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glddstwmn's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
I really wanted to like this, I enjoyed the first one and was excited to see where this led, the story itself us interesting enough but good lord, the characters have become INSUFFERABLE.
Poppy is such a pick-me, all of their personalities (Poppy/Cas/Keiran) fell flat, they were all written in the same tone. Keiran was particularly annoying, I wanted to like him but it was the same conversation over and over and it was CRINGE af anytime he interacted with Poppy.
This is a direct quote (no spoilers but I will put in a spoiler tag anyways)
It was. “I’m beginning to realize I’m an incredibly random person.”
This type of interaction of Poppy desperately trying to be qUiRkY and not-like-other-girls™️ was painful. She reminds me of Boxxy.
Also, Malik's name was spelled both with c and a k, interchangeably throughout and I found the way that the dialogue was written made it unclear of who was speaking.
Honestly, not sure if I will continue this series and if I do, I will DNF immediately if literally ANYONE mentions how many questions Poppy asks (is that not how conversation works??) Keiran and Cas are starting to give me the ick, and give off "hewwo pwincess" *tips fedora* type vibes and I was cringing hard in the annotations the entire time.
Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Toxic relationship, Blood, and War
Moderate: Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, and Abandonment
Minor: Rape, Cannibalism, Suicide attempt, and Pregnancy
dubious consentitmakessenseincontext's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
On the romance, it feels kinda juvenile at times? Despite the ammount of sex being had? I guess I'm just not convinced that Poppy and Casteel are in love and not just infatuated and the
I'll probably keep reading the books though, because that *ending* oh my god. That is how you drop a plot point to keep me engaged
Graphic: Sexual content, Violence, Blood, and War
Moderate: Sexism
Minor: Vomit
While the sexual acts themselves are pretty vanilla, the context of them could be disturbingabicaro17'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
4.25
Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Gore, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Alcohol, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
cait'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
Minor: Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual content, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, War, and Classism
vr_alyssa'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? No
2.5
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Sexism and Violence
daisy2050's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Graphic: Sexual content, Violence, Xenophobia, Kidnapping, and War
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Sexism and Suicidal thoughts
thecatconstellation'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
4.0
Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Death, Gore, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Body shaming, Cursing, Toxic relationship, Grief, and Death of parent
Minor: Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual assault, Vomit, Cannibalism, and Alcohol
reggid13'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? It's complicated
2.0
Plus those dimples. Seriously, enough with the dimples. I'm over them. We get it, Poppy likes when Casteel smiles, which seems to be about once every 10 minutes or sooner. And the word "britches." I've never been so annoyed by hearing a word, but with the number of times it's used between the first two books, if I never heard or saw the word again would be a miracle.
As I've stated in previous reviews my listening skills aren't the greatest. The introduction of new characters over the course of this book threw me off. I'm at a point where I have no idea where half of the characters came from and why. That doesn't help with my view on some of the plot which is unfortunate for writing this review.
Other than my annoyance of the word repeat and wondering what I actually missed out on I did get some enjoyment from listening to this book. Eventually I will try listening again, maybe even just get printed copies to not miss so much. Oh well, on to book three.
Graphic: Sexism
hannalizzy'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
5.0
Graphic: Violence and Murder
Moderate: Confinement, Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Racism, Torture, Blood, Grief, Sexual harassment, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Bullying, Child death, Sexism, and Toxic relationship
samchase112'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
2.0
- This book was so. damn. slow. I wanted to jump into the pages, shake every character, shakes JLA, and force them to TAKE SOME ACTION. Each conversation took 10 pages, each issue was gone over again and again, each day was streeeeetched out to be fifteen chapters. It was excruciating. Maybe it's because I came off of reading The Poppy War, where things happen super quickly, but this was extra difficult to slog through for most of it. I just got so freaking frustrated with JLA and all her characters. JUST DO SOMETHING.
- If I thought the info dumping was bad in the first book, this one was even worse? Why??? At one point Poppy gets mad because Casteel didn't share some information with her, and all I could think was I wish he had never told her anything at all, because this series' world building was absolutely excruciating.
- MY THREESOME THEORY FROM BOOK ONE WAS WAY WAY TOO REAL. But also...why not?
- There were sooooooo many sex scenes. So so many. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate a good sex scene, but I think all Casteel and Poppy did was have sex and go over all the Ascended's lies??? And, um, one of those scenes was a bit too much for me. Not the content but...the circumstances?! I just...if you know you know.
- The fight scenes were epic, I love a good fight scene. Less so when vampires are ripping into each other's necks, but ce la vie.
- I want to know more about the Dead Bones Clan, and now we never will. They were so freaking cool, so fascinating!
- "Heartmates"? Just call them soulmates, I swear with this naming thing.
- Okay Poppy is pretty cool, I like her. I actually don't mind any of the characters, but I'm not in love with any of them, either.
- The revelation of Shea and Casteel's backstory with her was honestly anticlimactic. She thinks and thinks about it for so long, and then when he tells her they just kinda brushes over it. Okay then.
- The ending was pretty dang epic, and I'm excited to see where it goes, but it just left me wondering why these powers didn't materialize before? Real convenient timing, Poppy's powers.
Contrary to what the above list may suggest, I'm actually excited to read the next book. It's probably going to be a wild ride, and I want to see what happens. Although I'm assuming it will probably be the same info dumping, lethargic slog these last two were. Ah well, let's just hope there's at least a threesome to spice things up.
Graphic: Sexual content, Violence, Blood, and Murder
Moderate: Cannibalism
Minor: Sexism and Death of parent