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imaginaryalchemist'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
4.25
I'll start with the things I did like. First, I love the characters. They had good chemistry and played off each other well. I enjoyed the banter between Kell and Alucard. I know some people didn't like Lila, but I did, I thought she was fun and pretty badass. I saw the romance between her and Kell coming a mile away but I still enjoyed it. I thought they were good together.
Speaking of romance, I loved the subplot with Rhy and Alucard. I feel VE Schwab handled it tastefully. Speaking as a queer person, queer romance often feels like it's pandering to us.
I really wanted more time with these characters. In my opinion, Schwab's character writing is pretty strong. They felt like they could be real people, even the background characters. Rhy ended up being my favorite.
Now for some of my criticisms. For the story, I enjoyed it overall but felt it dragged at some points. The ship voyage in particular seemed to go on for a bit too long.
I also had a lot of unanswered questions at the end.
So, overall I really liked this trilogy! It was the first thing I'd read from VE Schwab and I'll definitely read more of her work in the future.
Graphic: Death of parent
Moderate: Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Death, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Grief, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Cursing and Alcohol
smkoontz'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
4.0
Graphic: Blood and War
Moderate: Body horror, Child death, Death, Violence, and Murder
zoeelora'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: Alcoholism, Body horror, Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Self harm, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Medical content, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, and Abandonment
skillyillian'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
i had moments where i was seriously frustrated with the characters, but it made me love them all the more, bc they were doing things that perfectly fit them and just showed how fleshed-out these characters really are. lila's my favorite fictional character of all time at this point. kell, alucard, rhy, and holland are all the great loves of my life as well but no one can top lila. i'm also biased bc we're birthday twins, but that didn't affect my rating. probably.
the romance subplots were phenomenal. the magic system was as stunning and fantastical as in the first two books. an absolutely incredible, thrilling finale to my new favorite series. i immediately bought the fragile threads of power and can't wait to dive back into this world. i cried for the characters, i cheered for them, this book ran me through a whirlwind of emotions and i will be recovering for a long time to come. even the slower parts, like the flashbacks, still captivated my attention and had me craving more. that might not sound like it makes sense but if you read it you'll get it. and you should absolutely read it. there was not one thing in this book that i felt like didn't belong.
i read this series through KU, bought the paperbacks to annotate, and got the collector's edition box set. schwab is my new favorite author, this is my new favorite series, and i'm never changing my mind. i will recommend this series, and all of their books, until the day i die.
Graphic: Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Body horror, Cursing, Self harm, and Sexual content
Minor: Confinement, Kidnapping, and Alcohol
msradiosilence's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Cursing, Death, Gore, Torture, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic
Moderate: War
Minor: Sexual content and Pregnancy
rinku's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Graphic: Death, Torture, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, and Alcohol
Moderate: Body horror, Confinement, and Sexual content
donatio'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
Sometimes the book felt a bit too long, especially the first hundred pages or so but that does not take much from Schwab's writing style, it is just easy to forget that the scene cover barely a week and not, say, two.
On the other hand there are some things I forgot that had me shocked when I remembered.
Every plotline had a logical and satisfying ending.
Recommend for being one of my favourite series.
Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Torture, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Alcohol
Moderate: Sexual content
purplepenning's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Self harm, Slavery, Grief, Murder, Alcohol, and Classism
Minor: Sexual content
vaguely_pink'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, Self harm, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Body horror and Sexual content
Minor: Confinement, Cursing, Homophobia, Suicide, Vomit, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Classism
jessicaludden'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
4.0
I really enjoyed this book. When I started this series I wasn’t sucked in right from the start, but I’m glad I stuck with it because I really liked this last book. My biggest complaint with the other books in the series was the pacing. I felt like they focused too much on the mundane things that characters did causing it to get really slow before it finally picked up. But I think the pacing was amazing with this book which surprised me considering that it’s 600 pages. Do I think it needed to be that long? No, but there was never a moment when I thought the story was dragging. It was very much a typical high fantasy book where the characters are fighting the big bad and there’s a lot of moving parts. The highlight of this book for me was Rhy. I liked him before, but this book made me love him so much. I loved how his character, along with many others touched on grief and how to live with it. What I loved most about this book was the ending. With so many characters we got to see many different point of views. It was a typical bittersweet goodbye at the end where the characters we love are splitting up but we know they’ll see each other again. Overall, I enjoyed this series and I’m glad I grew to love it.
Minor: Body horror, Child death, Death, Gore, Sexual content, Suicide, Torture, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, and Murder