littlewishling'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? It's complicated
5.0
Moderate: Violence, Xenophobia, and Death
vesh'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? It's complicated
4.5
Graphic: Violence
bashsbooks'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
Also, it was so good of them to #letvaxbeabidiaster. I fucking love Thorn.
Graphic: Xenophobia, Classism, Death, Dysphoria, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Emotional abuse, Cursing, Grief, Medical content, Violence, and Animal death
Moderate: Child abuse, Alcohol, Bullying, Death of parent, Racism, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Animal cruelty
-Racism is of the fantasy variety (elf supremacy).sarahsbooklife'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
4.75
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Blood, and Violence
Moderate: Gaslighting and Cursing
Minor: Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Child abuse, Vomit, Violence, and Gaslighting
sarahsbooklife'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
4.25
Graphic: Death, Body horror, Violence, and Blood
Moderate: Gaslighting and Grief
Minor: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, and Bullying
stellastallion'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? It's complicated
5.0
Moderate: Violence, Death, and Body horror
Minor: Injury/Injury detail and Sexual harassment
grizzlysnack's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
I wish I could've rated this book much higher, but I feel as though the Nijkamp's writing relied too heavily on the dialogue. The better pieces of this book were the actions or the internal calculations of characters shown to the reader/audience. Most of the information given to the twins does not feel earned, and the conflicts presented held little to no consequence in the end.
Those very few thought-provoking scenes made you take time to consider how or why the characters were making their decisions as you listened or read along. You could make conclusions instead of it being spoon-fed to you, and sadly the 'show not tell' aspect is poor, which is partially why my rating is so low
Pages 142 & 288 stood out to me about how Vax sees and feels in cities, and I very much enjoyed those two scenes, but that's about it when it comes to memorability in this book :(
Graphic: Blood, Death, Murder, and Violence
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, and Racism
Minor: Death of parent, Animal death, and Torture
velokei'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? No
4.0
Spoiler
I adored Vax’s relationship with Thorn and I liked how the twins were both openly bisexual. It’s lovely rep without forcing it and screaming about it. It’s just there and that’s great!Graphic: Blood, Classism, Bullying, Death, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Physical abuse, Abandonment, Child abuse, Cursing, Violence, and War
writer_a_fox's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Blood and Violence
Moderate: Death
Minor: Death of parent
persephonefoxx'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? It's complicated
4.0
I enjoyed this book. It was a bit of a slow start (outside of the first of many of the twin’s childhood flashback, which were a lore highlight of the story). But I always falter a bit when it comes to high fantasy, it’s just not really my jam. But despite that, I really did have quite a bit of fun with this novel.
However, I am aware that the reason why I could get through some of this book’s problems (which I will admit were present) was that I am a huge fan of Campaign 1 of Critical Role. As I mentioned, I adore Vax.
While I had a good time reading this book, liked it’s characters, and enjoyed the story. I think it might lose some of its charm outside of the world of a Critical Role/Vox Machina fan. For fans of CR1: particularly Vex, Vax, and everyone’s favourite bear this book is likely to be a win in the sense that it is a fun little jaunt through the twin’s adventures pre-campaign. But it might not be as enjoyable by those who aren’t fans of the show.
Graphic: Death and Violence
Moderate: Racism and Death of parent