katelynnreads's review against another edition
5.0
“you’re right, you don’t need me fighting your battles. But if you’ll let me, I’d like to be standing beside you as you fight them”
“Our scars define us. They tell a story of courage and survival. They tell of who we are at our deepest being, of the challenges we've faced and overcome”
I devoured this boon on our trip to Canada. It was beautiful & full of horrors at the same time.
Graphic: Addiction, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Drug abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Medical content, Torture, and Violence
Moderate: Murder, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Alcoholism, Physical abuse, and War
Minor: Grief
christygsp's review against another edition
4.5
Our main characters are engaging, interesting and encircled by such an interesting world.
The ending……. I went out and got the next two books on almost that alone. I GOTSTA know what happens next!
Careful of content/trigger warnings (I will list below) but the author didn’t go tooooo far with those so just be aware.
Graphic: Violence, Torture, and Confinement
Moderate: Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Gore, and Child abuse
csmall73's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Drug use, Drug abuse, Toxic friendship, Misogyny, Gaslighting, Slavery, Grief, Gore, Forced institutionalization, Death of parent, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Sexism, Self harm, Mental illness, Medical content, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide, Death, Child abuse, Murder, War, Torture, Trafficking, Terminal illness, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Violence, Toxic relationship, Sexual harassment, Panic attacks/disorders, and Pandemic/Epidemic
epellicci's review against another edition
- 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? No
3.0
While the aim it to increase the drama of the big reveal at the end, I found Kiva hard to root for when her motivations seemed so all over the place. She takes on the horrific ordeal of the Rebel Queen’s sentence and punishment, yet maintains throughout that she is only mildly sympathetic to the rebel’s cause – instead driven by her oath as a healer. When in the very last pages, it was revealed that there was much more to it than that, I found it hard to believe that the cool, manipulative Kiva who had just been revealed was the same person as the hopelessly naive one who still believed after a decade that her family were on the way to recuse her, and who broke all her rules about forming relationships because Jaren had a pretty face.
Unfortunately, I can see fairly obviously where the next two books are going, and am not invested enough in the characters to watch it play out. Despite this being a pretty quick, easy read, that ultimately did no harm, it reminds me of all the things I didn’t like about ACOTR, and so I won’t be bothering with the rest of it.
Graphic: Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, and Self harm
Moderate: Drug abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, and Confinement
Minor: Child death, Rape, and Addiction
jessieslibrary's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Graphic: Death, Drug abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual harassment, Blood, Gore, Sexual assault, Fire/Fire injury, and Torture
delandjessica's review against another edition
- 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
4.0
I also had a huge problem with Jaren. He starts hitting on Kiva from the moment he sees her, continues to pursue her romantically and touches her constantly despite her repeatedly telling him to stop, and he has no real personality other than being attractive and good. I'm not sure how that's supposed to be interpreted as being romantic. I also struggled with Tipp. His character was sweet, but though I appreciate that the author wanted to introduce more character diversity, Tipp's extreme stutter really slows down the reading experience. The author could have reduced the stutter by at least two thirds per dialogue exchange and it would have conveyed the same idea without making it so difficult to get through. The stutter also didn't add anything to Tipp's character that wasn't already there, so I would have liked to see the author either give a purpose for the stutter or remove it entirely.
However, despite all the overexplanation and insufficient description and Kiva's wishy-washy grasp of who she herself even is (she's always saying that she never or always does things and has for the last ten years, but then turns around and is doing or not doing them anyway), I absolutely loved the whole ending and the twist at the very end. It was unexpected but suddenly made the entire book make so much more sense in hindsight. Twist endings are so difficult to pull off, but this one was handled perfectly and I'm eager to see what happens with Kiva next.
Graphic: Violence, Death, Gore, Blood, Torture, and Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Chronic illness, Death of parent, Physical abuse, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Sexual violence, Drug abuse, Child death, Vomit, Addiction, Sexual harassment, Rape, Self harm, and Sexual assault
Romance is present, but doesn't get physical.molly_love'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? No
4.75
Moderate: Physical abuse
Minor: Blood, Gore, Self harm, Murder, Torture, Violence, Bullying, and Drug use
n0elle's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
Graphic: Kidnapping, Abandonment, Terminal illness, Slavery, Sexual assault, Death, Body horror, Classism, Torture, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Blood, Child abuse, Gore, War, Police brutality, Physical abuse, and Violence
laurenevlyn'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
4.75
Graphic: Medical content, Violence, Medical trauma, Confinement, and Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Drug use, Gore, Sexual violence, Mental illness, Sexual harassment, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Self harm, Blood, Child death, Murder, Sexual assault, Bullying, Confinement, Cursing, Death of parent, and Drug abuse
Minor: Addiction, Drug use, and Animal death
kinskinn'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: Blood, Murder, Death of parent, Death, Medical content, Physical abuse, Genocide, Gore, Violence, Child abuse, Confinement, Dysphoria, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, and Torture
Moderate: Self harm, Drug use, and Rape
Minor: Addiction