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
sarahamuller1's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Death, Torture, Physical abuse, and Violence
Moderate: Blood, Self harm, and Addiction
Minor: Suicide and Suicide attempt
grace_yin'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
4.25
Graphic: Violence, Murder, Confinement, Blood, Child death, Death of parent, Medical content, Physical abuse, Torture, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Self harm, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, and Sexual assault
Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Domestic abuse
av0universe'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? Yes
4.0
This book surprised me in a good way. I really like the worldbuilding and Kiva as the main character is interesting, to say the least.
Tipp is the cutest character ever 🫶 and for the most part, I really liked the found family
Seriously, I can’t stop thinking about that ending. It blew my mind even though I guessed most of it. Amazing. The narrator is everything here.
I’m pretty sure I dreamed of this book today
Spoiler
Mother is dead.
I’m on my way to Vallenia.
It’s time to reclaim our kingdom.
Graphic: Vomit, Slavery, Blood, Torture, and Violence
Moderate: Grief, Death of parent, Death, Drug abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Self harm, Physical abuse, Misogyny, Medical content, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Sexual violence, Slavery, Addiction, Rape, Sexism, and Torture
Minor: Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Self harm, Sexual assault, Vomit, Violence, Emotional abuse, Rape, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Slavery, and Torture
shadyinthesun's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Spoiler
I was a bit annoyed by the reveal that Kiva was part of the king lost family line and she has magical powers because of course she is and does. It’s a common fantasy trope. See Throne of Glass. I was just hoping that she wasn’t going to be. I thought with the way the book was going, with no hinting towards her powers, that she might be normal. I was pretty excited for this because it’s not common that in a world with magic the protagonists is powerless. At least in the many fantasy books I’ve read. I wish there may have been a bit more buildup or hinting. Like maybe most of her patients recover more quickly than if it were a different healer or perhaps she’s really good at coming up with healing herb combinations. A little something to earn the reveal at the end.Overall it’s not that big of a deal. It didn’t ruin my enjoyment of the book or the plot. Like I jokingly said at the beginning “oh what if she’s the long lost daughter instead of Tilda.”
Graphic: Addiction
Moderate: Violence and Torture
Minor: Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, and Self harm
geb's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Medical content, Torture, and Slavery
Moderate: Pandemic/Epidemic and Self harm
Minor: Suicide attempt, Sexual violence, Drug use, Addiction, and Cannibalism
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
readabilitea's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0
The primary problem for me was how unnecessarily repetitive the writing was. I felt like I was being treated as stupid and as if my hand needed holding all the time, as though without the constant recapping, the stating the obvious, and the incessant reminders of "Don't let her die. We are coming." I would have forgot everything I had read up until that point.
I also felt this handholding and the telling rather showing aspect of the writing was a problem when it came to some of the sensitive issues handled in the book.
Spoiler
when Kiva reveals her self-harm to Jaren, and when he reveals his mother's addiction to Kiva, what followed was a lecture encompassing the beginning, middle, and end of a trauma storyline and it left me feeling really icky, as if the author wasn't actually engaging with the topic but using the trauma to add some history to her characters, justified by ending on a spelling out of what to do should you ever encounter these issues in real life.This book is full of YA fantasy tropes and I see why people like it, after all that's exactly why I picked it up: I wanted an easy, action-packed read that would be difficult to put down. Ultimately though this backfired because I was left with so many questions that regularly took me out of the reading experience. If the prison is regularly overpopulated, why would you just accept kids coming in with the parents? The guards clearly don't mind being cruel so why would you not just forcefully separate children and their arrested parents before getting to the prison? Why are the trials impossible without magic and not just very very difficult?
Spoiler
How did Kiva just forget that a stomach bug was what caused her father's death?A slightly more minor point of annoyance was that the pacing was off. It starts off promisingly but slumps majorly in the middle section, which is even more baffling considering the whole appeal of a Trial format is the suspense and danger that propels a story forward. Instead of this, we spend pages upon pages conducting pointless scientific experiments?? And then it picks up at again towards the ending, finishing on a lot of drama and 'revelations' which felt contrived and fell flat.
Overall, I was pretty disappointed in this book and even the desire for plot resolution isn't enough to make me want to read the rest of the series.
Graphic: Violence and Sexual harassment
Moderate: Self harm, Sexual assault, and Domestic abuse
Minor: Drug abuse and Addiction
helliepad's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Spoiler
from the Corentine lineSpoiler
her mother the Rebel Queen DYING under her careSpoiler
secret identityGraphic: Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Physical abuse, Confinement, Death, Pandemic/Epidemic, Police brutality, Torture, and Violence
Moderate: Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, Self harm, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury
guessgreenleaf's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Graphic: Torture, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual harassment, Fire/Fire injury, and Sexual assault
Moderate: Violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Misogyny, Grief, Death, Confinement, Blood, and Death of parent
Minor: Self harm, Domestic abuse, and Addiction