mythicsage's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Graphic: Death, Sexual harassment, Violence, and Animal death
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Child death, Classism, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Gun violence, Alcohol, Child abuse, Gaslighting, Genocide, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Murder, and Slavery
Minor: Abandonment, Cursing, Forced institutionalization, Mental illness, Rape, Eating disorder, Alcoholism, Bullying, Confinement, Animal cruelty, Death of parent, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, War, and Xenophobia
emilywemily6'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
4.75
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Blood
Moderate: Violence and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Gaslighting, Sexual content, War, Colonisation, Emotional abuse, Grief, and Alcohol
readerorwateva's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Death, Murder, Violence, and Blood
Moderate: Death of parent, War, Animal death, and Animal cruelty
Minor: Rape, Suicide, Body shaming, Sexual assault, Slavery, Child abuse, and Torture
lovejasmine's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Colonisation, Grief, Blood, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Emotional abuse, Death, Gaslighting, Kidnapping, Gore, Gun violence, Murder, and Physical abuse
david_slack110507'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? It's complicated
3.25
However, my negative thoughts outweigh the positive ones I have such as the formatting or more specifically the chapters. The chapters in this are mostly 15-20 pages long each which makes it difficult if I want to go and read for a few minutes as I prefer to complete the whole chapter to avoid any confusion as to where I am the next time, I pick up the book. The first half of the book is excruciatingly slow and difficult to read on through because it focuses heavily on setting up the enormous world of the Grishaverse and that was why this took me nearly 2 months to complete, alongside it not being as interesting compared to the other books I was reading at the same time (which may have been an issue on my part tbh)
Another issue I had was that despite the extremely in-depth and fascinating lore and mythology of the Grishaverse, it can be very daunting, confusing, and sometimes hard to understand/remember what was what which made me struggle to continue the book at parts. I also didn't feel too strongly about many of the characters in the book with probably Baghra, The Darkling (Disregarding the kind of boring romance between him and Alina), Alina herself and possibly the real MVP: Genya being the standouts but nearly everyone else just didn't capture my interest and/or enthusiasm.
Overall, a mixed start to the Shadow and Bone trilogy. A start that I can only hope improves as it continues as I do feel invested enough to want to continue reading the trilogy.
⭐️⭐️⭐️ ~ Good but not great
Graphic: Kidnapping, Death, Animal death, Gaslighting, and Murder
Moderate: Bullying, Emotional abuse, Death, Animal cruelty, Toxic relationship, Grief, and Sexual content
Minor: Cursing and Death of parent
dragon_lord'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? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Abandonment, Death, and War
juliaaaaaa'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? It's complicated
4.0
Graphic: Animal death and Blood
Moderate: Death, Injury/Injury detail, Body shaming, Violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, and Animal cruelty
Minor: Sexual content, War, and Death of parent
dancing_on_ur_muml0l's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship
Minor: Animal death, Animal cruelty, Blood, and Death
The darkling is 120 years old. Alina is 17 years old. wtf.Spoiler
thank god she ended up with Mal but idk maybe she might end up with someone else in Siege and Storm but I don't want her to bc Mal and Alina are perfecthannah_steven'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
3.5
Graphic: Violence, Death, Murder, and Animal cruelty
Moderate: Blood, Toxic relationship, War, and Slavery
Minor: Sexual assault
soph22'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
4.5
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Abandonment, Animal death, Classism, Death, Grief, Kidnapping, Murder, and Slavery
Minor: War, Violence, Sexual assault, and Sexual harassment