maddiereadswords's review against another edition
5.0
This whole series is just so criminally underrated, I am frothing at the mouth, please come read these totally normal books that I am totally and completely normal about.
Graphic: Religious bigotry, Sexism, Violence, Alcohol, Death, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Animal death, and Misogyny
Moderate: Abortion, Child abuse, Rape, Vomit, Confinement, Xenophobia, Gore, Police brutality, Racism, Domestic abuse, and Fire/Fire injury
hanxiety's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
4.0
Graphic: Animal death and Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Rape, Racism, Abortion, and Body horror
leastsquares's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
Graphic: Murder and Death
Moderate: Rape, Suicide, and Racism
Minor: Abortion and War
jasmine256'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
3.0
Graphic: Death, Violence, and Murder
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Racism, and Rape
Minor: Animal death and Abortion
lyricallit's review against another edition
2.0
Graphic: Murder
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Racism, and Rape
Minor: Abortion and Slavery
dsarbear's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Spoiler
the book tells you who the killer is pretty much on page oneGraphic: Violence and Murder
Moderate: Physical abuse and Racism
Minor: Rape, War, and Abortion
glens's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Death of parent, Alcohol, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Racial slurs, Racism, Blood, and Murder
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Grief, Misogyny, Religious bigotry, and Medical content
Minor: Abortion, Antisemitism, Death, Vomit, Animal death, and Rape
comraderowan94'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? It's complicated
4.0
Graphic: Classism and Racism
Moderate: Rape
Minor: Animal cruelty
ellanarose'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? It's complicated
5.0
Moderate: Addiction, Alcohol, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Hate crime, Murder, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Violence
r1dh4'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? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
The characters were also all really well-developed in my opinion. Even minor characters that did not show up for very long felt like real people. At times it did feel like there was just a lot of information on the character's backstory coming in at once, but considering the rest of Bray's writing style it didn't feel that out of place to me and it didn't hinder my enjoyment of the book at all.
Additionally, the plot doesn't really pick up speed until about halfway through the book. However, even though the plot started a bit later, I still enjoyed the beginning because it provided some good exposition and allowed the reader to become familiar with the characters and their motives/personalities. When the plot actually does get underway, I found myself really wanting to know what happened next. Not only does the book feel rightly creepy, but there's a lot of movement between places and characters that was handled well and prevented me from feeling bored.
Along with this, the story itself also felt really well-crafted; you could tell the author had taken a long time to research and write this book, and you could see the carefully laid threads that allowed this book to finish completely while still leaving some great material for the next few books. The only thing I didn't like about this book was the romances; each felt either forced or too fast. I feel like some extra development would help this out, which I'm looking forward to seeing in the next few books.
Honestly, since I've heard that the subsequent books are better than the first, I definitely will be reading the next few, and I'm looking forward to continuing the series! I would also recommend this book to anybody, as long as they feel up to the longer page length and have checked out the content warnings (because there are quite a few). Overall, a great book to start off 2022!
Graphic: Murder
Moderate: Alcohol, Blood, Body horror, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Grief, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, and Sexism
Minor: Sexual assault