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sophiesmallhands's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
fast-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
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Death, Colonisation, Gun violence, Violence, and Blood
Moderate: Grief, Police brutality, Gore, Racism, Fire/Fire injury, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Fatphobia, Classism, and Emotional abuse
juan_adhd_reading's review against another edition
adventurous
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
3.5
There will probably never be any book that comes close to how amazing Six of Crows was, and though this book had promise, I’m sad to say it missed the mark. Don’t get me wrong, I liked it, I thought it was fun and the characters were good, but there were also many flaws I feel that I can’t overlook.
For one I feel like the POVs weren’t distinct enough. There were three POVs for Arthie, Jin and Flick, and out of all I thought Flick’s were the weakest. There were times were I thought I was reading an Arthie chapter when it was actually Flick’s, which is weird because their personalities are almost polar opposites. I also feel like there should’ve been POVs for Laith and Mattheo too, which brings me to my next point.
The group didn’t really feel united or family-like. Especially for Mattheo and Laith, they felt very much on the sidelines. Even Flick, who tells us a lot of times how she finally found herself a real family, but it just didn’t feel like it, in my opinion. Now, Arthie and Jin did actually feel like siblings, and most of their interactions were great.
Lastly, my biggest complaint is that the actual heist went by incredibly quickly and in the end, it had very little impact on the plot.Since the owner of the Athereum was basically Arthie’s father, they could’ve forgone the entirety of the plan and just ask him for the ledger. At the end it was basically what happened: they were caught, and should be dead, but since it was Arthie’s father he just ordered the guards away and gave them the ledger anyway. It makes the first half of the book kind of pointless since all of it was arranging the crew and planning the heist.
There were a couple of plot twist at the end that did caught me by surprise and I really enjoyed how action packed it was. The actual ending, though, felt kind of incomplete, rather than just being a cliffhanger. I would still read the next book in the series, but if you’re looking for the next SoC, I don’t feel like this is it.
For one I feel like the POVs weren’t distinct enough. There were three POVs for Arthie, Jin and Flick, and out of all I thought Flick’s were the weakest. There were times were I thought I was reading an Arthie chapter when it was actually Flick’s, which is weird because their personalities are almost polar opposites. I also feel like there should’ve been POVs for Laith and Mattheo too, which brings me to my next point.
The group didn’t really feel united or family-like. Especially for Mattheo and Laith, they felt very much on the sidelines. Even Flick, who tells us a lot of times how she finally found herself a real family, but it just didn’t feel like it, in my opinion. Now, Arthie and Jin did actually feel like siblings, and most of their interactions were great.
Lastly, my biggest complaint is that the actual heist went by incredibly quickly and in the end, it had very little impact on the plot.
There were a couple of plot twist at the end that did caught me by surprise and I really enjoyed how action packed it was. The actual ending, though, felt kind of incomplete, rather than just being a cliffhanger. I would still read the next book in the series, but if you’re looking for the next SoC, I don’t feel like this is it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood
Moderate: Gun violence, Police brutality, Xenophobia, Colonisation, Racism, Violence, Trafficking, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Kidnapping
linde13's review against another edition
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I cannot stress enough how much I wanted to like this book. Fantasy heist led by a female criminal mastermind? You couldn't sign me up fast enough.
Unfortunately, while I like Arthie, she suffers from a "show don't tell" problem. When I think of other teen masterminds, like Artemis Fowl, Princess Azula, and Kaz Brekker, they're all given opportunities to prove that they're ruthless, manipulative, and brilliant before the story exposes their vulnerabilities. Arthie, unfortunately, never gets that opportunity: most, if not all, of her schemes result in failure or a close call, and she joins the heist in the first place because she's backed into a corner. She's by no means unintelligent, and she'd work if she were a smaller-scale criminal still working her way up the food chain, but for a character who's introduced as as a crime lord powerful enough to threaten the crown itself, she unfortunately falls short.
Arthie isn't my real issue with this book, though.
The book starts with some very awkward and forced flirting/"Admit it, you like him" nonsense between two people who have never spoken to each other before, and unfortunately, the romance didn't particularly improve from there. If any of the romances in this book had anything going for them other than "he's hot, she's hot, it's Just Meant To Be," then I was far too put off by all the awkward flirting, gushing over characters' appearances, and love-triangle-fueled immature sniping to appreciate it.
Which leads me to my next point: there are so many interesting relationships in this book, but other than Jin and Arthie they all feel underdeveloped--not just the romances, butPenn and Artie, Flick and her mother, the Spindrift crew, and Spindrift itself. I can't believe I'm saying this, but I wish this book focused less on the heist. For all that it takes up half the book, the heist doesn't accomplish anything other than getting our main characters together and setting up some exposition.
It took me two weeks to slog through the setup for the heist, and I was so, so close to dropping this book altogether. Thankfully, once it wraps up the heist and focuses on the vampire intrigue, the story becomes much, much more interesting. Or at the very least, it got me emotionally invested enough to want to read the sequel once it comes out.
Unfortunately, while I like Arthie, she suffers from a "show don't tell" problem. When I think of other teen masterminds, like Artemis Fowl, Princess Azula, and Kaz Brekker, they're all given opportunities to prove that they're ruthless, manipulative, and brilliant before the story exposes their vulnerabilities. Arthie, unfortunately, never gets that opportunity: most, if not all, of her schemes result in failure or a close call, and she joins the heist in the first place because she's backed into a corner. She's by no means unintelligent, and she'd work if she were a smaller-scale criminal still working her way up the food chain, but for a character who's introduced as as a crime lord powerful enough to threaten the crown itself, she unfortunately falls short.
Arthie isn't my real issue with this book, though.
The book starts with some very awkward and forced flirting/"Admit it, you like him" nonsense between two people who have never spoken to each other before, and unfortunately, the romance didn't particularly improve from there. If any of the romances in this book had anything going for them other than "he's hot, she's hot, it's Just Meant To Be," then I was far too put off by all the awkward flirting, gushing over characters' appearances, and love-triangle-fueled immature sniping to appreciate it.
Which leads me to my next point: there are so many interesting relationships in this book, but other than Jin and Arthie they all feel underdeveloped--not just the romances, but
It took me two weeks to slog through the setup for the heist, and I was so, so close to dropping this book altogether. Thankfully, once it wraps up the heist and focuses on the vampire intrigue, the story becomes much, much more interesting. Or at the very least, it got me emotionally invested enough to want to read the sequel once it comes out.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Colonisation, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Racism, Violence, Death of parent, Grief, and Xenophobia
Moderate: Death, War, Classism, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, Body horror, and Trafficking
Minor: Misogyny, Sexism, Cultural appropriation, and Police brutality
To be clear, the trafficking is non-sexual. I'm not certain which category it would fall under, but there's a toxic parent-child relationship where the parent isn't outright abusive, but certainly manipulative and neglectful.aseel_reads's review
adventurous
dark
slow-paced
- 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
2.5
Pretty disappointed with this one. The premise should be right up my alley but in practice, it really fell flat. The 'romance' felt forced, the writing was a bit jarring, and I don't really understand all the plot twists and reveals that happened
Content Warnings
Moderate: Violence, Sexism, Death, Colonisation, Slavery, Racism, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, Police brutality, Classism, and Blood
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