rinku'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
4.0
Spoiler
Wolfe starts to see them as equals which was so greatSpoiler
the occupation of Oxford that depicted war quite realistically and hence disturbingSpoiler
Jess has to become a solider now, urghSpoiler
and I was right about themSpoiler
his death was so sad and shockingSpoiler
he would sacrifice his life for hersGraphic: Fire/Fire injury, Police brutality, Blood, Gun violence, War, Violence, Body horror, Confinement, and Death
Moderate: Kidnapping, Grief, Classism, Slavery, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Suicide
Minor: Vomit and Sexual content
_mirambo_'s review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Graphic: Violence, Death, Colonisation, Slavery, Murder, Mental illness, and Gun violence
Moderate: Toxic friendship, Suicide attempt, and Grief
Minor: Alcohol
boldphoenix'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? No
5.0
Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, War, and Suicide
Minor: Slavery and Forced institutionalization
hayzey's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Graphic: War, Violence, Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, Gore, Death, Blood, Police brutality, Murder, Grief, Genocide, and Confinement
Moderate: War, Torture, Slavery, Police brutality, Violence, Murder, Gun violence, Gore, Genocide, Confinement, Blood, Grief, and Death
Minor: Vomit, Torture, Slavery, Religious bigotry, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, Fire/Fire injury, Confinement, Classism, Blood, Alcohol, Violence, War, Police brutality, Murder, Mental illness, Medical trauma, Grief, Gore, Genocide, and Death
orshi999's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.25
Imagine a world in which anyone, anywhere, could create and distribute their own words, however ignorant or flawed!
Ink and Bone takes place in a world controlled by the Great Library. With the power of alchemy anything is possible including the distribution of knowledge through blanks, the only thing is that the ownership of books is forbidden. Our main character is a boy named Jess Brightwell who was raised in a family of book smugglers who smuggle illegal books to those who can afford them.
Diversity:
Spoiler
Jess himself is British and his best friend is German, other members of the cast range from being Muslim and Japanese. Out of the two of them, only one makes it to the end of the book.LGBTQ+:
Spoiler
We don't get explicated LGBTQ representation until around halfway through the book and it came from a very surprising source! Two of the adult characters who look over our main cast are together and have been since before the book started. Their character's never started with them being gay it was only something 'new' about them that the children were accepting ofWriting: I wasn't very fond of Caine's writing style. In my opinion, there was way too much telling and not enough showing and that made it hard for me to like a lot of the characters. I couldn't understand how some of them became friends or why they cared so much about each other in the end. While I also hate large chunks of world-building if you still have to add more things to a setting that was a main part of the book at the end of it maybe you should reconsider the pacing.
Spoiler
Jess comes from a family of smugglers but many of those skills only became important when they were needed and if they weren't you could almost forget about them. Even the romance came out of nowhere and was very unbelievable with how quickly Morgan and Jess trusted each other with their secrets.Stakes:
Spoiler
It's really hard to take the book seriously when the stakes are not very consistent. I think that they hyped up the whole thing as being brutal but when they were given the opportunities they blew it. There were so many points near the start where people could be hurt or choose to drop out themselves but these were blown over and replaced with our MC miraculously saving both himself and everyone around him.Graphic: Child death and Violence
Moderate: Slavery
Minor: Alcohol
caitlinjadams'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
3.75
Graphic: Abandonment, Child death, Child abuse, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Murder, Torture, Violence, and War
Moderate: Blood, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt
Minor: Bullying and Alcohol