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magicshop's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
this isn't what i'd call a good or well-written series. my overall rating for each book is pretty much about that, as is usually the case. the enjoyment rating, though, which can often be wildly different for me, is a fucking doozy of a 4.5-5 star. i consumed these books so fast i'm pretty sure i wormholed into another dimension for a while there. (there were aliens. they also enjoyed it.)
keeping it simple: the good, the reaaaaally good, in summary, is basically all of the character writing and eventual relationship development. nora sakavic could wrestle an interesting inner monologue and/or dialogue/banter out of every single ancient spartan citizen if pressed. that's the key, and why these books (aside from the first) have such high ratings, i'd say.
a few more goods or good-ishs:
- relationships. you may know this as a romance series, but it's actually mostly romance-less contemporary for about 2/3rds of the way through. despite that, or maybe because of it, i have enjoyed the relationships immensely, including but not limited to the romantic ones.
- half the main cast is at least bilingual, and while it's quite unbelievable or at least confusingly questionable for some characters
now......... the bad (and sometimes reaaaaally bad, and sometimes actually not entirely bad at all and more complex but potentially ok than anything else):
- exy makes no sense. the rules don't make sense. the equipment doesn't make sense. i'm not even sure whether i can say nora tried her best to make it make sense or wrote every exy scene letting out villain laughs one after the other for several hours while ingesting copious amount of wine. either way, it's a mess, but it kinda doesn't try to be anything else so it's very easy to forgive.
- this book was written in the early 2010s and it shows. it has that typical early YA try-hardness going on, but i'd say as far as the ya i've read goes, it doesn't take itself too seriously. the way it's written makes it look like it's being taken very seriously, but there's something about it (similar to the lack of exy pretentiousness) that keeps it humble and grounded. you can tell nora didn't think this would be the next raven cycle or anything like that (though as a cult favorite it came almost close in the end??), she just sort of had fun with it. i can vibe with that.
- going along with the 2010s YA predicament, there isn't much political correctness involved, and certain slurs are thrown around semi-freely (mostly the r-word) by people who should know better. not a dealbreaker for me personally, but be aware.
- plot is neither here nor there. it's really just there to prop the characters and their develoment up and i wouldn't say it has anything particularly interesting or unique about it in itself. it's not what you'll care about. the people and relationships are.
- the stakes are so ridiculously high it's not even funny. everything is life or death for no reason, and everyone's been abused within an inch of their lives for most of their lives, no exceptions. these books are the definition of the "epic highs and lows of high school
- everything about andrew's condition and his medicine is a grade-a disaster. that's not how medicine works, that's not how psychiatry works, and the message that only sobriety from psychiatric medication (which, by the way, is not supposed to make you "high" and "manic" - you are taking the wrong medicine and you need to stop! adults should know AND enforce this!) can bring forth someone's "real self" was frankly insane even back in 2014. andrew needs better medical care, not to be forced to
phew, so! i can definitely say nora sakavic seems like a madman and a genius trying to decide which side to give into any given day, much like some of her characters, and i'd read just about anything she decided to write. and i hope she keeps deciding!
Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Homophobia, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Ableism, Misogyny, Self harm, Sexism, Forced institutionalization, Vomit, Religious bigotry, Stalking, and Car accident
restlessparadise's review against another edition
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Torture and Murder
Moderate: Gore, Gun violence, Rape, and Violence
Minor: Ableism, Drug use, Homophobia, and Sexual content
nikoops'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
5.0
Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
cait'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
5.0
Minor: Ableism, Addiction, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Deadnaming, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Medical trauma, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Outing, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Dysphoria, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
anniereads221's review against another edition
4.5
Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Homophobia, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Acephobia/Arophobia, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
wortfluesterin'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? Yes
This book (series) is very bad. Bad bad. I can’t even begin to LIST the triggers, everyone who said there were a lot was absolutely correct. Wasn’t expecting to be this repulsed after the “tame” first book.
The characters still don’t really have personalities (or very confusing one), the rep is MORE THAN PROBLEMATIC and I would like to punch someone because who in their right mind thought “this is an appropriate way to portray queer people and mental illness”
I also don’t know what to do with my life now.
Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Homophobia, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
wynterymess'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
5.0
Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Addiction, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Police brutality, Acephobia/Arophobia, and Outing
Minor: Ableism, Body shaming, Eating disorder, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Forced institutionalization, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Car accident, Abandonment, and Sexual harassment
li_reading's review against another edition
0.25
Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, and Sexual harassment
Minor: Homophobia
sawyer_obrien'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
This is a new adult level novel as it is set in college and has many trigger warnings. Please read through them carefully before deciding to read!
Overall: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Character development:⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Character development is one of the strongest aspects of this series. Though the plot may be wildly fantastical, the development of characters is incredibly realistic based off of their personalities and the experiences they go through
Plot:⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
The plot of this series is out of this world and incredibly complex. Personally, I don't mind that it is unrealistic in places because I think you have to go in expecting a bit of that. The three main plotlines are well woven so that, by the end, nothing feels out of place.
Diversity: ⭐⭐⭐
This was incredibly difficult for me to score. The representation of queer identities is strong compared to the average book, but the racial/ethnic diversity is lacking. However, the fandom makes up for that. Where there are characters that have very few physical descriptions, they have built up the cast to compromise of different types of people that weren't necessarily present in the text. If taking the book completely out of context, I would probably rate the diversity two stars for the gay and demisexual representation. If you count that the fandom labels characters as bisexual, black, asian, indigenous, etc. that score goes goes significantly up. Take my score with a grain of salt and just know that the author is a flawed human being and the actual text does not contain the amount of representation it ought to.
Willingness to reread:⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
This is my favorite book. I will reread it over and over and each time I will focus on a new quote that I love or interaction that made me stop and think about the way I look at certain aspects of my life
Writing style:⭐⭐⭐⭐
This book is originally a Russian novel and has been self published in English. There are mistakes. I was willing to overlook them in this case because everything else made up for it in my opinion. The narrator, a third person limited view of the main character, Neil Josten, has a very specific style. There are a lot of paragraphs of text describing past events or connections that Neil makes. I enjoy this type of writing style, but if you prefer more interaction based and dialogue heavy text, you may not enjoy this as much as I did.
Romance: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
This book does begin the romance of the series. It is not a typical romance in that there are very clear boundaries that they each adhere to. Personally, I really appreciate this portrayal. It is very rare that you see romances written between characters who have experienced trauma to this extent and I actually think Sakavic did a good job with it. I have never read anything with consent this well done.
Sports accuracy:⭐⭐⭐⭐
As someone who played lacrosse for many years, certain parts of the sports descriptions stood out to me in a negative way. You can tell that the author has never played a sport similar to this. Granted, it is a fictional sport, so a certain amount you will just have to accept as the nature of the sport. I was able to overlook the few places that the lack of sports knowledge shone through and if you aren't a sports person, I don't think it will distract from the novel at all.
Please note the trigger warnings on this series and this book in particular. The King's Men mostly has descriptions of torture and if you can't read that, I strongly suggest skipping this book!
If you'd like to discuss this book, please DM me at sawyer.reading on Instagram, I'd absolutely love to chat!
Graphic: Torture
Moderate: Sexual assault
Minor: Ableism and Child abuse
ronoexiste's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Murder, and Alcohol