esconce'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
5.0
Graphic: Sexual content, War, Grief, Hate crime, Misogyny, Slavery, Trafficking, Sexism, Bullying, Cursing, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Panic attacks/disorders, Religious bigotry, Murder, and Racism
nikspandya'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
5.0
Graphic: Death, Xenophobia, Racism, Murder, and Slavery
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail and Grief
rinku's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Spoiler
It’s revealed that Keenan is the Nightbringer who thus betrayed Laia. Helene also fails her mission, leading to Marcus killing her whole family which was just so sad. Elias dies in the end as well, trying to save Darin on his own. He then becomes the soul catcher and gets revived through thisSpoiler
Izzi and Keenan cameGraphic: Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Physical abuse, Blood, Child death, Genocide, Racism, Slavery, Terminal illness, Torture, and Violence
Moderate: Animal death, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, and War
Minor: Sexual harassment
flowergrove's review
- 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: Racism and Genocide
Moderate: Child abuse and War
madamenovelist'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
4.0
Graphic: Gore, Confinement, Child abuse, Blood, Grief, Genocide, Forced institutionalization, Emotional abuse, Colonisation, Body horror, Torture, War, Xenophobia, Violence, Slavery, Sexism, Racism, Physical abuse, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Hate crime, and Death
veeronald'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
Graphic: War, Chronic illness, Colonisation, Slavery, Abandonment, Classism, Confinement, Physical abuse, Terminal illness, Genocide, Murder, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Police brutality, Racism, and Violence
Moderate: Animal death, Blood, Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Child death, Grief, and Kidnapping
Minor: Sexism, Rape, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual assault, Vomit, Sexual content, Stalking, Death of parent, Drug use, Emotional abuse, and Misogyny
angstifies's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
i honestly slightly liked Laia in book 1, but this book made her almost unbearable for me. she turned into this aspirant saint who always needs to save everyone and leave no one behind and i just hated it. it is such a dumb concept especially in a brutal fantasy world like this, it irritated me so much and i wish she could shut up about how “attractive and manly” both Elias and Keenan are and just… stop…
two complains i have about both this book and the previous one was the writing and the setting/descriptions.
the writing is once again too childish, focuses on the wrong things at the wrong times, and the way the characters narrate the story is just tiresome. the author has this way of shoving explanations down my throat of things EVERYONE CAN GUESS in a way that something happens and then Laia/Elias/Helene have to specifically explain it when it’s TOTALLY NOT NEEDED. you already guessed what happened but the narration HAS to point it it out for you so it felt repetitive without actually being repetitive.
and i’m sure the setting is amazing, if we only ever got descriptions of it. Elias and Laia are both traveling for most part of the book but the places they are in are never described, and i really wish they were. i cannot imagine how Serra is, how the houses in Serra are, how the market, the place where they go meet the tribes, the prison look like BECAUSE THERE ARE NO DESCRIPTIONS. we only get vague descriptions of characters, mostly repeating descriptions of characters that have already been described too many times. like yes, i did remember that Helene had blonde hair and Laia had golden eyes, thank you for pointing it out for the 10th time in this chapter.
Graphic: Death, Violence, and Torture
Moderate: Genocide, Misogyny, Child abuse, Murder, Slavery, Death of parent, Grief, Confinement, Kidnapping, and Sexism
Minor: Sexual content, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual harassment, Racism, Toxic relationship, and Adult/minor relationship
jackiepreston'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
4.0
Graphic: Blood, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Racism, Torture, Violence, and War
Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Slavery
lainiereads's review against another edition
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I know people love Helene and like,, I get that she isn't a truly bad person and I don't HATE her, but I'm still waiting for something to make me actually like her. I'm sure she will probably be more lovable in the next one, and I am all for a flawed character, but I just don't really get it yet.
Elias has only gotten better, oh my god I LOVE HIM!!! He is just such a good person that even when he does annoying things, he is still great. You always know that he is going to feel remorse for the bad things he has done, and he will try to make it right however he can.
I had absolutely no idea what plot twists were ahead of me as I read this book, and I was constantly being shocked by everything! Sabaa Tahir has that perfect way of storybuilding that makes you want to immediately reread everything to see all of the hints that you missed.
I also really love Tahir's writing because she is able to constantly keep the reader hooked. At times, I caught myself seriously reflecting on what I had read hours before, and I just wanted to pick up the book again and again. This is especially impressive given how depressing this series can be. I don't usually look forward to reading things that I know will be painful, so the fact that this book is able to make me excited to read more is crazy.
I am scared for the pain to come, but obviously I have to keep reading, I just love these characters so much :')
Graphic: Violence, Torture, Terminal illness, Racism, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Genocide, Emotional abuse, Murder, Sexism, Misogyny, Death, Child abuse, and Blood
Moderate: Slavery, Fire/Fire injury, and Physical abuse
Minor: Animal death and Death of parent
clea'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? It's complicated
4.25
I found it difficult to immerse myself fully into the story until about one third of the book. But then the suspense increased, the stakes got higher and the conflicts intensified, which led to a more engaging read.
My only complaint is that I don't find the villains very intimidating anymore. Most of the time we only hear about the Commandant's cruel actions and we hardly get to experience them. I think this would have added a deeper emotional aspect to the absolutely horrendous things happening in this story.
Especially the Nightbringer lost some of his fearsomeness he had in the first book.
Spoiler
But I am relieved that the love triangle got resolved so early in the series and I think the way Tahir did it was very clever and brought some freshness into the (in my opinion) overused love-triangle-trope.Graphic: Genocide, Violence, Torture, Murder, and Death
Moderate: Terminal illness, Slavery, Sexism, Racism, Injury/Injury detail, and Child abuse
Minor: Confinement