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lisa_m's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
3.25
My thoughts on this book are quite complicated. I did not love the majority of the book. Most things that happened felt either like complete coincidences or out of our protagonists control. She was just there for the ride and the few decisions she did make did not make a lot of sense to me. She constantly needed to be saved and I just felt like I didn't have enough information about anything. A huge part of this book is 1. descriptions of the prison and how horrible it is in there and 2. Kiva trying to find a cure for this mysterious illness spreading around the prison.
A very important part of this book are the 4 trials Kiva has to survive. I hoped that these would be interesting but instead it just felt like we're waiting for them to finally happen. The trials themselves are basically just Kiva being put into a situation that is impossible to survive, and then getting rescued.
The majority of the time while reading I was almost bored and waiting for something unique and surprising to happen. I did not understand any of the main characters or their relationships and we got barely any information about them. Things seemingly happened at random just to make a good story and to drive the plot forwards. Kiva also always made wrong assumptions about everyone to the point where you can pretty much assume all her assumptions are false.
BUT all of this boredom and indifference change in the last 50(?) pages. We finally get answers and information that make the whole story make sense. Certain actions get explained so they don't seem as random anymore and it's honestly very intruiging and I was hooked. My problem is that those last few pages don't make up for how I felt throughout the rest of the book.
I really liked the relationship between Kiva and Tipp. It was the one that made the most sense to me and I found it really sweet. I also liked Naari even though we got so little information and I always knew that there was something missing which made it frustrating to read. The same also goes for Jaren. For me personally the idea of keeping all relevant information until the end for the big 'aha' effect did not work out at all because it just made me more frustrated. At the end it just felt like I was being lied to throughout the entire book because important information has been kept from me which was the reason I did not understand what was going on or why people are reacting the way they do. So all in all it kind of feels like this book tried to be smarter than it is.
I think 3.5 stars is very justified considering all that. Still, now that I'm intruiged and I FINALLY know what's going on I will be reading the sequel as well. I hope it will keep up the intruige and perhaps I will really like the second book. It definitely has the potential to be good.
Graphic: Confinement and Abandonment
Moderate: Addiction, Death, Drug use, Gore, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic
chiruruchi'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: Police brutality, Medical content, Trafficking, Medical trauma, Sexual harassment, and War
Moderate: Body horror, Confinement, Forced institutionalization, Death of parent, Abandonment, and Alcohol
callistag1'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? No
5.0
Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Confinement, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, and Suicide attempt
Minor: Vomit and Grief
bookrecsplease's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
4.0
Still, I came to really fall in love with the characters and Noni did a really good job of introducing lots of different mysteries/questions as the narrative went on, even if most of the answers were obvious to me as an adult reader.
Graphic: Bullying, Torture, and Abandonment
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Blood, and Sexual harassment
Minor: Sexual violence, Vomit, Suicide attempt, and War
l1brarygirl's review against another edition
3.0
oh and that last line...
Graphic: Addiction, Child death, Confinement, Panic attacks/disorders, Torture, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic
Moderate: Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual violence, Vomit, Grief, Medical trauma, and Murder
Minor: War
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? No
3.5
Graphic: Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Torture, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Fire/Fire injury, and Pandemic/Epidemic
Moderate: Addiction, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Self harm, Medical content, Death of parent, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Rape, and Pregnancy
the_jesus_fandom'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
3.5
There was a bit of discrepancy in Kiva saying she helped everyone cause that was her job, regardless of what they did, but then she refuses to help a guard and actively makes his sickness worse.
My only major grievances: eyes don't have to have stone colours. Just say her eyes are yellow (amber).
Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Self harm, Sexual assault, Terminal illness, Torture, Blood, Medical content, Murder, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic
Moderate: Cursing, Rape, Vomit, Death of parent, and Abandonment
charthegoose's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Child death, Physical abuse, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Abandonment, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic
Moderate: Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Excrement, Grief, and Sexual harassment
yennn's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
The characters...the main character was SO annoying and oblivious I was rolling my eyes so far back into my head. The male lead had potential but fell flat and left no lasting impression on me. The side characters though, now THEY were interesting. Shout out to Tipp and Mott for being MVPs and for Naari for staying aloof and cool though it all.
The writing was so repetitive I felt crazy, and so pointlessly descriptive I started skim reading.
And the plot was...so predictable, yet barely together. The way this book ended, and the character motivations and next steps of the plot...I just don't think I have it in me to finish this trilogy. I was not connected at any point to anything. Except maybe the princess and her girlfriend (one sentence in the whole book about this. It's not a spoiler).
Moderate: Addiction
Minor: Abandonment
n0elle's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Slavery, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Kidnapping, Murder, Abandonment, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism