A review by bookishchef
A Time of Dread by John Gwynne

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

Nothing special unfortunately. It's just nothing I haven't seen done before. Quite predictable too.

There's also this plothole:

If Fritha was part of the bad guys all along, why were the bad guys harassing her on the street? Why did Drem need to step in to rescue her at the beginning of the book? The twist doesn't make sense?

 

So yeah. Not that impressed, unfortunately. There's also an instance where an androgynous person gets reffered to as "it".... Like, come on John. 'They' is right there...

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Blood, Body horror, Animal death, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Physical abuse, and Violence

Moderate: War, Torture, and Murder

Minor: Domestic abuse, Child death, Xenophobia, and Genocide