hue's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Murder, Toxic relationship, Blood, Child abuse, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Sexism, Sexual content, Violence, and Death
jainabee's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Graphic: Confinement, Classism, Toxic relationship, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, Abandonment, Drug use, Slavery, and Blood
Moderate: Police brutality, Child death, Grief, Kidnapping, Torture, Murder, Lesbophobia, Homophobia, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Death of parent, Pregnancy, and War
Considering all of the challenging content in the book, it is all handled in a way that I could tolerate (I am somewhat squeamish) and I did not feel personally triggered. I have no problem with putting a book down if the violence is too graphic or gory for my tastes or if the cruelty and abuse goes beyond a brief explicit detail.sapphic_in_the_stacks's review against another edition
- 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
4.0
Graphic: Grief, Emotional abuse, and Gaslighting
Moderate: Child abuse, Classism, Drug use, Toxic relationship, War, Death, and Murder
Minor: Cannibalism
strawberrytheauthor's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Graphic: Police brutality, Torture, Abandonment, Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, Homophobia, Animal cruelty, Blood, Child death, Classism, Confinement, Death, Deportation, Emotional abuse, Gore, Grief, Lesbophobia, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Toxic relationship, and Violence
Moderate: Sexual content and Body horror
Minor: Child abuse
nicnevin'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? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Sid and Nirrim are a cute couple but I don't know how it ends. I guess leaving the book on such an abrupt ending ticked me off because it felt like a lot of build up for not much pay off bit I suppose that's why is more than one book.
Spoiler
the magic blood reveal was pretty obvious so it annoyed me it took everyone so long to figure it out. Also shouldnt diluted blood be a yellowy orange colour? Maybe magic blood hits different idkDon't get me wrong, the book is okay but just didn't gel with me.
Graphic: Abandonment, Addiction, Animal death, Child abuse, Classism, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Medical content, Murder, Outing, Mental illness, Pregnancy, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Ableism, Child death, Drug abuse, Grief, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Animal cruelty, Blood, Drug use, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, and Lesbophobia
sandy_21's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Graphic: Toxic relationship, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, and Blood
Moderate: Homophobia, Abandonment, Drug abuse, and Murder
Minor: Sexual assault, Child death, and Death of parent
orchidd's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Graphic: Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Toxic relationship, Abandonment, Child abuse, and Murder
Moderate: Alcohol and Drug use
imaginingly'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
4.5
this was really good but— actually that’s all, it was a really good book and i enjoyed it from the very beginning! the ended definitely left me wanting more but it didnt have the “wow” factor to make it a 5 star
Moderate: Gaslighting and Classism
Minor: Homophobia, Murder, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Sexual content, and Death
angstifies'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
5.0
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Child abuse, and Blood
Moderate: Death, Alcohol, Drug use, Homophobia, and Murder
Minor: Child death, Death of parent, Sexual content, and Abandonment
k_aro'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
4.25
Spoiler
That said, I did not expect the ending! It's not like, a cheap plot twist, but it's such a painful refusal of closure that it hurts me just thinking about it. I didn't cry over the ending, but sheesh, I'm really looking forward to reading the next book. I also think it's a super well-written villain ending—I've read some books *coughs* The Young Elites *coughs* that REALLY muck up the villain ending and essentially spoil the experience of having read the book at all.I do have some things I don't love about this book: for one, that Nirrim is so blind to Raven's consistent emotional/domestic abuse, despite her ability to spot it in other people (i.e. Aden). Like, I get that Nirrim and Raven's relationship is different to that of her and Aden's, but it just feels kind of weird that up until the proper reveal of who Raven is, Nirrim's insistent on thinking of her as the same one-dimensional mother figure who sometimes makes mistakes and hurts her. I'm not saying Nirrim has to be on board to condemn Raven the first time she does something bad, but it's just... weird, I guess.
I also think that the first like... fourth? Of the book is a little slow. It's got a lot to set up, so I'm not, like, mad that it's slow, but it does make it a bit hard to get into.
Spoiler
Also, there's certainly NO commentary going on about how the Half Kith's body parts are literally being used for the pleasure of the High Kith. Nope. No commentary at all. Not even about how Raven extorts families to get them families to move up in the world. Nada. Zip. Nothing. (This is sarcasm—sometimes, fantasy caste systems can be a bit... overstated, which to a certain degree could be true here, it also I think treats it with a bit more real parallels that it feels more verisimilitudinous to me.)Graphic: Blood, Child abuse, Classism, Abandonment, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Police brutality, Toxic relationship, Trafficking, Violence, and Sexual harassment
Moderate: Rape, Murder, and Drug use
Minor: Misogyny, Child death, Death of parent, Homophobia, and Lesbophobia
A note on the moderate content warning for rape: