Graphic: Grief, Injury/Injury detail, War, Racism, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Murder, Physical abuse, Death of parent, Hate crime, and Violence
Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Blood, Child abuse, and Child death
Minor: Slavery, Sexual content, and Vomit
This book contains child soldiers.kyrstin_p1989's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Cultural appropriation, Murder, Death, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, War, Gore, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Bullying, Cancer, Classism, Colonisation, Confinement, Death of parent, Genocide, Police brutality, Toxic friendship, Xenophobia, Child death, Racism, Slavery, and Torture
robinks'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? Yes
4.25
Graphic: War, Death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Violence, Blood, Emotional abuse, Child death, Racial slurs, Racism, Genocide, and Police brutality
Moderate: Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, and Gore
Minor: Alcohol, Trafficking, Vomit, Physical abuse, and Torture
abby_can_read's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
After finishing the first book, I had high exceptions and I don't think this book lived up to them. This was a decent book and there were parts that I enjoyed reading.
Graphic: Violence, Death of parent, Genocide, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Murder, War, and Xenophobia
Moderate: Gore, Racial slurs, Racism, Blood, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Colonisation and Gaslighting
ci_eden'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? It's complicated
4.0
Also I love how flawed Zelie is. I love a strong woman going through shit, and she doesn't want to run away anymore, she found her purpose, fuck yeah! Although she has horrible taste in men. Also did NOT expect Amari to kill innocent people. Trauma and abuse really twists you.
These are tortured characters that just keep getting battered and abused. Children fighting wars, as the title says. I feel for them, I really do. I feel like their deaths are inevitable but I can't look away...
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Racial slurs, Xenophobia, Blood, Colonisation, Violence, War, Racism, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Hate crime, and Murder
Moderate: Body horror, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Police brutality, Classism, Religious bigotry, and Hate crime
Minor: Gaslighting, Physical abuse, Medical content, Misogyny, Fire/Fire injury, Confinement, Suicidal thoughts, and Torture
sv_m04'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? Yes
3.5
Something I personally can't stand and never have liked are miscommunication tropes and this book is full of people misunderstanding each other and hating each other because of it, though it isn't a bad thing just a personal thing. It works extremely well in the context of the war and with these high stakes. I cried multiply times, once more mainly for Zélie.
Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, Death, and Genocide
Moderate: Violence
The violence and racism is not as bad as the first book in thid series but still an extremely important and prevalant part of the story.