lizziaha's review against another edition
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.75
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Confinement, Death, Child abuse, Classism, Murder, and Kidnapping
Moderate: Sexual harassment, Animal cruelty, Grief, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Drug use, Animal death, and Death of parent
lubotomy's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
5.0
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Suicidal thoughts, Death of parent, Violence, Confinement, Drug use, Murder, and Death
Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Kidnapping, Sexual content, and Abandonment
Minor: Outing, Sexual harassment, and Classism
talonsontypewriters's review
- 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? It's complicated
3.5
Graphic: Murder, Kidnapping, Confinement, Classism, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Child abuse, and Emotional abuse
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Animal death, Violence, Death of parent, Toxic relationship, Drug use, Sexual content, Gaslighting, Blood, War, Bullying, and Animal cruelty
Minor: Vomit, Sexual assault, Infidelity, Addiction, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Torture
Drowning. Slut shaming. Starvation. Relationship between characters who are currently both adults, but almost definitely met when one was around 10 and the other was an older teenager/adult.alizirrah'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
2.5
Things I did enjoy:
* Some of the world building was pretty cool! I liked the concept of the ambles, the description of the landscape, and the politics of the different airship fuel sources.
* Enjoyed getting more Giddon and Hava! Their parts were probably my favorite; I wish there was a bit more of it.
* The action, when it happened, was exciting. Like the escape from Lovisa's family home, and the fox figuring out how to help Bitterblue. Actually, Adventure Fox was one of my favorites too.
Here are some of the things that bothered me about this book:
* Why does it seem like all world exploration is happening during the main characters' lifetime, despite things like boats and apparently airships already being in existence? Bitterblue and Co. really didn't know the Dells or Winterkeep even existed, nor had anyone ever visited from those places, until just now? I repeat, there are AIRSHIPS.
* Apparently the language of the Middluns is called Lingian, after Gracelings. This is like if a country's language was named after like, a unique disease or mental health condition. But an outsider named their language. Did they not have a name for their own language before? What.
* Okay, so. Let's talk about race. The first couple of books only had white people and vaguely tan Lianid people. Sure. So in this book, the 4th in the series, you introduce a continent where everyone is dark-skinned/brown. Sure. They live in the far north, where it snows all the time and has glaciers. ...Pardon? (If this was the only worldbuilding issue, I'd shrug because I don't really care if having POC in particular settings "makes sense." Representation and diversity is a good thing. But it just feels like.. kind of a weird geographical choice, I don't know. The map in general has a clear "making this up as I go" vibe, especially with how squared off the Middluns are.)
* The blue foxes. Did you know they're not actually blue, they're gray? If you didn't know, you'll be told about 3 or 4 times. They definitely feel, hmm, a bit derivative of His Dark Materials daemons, though I do understand that Pullman's books don't have a monopoly on bonded animals that talk to you and spy on people. But honestly Lavisa's parents feel a lot like Lyra's parents, too. Down to the fur coats and traveling around on airships and uh, the abuse.
* Almost all of the characters have dialogue that has a shallow, slightly ditzy and childish vibe, to the point that I couldn't tell the difference in maturity between a 16 year old protagonist and the ones in their 20s or 30s.
* Characters have a... strange relationship with casual sex in this book. Don't get me wrong, I am 100% pro-casual sex if a person wants that. But what feels like a disproportionate amount of time is spent thinking about it compared to the actual plot. The way Bitterblue is like "oh yes, I have so many lovers but I don't actually care about any of them" doesn't really fit with how otherwise sensitive and empathetic she is. It at least makes more sense for Lovisa to kind of have a fucked up relationship with it, considering her upbringing and how manipulative the people around her are. There is also a very odd exchange where Nev asks her grandfather if he has "ever experienced sexual jealousy" and he's like, oh yeah, totally, your grandmother slept with lots of guys before me. (... Okay?) And then Lovisa leaves the room because it's making her feel weird/bad. There's really no point to this exchange other than that.
I feel a bit bad that this review is so negative, I really enjoy the Graceling series normally, but this one just wasn't it for me. Will I read Seasparrow? Upon reflection, even though I think it features Hava, who I do like... probably not. I think I'll stick with my nostalgia for the first book, as if it were a standalone.
Graphic: Gaslighting, Abandonment, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Sexual content, Injury/Injury detail, and Drug use
cepbreed'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
4.25
Spoiler
Ranking of the books: Bitterblue, Winterkeep, Fire, Graceling
Song:
- Mirrorball - Taylor Swift
Graphic: Sexism, Stalking, Torture, Classism, Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic relationship, Child abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Medical content, Confinement, Grief, Trafficking, Violence, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Death, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Gaslighting, Gore, Murder, and Misogyny
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, War, and Sexual content
Minor: Drug use and Infidelity
miciahsreads'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
3.75
Graphic: Murder, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Kidnapping, Violence, Suicidal thoughts, and Drug use
Minor: War
merenguita'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? Yes
5.0
This is also true for the narrator, there are so many narrators! One of the first is Giddon and I honeslty didn't expect to like him that much, i always looked forward to his parts. I think his character arc flourishes in this installment and it's quite beautiful to see his sweetness.
As always there is some romance, although it's not the main plot and there are more intresting elements to the book. For exaple Lovisa and her family
Spoiler
specially once everything has unfolded and we can see the inner struggle, the conflict with her own identity and how, eventually, she takes her power backSpoiler
The only thing I would add is that I hope we can see more LGBTQ+ relationships between the main characters at some point in the future
Graphic: Child abuse, Death of parent, Drug use, Violence, Emotional abuse, and Confinement
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts
Minor: Sexual content
saltydough'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? No
3.75
I do think this is a really fun and entertaining book, though, and I appreciated the allegory about climate change. Would recommend!
Graphic: Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Kidnapping, and Violence
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Suicidal thoughts, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Death of parent
Minor: Drug use
darth_twain's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
Graphic: Sexual content, Kidnapping, and Emotional abuse
Moderate: Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Murder, and Suicidal thoughts
Minor: Blood, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, and Panic attacks/disorders
melplays9000's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I must say however that the beginning of this book did feel a little rushed to me. There wasn’t much time to get back into the characters and the world before we were thrust right into the main plot. Saying that, the series as a whole doesn’t really have a overarching plot, which I also find a little strange. Each book has its own plot which is just the characters reacting to what is happening to and around them. I’m not sure this is something I specifically don’t like, just an observation which I’m not sure how I feel about.
Overall this book was exactly what I wanted and needed it to be at the time I read it. I definitely need to read more fantasy and more series because clearly that’s what I like best. 5 stars.
Graphic: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, and Confinement
Moderate: Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Fire/Fire injury, and Murder
Minor: Drug use and Suicidal thoughts