alexijai98's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
Graphic: Death, Injury/injury detail, Self harm, Murder, Violence, Gun violence, and Blood
Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Kidnapping, and Sexual assault
erebus53's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Our main characters are a scrappy survivor whose dream is to be the Captain of her own pirate ship, and a red-headed mage with odd eyes, who is ward to the Royal Family of "Red London". The cast of support characters and nemeses, includes a savvy barkeep with a heart of gold, a charming fop who is the prince and adoptive brother of the mage, a brother/sister pair of scary sadistic royals, and a second broody mage guy who is scary indentured muscle, and not happy about it.
When a dangerous magical artifact gets smuggled into the wrong world, our characters are on a quest to return it to where it is supposed to be, or destroy it.. but like the 'precious' One Ring in LOTR, it's got this luring, dark-magical energy that corrupts those who use it...
I think the star of the show is the setting. The language in the book is easy to read while still peppered with odd sounding other languages. You get a few words here and there as they are learned by the characters. The magic system is explained mainly through explaining it to untalented or ignorant characters, which is a little clunky, but better than an encyclopedic info-dump. And there's this really cool coat that's multidimensional and can be turned inside out a zillion different ways to be different looking coats... ok.. maybe the coat is the star of the show.
Graphic: Blood, Violence, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Death, Slavery, and Grief
Minor: Alcohol and Confinement
saricostanzo's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Cursing, Death, Self harm, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/injury detail, Murder, Blood, Child death, Gore, Gun violence, Sexual assault, Torture, Violence, and Child abuse
trintrin's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
The world -- or rather, worlds -- were so beautifully written they seemed both realistic and magical at the same time. And Victoria Schwab's writing!! The way she describes things is simply wonderful. It's like she breathes life into everything that her words touch. That woman could write about paint drying on a wall and I would eat that up.
The characters are loveable of course. Rhy is such a sweetheart I wanna protect him from all harm. Kell is nice to read about. He's intriguing and I wanna know more about his past and also give that boy a hug. Lila, I'll admit, I found her boring and annoying and she came across as I'm-not-like-other-girls at first. Her POV was the only chapter that actually made me put the book down after starting. But she really, really grew on me and now I love her. As of now, the characters feel not as fleshed out as they could be, especially considering there's only very few main characters, but as this is only the first of a series I'm hoping it's explored more in the upcoming books.
The only reason I didn't give this 5 stars is because the ending felt sort of rushed? Almost as if the book couldn't decide if it wanted to be a standalone or a series. Too many threads tied up too tidily and yet leaving room for a sequel.
Graphic: Self harm, Blood, Death, Injury/injury detail, Murder, and Violence
Moderate: Sexual assault, Torture, and Fire/Fire injury
horizonous's review against another edition
Graphic: Self harm and Blood
Moderate: Sexual assault, Violence, Torture, and Murder
Minor: Animal cruelty, Fire/Fire injury, Child abuse, Child death, Colonisation, Gun violence, and Medical content
lainiereads's review
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
5.0
Graphic: Torture, Confinement, Violence, Blood, Injury/injury detail, and Murder
Moderate: Kidnapping and Death
Minor: Classism, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual assault, and Self harm
rachelunabridged's review
- 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
Graphic: Death, Violence, Murder, and Blood
Moderate: Torture
Minor: Fire/Fire injury
vaguely_pink's review against another edition
- 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
3.5
Graphic: Self harm, Blood, Death, Classism, and Injury/injury detail
Moderate: Sexual assault, Violence, Murder, Torture, and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Alcohol, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Fire/Fire injury, Cursing, War, Abandonment, and Physical abuse
nabecker13's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Graphic: Sexual assault, Murder, Abandonment, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Self harm, Blood, Slavery, and Violence
zannayo's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Gore, Addiction, Blood, Torture, Death, Drug abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Injury/injury detail, and Murder
Moderate: Classism, Stalking, War, Violence, Sexism, Self harm, Kidnapping, Slavery, and Sexual harassment