cutepatzie'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? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Sexual content, Kidnapping, Blood, Death of parent, Cursing, Suicidal thoughts, Abandonment, War, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, and Misogyny
Minor: Trafficking, Sexual assault, and Sexual harassment
madmilliner's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
It is the ultimate manic pixie dream girl vs depressive demon nightmare boy, I felt it was trying too hard and was somehow ¿oversaturated?
Graphic: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Toxic relationship, Torture, Grief, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, Dysphoria, Drug use, Drug abuse, Death of parent, Death, Confinement, and Chronic illness
Moderate: Biphobia, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Suicidal thoughts, Stalking, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, Self harm, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Physical abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Misogyny, Mental illness, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, War, Violence, Suicide, Sexual assault, Rape, Kidnapping, Gore, Fire/Fire injury, Domestic abuse, Death of parent, Cursing, Confinement, Child death, Blood, Addiction, Abandonment, and Torture
katrinarose's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Graphic: Grief, Sexism, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, and Misogyny
Moderate: Death, Death of parent, Mass/school shootings, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Self harm, Sexual content, and Panic attacks/disorders
v171's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Death of parent, Death, Emotional abuse, Grief, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Mental illness
Minor: Kidnapping
hmatt'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? It's complicated
4.0
The premise and the promise of diverse characters what what led me to the book in the first place - both are stellar. I wanted to like the writing style, but it felt very simple at times. The descriptive writing relied too heavily on similes and metaphors for my taste.
While I enjoyed the arc of the plot overall, I felt like the pacing was skewed. Too much time was spent establishing the boundaries of Addie's curse in her first few years, in my opinion. Like, I got it after the first 2 scenes, let's move on. Because of all the time spent there, I didn't get a sense of what the book was really about until more than halfway through. If this was intentional, I disagree with that choice.
Spoiler
Leaving Addie's relationship with Henry to develop just in the second half of the book made it feel disingenuous and forced, to me.I also didn't feel like the premise was explored or exploited in all the ways it could be have been: You've got this person who lives through hundreds of years and yet
Spoiler
pretty much every historical fiction plot point opportunity is swerved. I'm usually interested in "mundane" histories, too - I didn't need Addie to end up in the middle of a World War, but I wanted the historical settings to be described with more richness.Spoiler
Maybe it was because there were fewer of his chapters and therefore they were more concise, but I really enjoyed Henry's POV. It added some much-needed variety. I fe.el very "meh" about Luc, though. His characterization was all over the place and honestly confused me some of the time. (I kind of get that it was supposed to, towards the end, but still.) Aaaaand I was not into how Addie is somehow flawless - like I get she makes mistakes at the start, but the whole first half of the book is basically a manifesto on how she's perfected all these skills and is this jaded know-it-all who can navigate any tricky situation and LITERALLY OUTSMART THE DEVIL. Sigh. The rest of the characters at least had flaws that were acknowledged as such.I feel like I'm giving this book a very scathing review, even though I enjoyed it quite a lot. I guess I just feel like it had so much potential to be a 5 for me, if only a few things had been different.
So, things I liked:
- Henry's whole storyline
- Bea and Robbie. Please, more of them.
- Some of the "maybe in another life"-style interactions, like with Sam and Remy
- Revisiting Vion time after time
Two things I really really hated:
- The freckles thing. No, sorry, too cliche, cannot
- The complete and unabashed focus on the West. Come on. Do better.
Spoiler
I was expecting this to take me all over the world and I think we got to 5 countries, 4 of which are in Western Europe???
Minor: Death, Death of parent, Drug use, Grief, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, and Violence