Reviews tagging 'Classism'

Defy the Night by Brigid Kemmerer

15 reviews

bookishmagpie's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful tense fast-paced

• 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

4.0

Really good! Love the political intrigue, but would love some more intensive, atmospheric world-building. All of the characters were surprisingly lovable, endearing at the least, despite all of the atrocities and violence. In addition to that, it does a great job of staying Young Adult with the content while also maintaining stakes and including the appropriate amount of graphic detail that the circumstances/themes demand. 

Not a fan of the love triangle I feel creeping up on me (or maybe im just stupid and paranoid because I HATE love triangles) so hopefully it's just the beginnings of a really tight-knit found family which I love. Also wish there were more female characters, especially in the (main) supporting cast, but there are still two books to go so who know. Excited to read the rest; I blazed through this! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism

Moderate: Torture, Blood, Police brutality, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Medical content and War

knich's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Audiobook was good, liked the male and female narrators. Story was just okay

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Terminal illness, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Classism

kylosten's review against another edition

adventurous tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence

Moderate: Torture, Blood, and Classism

mcstressy's review against another edition

adventurous slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

There's something missing from this book for me. I don't know what it is, exactly, but it just feels like there's a layer that just never made it in. 
I also think that the pacing is just off. I never really felt the stakes of anything as I moved through the book because I just kept looking at how much was left and going...okay surely they're going to get to *something* and they didn't until the last like 2 chapters. 
I'm also just really not of fan of such a textbook ingenue. She has nothing that makes her interesting and yet the MMC is supposed to be so enamored with her. I was really excited in the beginning to have her alchemy be a major part of who she is but it's really not, which is a bummer. 
There were parts of the character interactions that I enjoyed, just not the characters themselves. There's some good banter, but it's just intermingled with a whole lot of NOTHING happening.

Also OBVIOUSLY Corrick was Wes. We did not need to wait that long for a mediocre reveal. Or if we WERE going to wait that long, there needed to be more stakes of it. She needed to hate Corrick himself and not just government. Ugh. Missed opportunity.

Something about the writing also just didn't gel with me. Maybe it's from just finishing a few books where the prose felt very mature and well written (also YA) and then moving into this just felt a bit patronizing to teens and their reading capabilities at times. Juvenile writing is not a bad thing in moments, but having the actual writing structure of the book feel juvenile was a miss for me.

CW: S Assault - Also, the scene where they're in his room after she's caught is CREEPY. It's creepily written and Corrick is creepy, he basically assaults her. And why did her breast need to pop out of her shirt in the struggle? It was gratuitous and made me uncomfortable and I don't think in the way that the writer was hoping for. I didn't feel her vulnerability, it just felt like an edition thrown in with no consideration to how it would affect the character. Also, like a line before it happened she made a joke (WHILST BEING ATTACKED) about his knife maybe being his boner (ala "is that a __ in your pocket or are you just happy to see me"). Took me out of the book, that whole interaction and really put a bad taste in my mouth for Corrick as a character.

However, all that said, I'm interested enough in the story and characters (not Tessa) to read the next one just to see if the exposition of the first book was just set up. If it isn't, then I'll probably drop this rating lower. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, and Classism

Moderate: Confinement, Death of parent, Gaslighting, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Sexual assault

thumbeleia's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

annelihghh's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Bullying, Child death, Death, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Sexual content, Vomit, Pregnancy, and Alcohol

raineedayreader's review

adventurous emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Torture, Violence, Grief, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Death of parent

Minor: Child death, Excrement, and Fire/Fire injury

takarakeireads's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

• 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

5.0

• Robin Hood inspired
• court politics 
• herbal medicine
• angsty romance
• revolution rumblings
• brotherhood

Protect my poor baby Corrick! I love him so much. I was just getting back into my YA Fantasy era when I first read this a year ago, and coming back to it made me love it even more! 

1/5 🌶️

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Death of parent, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Child death, Torture, Blood, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Rape

Very brief mention of rape (off page no details)

mollysbooklist's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful tense medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

I loved this! Great character development and plot. Once I started I didn’t want to stop. I was immediately invested even through the world building. 


The story highlights that life is not always as simple as good vs. bad. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Death, Violence, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Classism

thyroyalreader's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Death of parent, War, and Classism