ashleymg99's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Kell and Lila are a great pair, and play well off each other. The book felt like it wrapped up neatly, but not so much that it is decisively over. I am intrigued to see where the next book in the series picks up - will there be a new conflict, or a continuation of what was laid out in the first book?
Moderate: Injury/injury detail, Death, Violence, Blood, and Alcohol
mozimmerm's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Graphic: Violence and Death
Moderate: Alcohol, Blood, and Gun violence
Minor: Abandonment
lily_marigold'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
5.0
Graphic: Death, Blood, Torture, and Violence
Moderate: Alcohol and Cursing
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
jules_c's review
- 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: Gun violence, Self harm, Body horror, Death, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Alcohol, Blood, Injury/injury detail, and Murder
rebeccajost'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
4.75
Graphic: Physical abuse, Gun violence, Body horror, Blood, Murder, War, Violence, Torture, Slavery, and Injury/injury detail
Moderate: Alcohol, Suicide attempt, Sexual violence, and Sexism
theslowreadernumber5'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
Minor: Death, Murder, Slavery, Gun violence, Injury/injury detail, Torture, War, Alcohol, Cursing, Death of parent, Grief, Abandonment, Blood, Drug use, and Kidnapping
oliverreeds's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Abandonment, Alcohol, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Death, Death of parent, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Blood, Body horror, Child death, Child abuse, Confinement, Gore, Murder, Gun violence, Injury/injury detail, Self harm, Sexual violence, Violence, and Torture
likesahara's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Moderate: Violence and Injury/injury detail
Minor: Sexual assault and Alcohol
nebraskanwriter's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
However, everything felt a bit rushed. We would meet a character and then a chapter later, they would be killed. The ending also felt very rushed as well, people were dropping like flies. I just felt like maybe we could have cut out some of the purple prose to flesh out the characters a little bit more.
I honestly found a lot of the more minor characters more interesting than Lila and Kell, who felt kind of cardboard-cut-out-esque in a way. They just felt very basic, they had their one character trait and that was that. But a lot of the other minor characters were way more complex and fascinating, morally gray. Yet we would only get them for a chapter or two.
So yup, just middle of the road for me. Schwab is starting to hone her craft here with her beautiful descriptions and vivid world building, the main characters just needed a little bit more fleshing out and the pacing to not be so rushed.
Graphic: Alcohol, Blood, Death, Violence, Torture, Gore, Murder, and Injury/injury detail