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yilliun'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? Yes
5.0
V. E. Schwab is truly such a talented fantasy writer. I am so glad I picked up this series.
Graphic: Death, Violence, and Blood
Moderate: Self harm, Death of parent, and Murder
Minor: Sexual content and Suicide
glund_01'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: Death, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Child death, Homophobia, and Self harm
Minor: Suicide
carefulfearanddeaddevotion'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? No
5.0
Graphic: Child death, Death, Torture, Violence, Death of parent, Murder, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic
Moderate: Confinement, Domestic abuse, Gore, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Homophobia
readingwithkaitlyn's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Graphic: Death, Gore, Mental illness, Self harm, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Medical content, and Classism
Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Homophobia, Misogyny, Slavery, Vomit, and Pregnancy
kittykels'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? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Moderate: Death, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol
keya_caivalur'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
4.75
Graphic: Death, Violence, and Death of parent
Moderate: Confinement, Gore, Sexual content, Torture, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Suicide
takarakei'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
Schwab is so fucking smart, leaving the story with Anoshe :')
Graphic: Death, Torture, Violence, Blood, and Death of parent
Moderate: Homophobia, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Self harm and Suicide
softwindflower'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: Blood and Death of parent
Moderate: Homophobia, Suicide, and Torture
Minor: Alcoholism
dlangetreacy's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Graphic: Death, Homophobia, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, and Outing
incrediblemelk's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I read it in several long luxurious binges. It’s very dramatic and I enjoyed the worldbuilding. The ultimate ending was never in doubt but I found myself sometimes surprised by some of the plot twists. Schwab isn’t afraid to kill off characters to raise the stakes.
That said, this is a very chunky novel and I found myself noticing some of the schlockier moments that pad out the writing. eg people don’t have ‘hair’ when they can have ‘curls’
and there’s a lot of lavish description of the colours and textures of things, and that trope which always annoys me in fantasy fiction of people’s eye colours changing like mood rings.
I don’t think we really needed chapters from Osaron’s perspective as it (he?) was a dull character with only one motivation – consuming power. And it felt like several threads in the novel (to take up the ‘threads of magic’ metaphor that was riffed on again and again here, having never been a major focus of the previous two books) weren’t followed through, eg the Grey London plotline was squared away very briskly and the questions about Kell’s and Lila’s mysterious pasts were brushed over.
Which I guess is fine – I am always complaining that people need every tiny thing in a story explained away to them and so it’s good that some things are left mysterious for the reader to ponder.
Graphic: Death, Suicide, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Torture
Minor: Homophobia