esterslibrary'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? It's complicated
3.25
Graphic: Kidnapping, Murder, Physical abuse, Slavery, Stalking, Toxic friendship, Addiction, Death, Drug use, Grief, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, and War
izzysreading's review against another edition
SPOILERS: She told the others or at least thought it, that Matthias hates her and kills Grishas, but she's still in love with him??? Plus, if I know that a person wants me dead, I won't go near them, so the end of her chapter was well deserved. She should've known better.
Graphic: Animal death, Violence, Animal cruelty, Drug abuse, Gun violence, and Blood
Moderate: Drug use, Child death, Toxic relationship, and Toxic friendship
Minor: Sexual violence
bashsbooks'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? No
5.0
Graphic: Gun violence, Classism, Fire/Fire injury, Drug use, Drug abuse, Ableism, Addiction, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Chronic illness, Misogyny, Confinement, War, Murder, Grief, Trafficking, Slavery, Racism, Xenophobia, Violence, Medical content, and Kidnapping
Moderate: War, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Torture, Gore, Body horror, and Sexual violence
Minor: Death of parent, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, and Sexual harassment
-Many references to one character's history of forced prostitution when she was a young teenagatha_hopkins'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
4.75
Graphic: Blood, Gun violence, Violence, Torture, and Slavery
Moderate: Stalking, Toxic friendship, Torture, Sexual content, Sexism, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Alcohol
chris_reads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Something that impressed me was how deftly it broached some pretty mature themes without getting depressing. Also the complexity of the characters, which is Bardugo's biggest improvement from her previous titles imo.
Graphic: Confinement, Death, Drug use, Genocide, Religious bigotry, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Addiction, Gun violence, and Trafficking
Moderate: Medical content, Blood, Body shaming, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Xenophobia
Minor: Acephobia/Arophobia, Alcohol, Suicidal thoughts, Gore, Sexual violence, and Child abuse
_shonahenderson's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Violence, Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Addiction, Trafficking, Sexual harassment, Murder, Slavery, Gun violence, and Genocide
Moderate: Death of parent, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, and Toxic friendship
imaginary_space's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
What I liked:
- The world building - European inspired, plus a fantasy story set (mainly) in a big city, that's a nice diversion from the majority of books in the genre. If you know any more books, don't hesitate to point me in their direction!
- Also, I liked the Grisha magic.
- I like stories about ragtag bands/found families doing things (okay, crime) together.
- It was so well written that I found the plot interesting and wanted to know not so much what would happen next, but how it would happen.
- I started to appreciate Inej and Kaz once I stopped thinking about their age and just embraced how utterly, unapologetically edgy they are. Teenage me would have probably loved them.
- Jesper is quite the cinnamon roll, and I enjoyed him as a character. He was the most believable and most interesting (and layered) of the bunch.
- There was some entertaining dialogue.
What was meh:
- Even though interestingly written, the plot didn't hold any major surprises.
- Nina and Matthias were annoying, even more so because there wasn't ever any real doubt about the outcome. Also, very tropey romance story.
- Yes, growing up in a slum ages people beyond their years. Sure, I get that. But at times it was just too unbelievable, especially with the way they talked sometimes.
- Even more unbelievable that Kaz managed to have this badass mysterious reputation for being a criminal genius when apparently every other major player in that city was an adult. I would have gotten it if the gang members in the slums were all roughly about the same age. But like this it makes very little sense.
- Towards the end, I was pretty annoyed by the twentieth "... BUT they had seen it coming!" surprise. Especially since there was very few foreshadowing.
- There was some pretentious edgy dialogue. It's a fine line.
Overall, I wasn't too emotionally engaged, but I did enjoy it enough to probably read the second book in the series.
Graphic: Death
Moderate: Animal death, Toxic friendship, and Violence
Minor: Classism, Grief, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexual violence, Slavery, and Torture
danicampbell0506'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: Child abuse and Abandonment
Moderate: Death, Gaslighting, Panic attacks/disorders, Grief, Racism, Child death, Drug abuse, Forced institutionalization, Violence, Toxic friendship, Murder, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, and Mental illness
szuum's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0
Graphic: Child death, Kidnapping, Toxic friendship, Xenophobia, Addiction, Animal cruelty, Gun violence, Trafficking, Animal death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cultural appropriation, Death, Drug abuse, Murder, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Violence, Sexual assault, Slavery, and Misogyny
Minor: Death of parent, Sexual harassment, and Torture
lauralintunen's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Graphic: Child death, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Physical abuse, Slavery, Trafficking, Violence, and Drug use
Moderate: Addiction, Confinement, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Toxic friendship, and Medical content
Minor: Religious bigotry, War, Vomit, and Ableism