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culzean's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Graphic: Ableism, Animal death, Body shaming, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
sauvageloup'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? It's complicated
4.0
pros:
- it's pretty unputdownable, constantly keeping the tension high and the ball rolling. very good writing and pacing in that sense as there was never a dull bit.
- the different scenes were written well too, the fighting, dialogue, reflection and romance were all solid.
- I likes the setting, the dragons, the politics and worldbuilding, but the characters were the strong point. xaden and violet were both compelling and conflicted in their own ways.
- especially liked the flashing out of the side characters. I was definitely emotional when
- I hear from my friend witty Eds that Violet's was written well and it's great to see more disability representation, since its sadly lacking. great that she wasnt magically cured of it, and was supported by others throughout the story even as others tried to take her out.
- focus on sibling relationships was cool top, great to see mira and violets positive sisterhood and rhiannon and her sister.
- a fair number of twists were unpredictable, like
- I also liked that the characters were 20y/o plus, and the women were called that, not girls.
- inclusion of queer side characters was great to see too, including rhiannon and Heaton, neither of which faced any discrimination for it.
cons:
- it was all very classic YA tropes with an adult bent. Dane and xaden were immediately obviously love interests (twilight)
- though called clever, violet does have some dim moments for sure,
- also didny like the last chapter being xadens POV. it sounded the exact same to violets which was disappointing and was unneeded. he was better just through violets eyes.
- overall, I would have liked some more real failures for violet, and less cliches. plus some more real violence rather than the squeamish stuff. go big or go home for the morally grey characters is what I say.
but it still gets a four because it was very gripping, I did like xaden and violet and their chemistry, plus the side characters and the dragons.
Graphic: Ableism, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Gore, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Vomit, Medical content, and Death of parent
falchionm'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? Yes
4.5
Moderate: Bullying, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, War, and Injury/Injury detail
arbramirez'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? No
4.75
Graphic: Ableism, Body horror, Child death, Death, Gore, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and War
Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Grief, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail
pm_me_book_recs'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
4.5
I'm not even sure if I consider my only complaint a complaint; there is an attempt at LGBTQ representation, and it really fell short- it's a side note of a passing conversation. I would never require all authors to represent identities they are unfamiliar with, that's how you get offensive stereotypes streamlined, right?
While full of feminine power, this story is straight AF.
I listened to this via libro.fm and the narrator was absolutely phenomenal. Her voice is so dynamic and each character has a different, unique, recognizable lilt. She also actually sped up the reading pace during stressful battles, slowed down during introspective bits, and evokes so much emotion. Rebecca Soler deserves a damn award for this reading. I finished all 20 hrs and 45 minutes in a two day period. The final chapter is read by Teddy Hamilton, and while he did a good job, it was jarring for the switch to happen, and I wasn't a big fan of his intonation and representation of our heroine.
Graphic: Chronic illness, Death, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Bullying, Cursing, Panic attacks/disorders, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol
roseyposeyreads'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
Graphic: Chronic illness, Death, Violence, Grief, and War
Moderate: Animal death, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail
ceruleanshelves'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
Graphic: Cursing, Death, Violence, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Ableism, Blood, Murder, and War
Minor: Panic attacks/disorders, Torture, Vomit, Grief, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury
zanazy'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
4.0
I enjoyed the story and look forward to the next one, but don’t let the hype raise your expectations to the max as it’s not THAT amazing. Lots of potential to get there though, so my expectations for book 2 are higher. As for the ending, I don’t think it’s a true cliffhanger. It’s more of an abrupt cutoff but no one is hanging off a cliff.
Graphic: Animal death, Chronic illness, Death, Sexual content, Blood, and Gaslighting
Moderate: Cursing, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Death of parent, Murder, and Toxic friendship
Minor: Ableism, Body shaming, Grief, and Alcohol
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
4.5
Minor: Ableism, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Abandonment, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
singingshooter'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
4.75
Do agree with this TikTok and some of their critique on the writing style of the author. Well, it wasn’t enough to completely take me out of the story and DNF the book. It was a little bit jarring.
Moderate: Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, and Abandonment
Minor: Toxic relationship