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A review by journeythroughthechapters
Darkdawn by Jay Kristoff
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
- 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
3.0
Thoughts
I'm conflicted. I don't know if I liked this book or not. As I was reading it I didn't feel compelled to keep picking it up and to me that's a sign I wasn't fully invested in this book. But I'm saying that I didn't hate it.
Things I liked
- The Relationships: Specifically the loyalty. I love the loyalty Mia fosters around her and in turn projects. She hurts deeply when someone she loves dies and will do anything for the ones she loves. That is something I love and respect in characters.
- The Action: there was a lot of mini plots and side quests to get to the bigger overarching plot. I like this plot style but I do feel the book was dragged out a bit. But overall I think it was done well.
Things I didn't love
- The Writing: this got to me a little bit this time round. It was trying to be funny but towards the end it got a bit much. I mainly mean the section where the author breaks the forth wall. He takes the piss out of the footnotes and I felt like it was just flogging a dead horse. It was just unnecessary.
- The Pacing: I talked a bit about that above. But there were some mini battles that were super short and that surprised me.
- The Romance: my biggest gripe is they were written to be this iconic OTP BUT all there was in my eyes was smut. And if that's what it was written to be that they were with each other for the sex I'd be down for that. But there was a push that they were each other's one true love but there wasn't enough emotional scenes for me to believe they were meant to be.
It was a decent conclusion but I felt a little underwhelmed unfortunately.
Representation
Gay (side character), Albino (side character), Bisexual (main character), POC (side character)
Trigger Warning
Violence, Blood, Child Rape (mention no description), Child Abuse/Violence, Suicide, Self Harm
I'm conflicted. I don't know if I liked this book or not. As I was reading it I didn't feel compelled to keep picking it up and to me that's a sign I wasn't fully invested in this book. But I'm saying that I didn't hate it.
Things I liked
- The Relationships: Specifically the loyalty. I love the loyalty Mia fosters around her and in turn projects. She hurts deeply when someone she loves dies and will do anything for the ones she loves. That is something I love and respect in characters.
- The Action: there was a lot of mini plots and side quests to get to the bigger overarching plot. I like this plot style but I do feel the book was dragged out a bit. But overall I think it was done well.
Things I didn't love
- The Writing: this got to me a little bit this time round. It was trying to be funny but towards the end it got a bit much. I mainly mean the section where the author breaks the forth wall. He takes the piss out of the footnotes and I felt like it was just flogging a dead horse. It was just unnecessary.
- The Pacing: I talked a bit about that above. But there were some mini battles that were super short and that surprised me.
- The Romance: my biggest gripe is they were written to be this iconic OTP BUT all there was in my eyes was smut. And if that's what it was written to be that they were with each other for the sex I'd be down for that. But there was a push that they were each other's one true love but there wasn't enough emotional scenes for me to believe they were meant to be.
It was a decent conclusion but I felt a little underwhelmed unfortunately.
Representation
Gay (side character), Albino (side character), Bisexual (main character), POC (side character)
Trigger Warning
Violence, Blood, Child Rape (mention no description), Child Abuse/Violence, Suicide, Self Harm
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, and Blood
Moderate: Animal death and Suicide
Minor: Rape and Self harm