menacingsprite's review
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Self harm, and Physical abuse
greymalkin's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
funny
informative
inspiring
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Wow! I really enjoyed this. I loved the world and the fresh take on supernatural creatures. It reminds me of Robin McKinley's Sunshine, where the predatory nature of supernatural creatures is much more believable and darker.
Spoiler
I thought that Anne Bishop did a great job capturing Meg's subtle character traits. She's kind and innocent but not a doormat. She's petite and fragile and not very strong but doesn't assume she should be treated as such. I absolutely bought how the other characters grew to like her. The relationship between her and Simon evolved very naturally, and the stuff with Sam is heartbreaking but so emotionally believable. I finished the book and immediately bought and started reading the next one. There aren't too many books where that's the case.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Self harm and Violence
Moderate: Physical abuse and Cannibalism
Minor: Rape
hyzie's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
4.0
I kept meaning to start this, because I adore the Dark Jewels series, and I kept reading five pages or so and bouncing off. I want to state it is worth getting into the meat of the book, but it does take a bit longer to warm up than Dark Jewels does.
The characters and their interactions tend to be the charm of Anne Bishop books for me, and this holds true here. It's funny and creepy and tense in quite a few places, and watching our naïve heroine accidentally befriend people is fun, even as you occasionally smack your hand to your head that she's missing things. She has good reason to, which helped mitigate any annoyance from that.
Now that things are going and it seems like the plot for the full series (?) is starting to pick up, I'm interested to see where these go.
The characters and their interactions tend to be the charm of Anne Bishop books for me, and this holds true here. It's funny and creepy and tense in quite a few places, and watching our naïve heroine accidentally befriend people is fun, even as you occasionally smack your hand to your head that she's missing things. She has good reason to, which helped mitigate any annoyance from that.
Now that things are going and it seems like the plot for the full series (?) is starting to pick up, I'm interested to see where these go.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Physical abuse
cleo_wylde's review
adventurous
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Gore, Kidnapping, Medical content, Physical abuse, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Stalking, Sexual assault, and Slavery
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