leonormsousa'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
3.5
Moderate: Death of parent, Death, Kidnapping, Medical content, Toxic friendship, Violence, Grief, Sexual content, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Gaslighting, and Mental illness
akirma'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
5.0
Graphic: Animal death
Moderate: Sexual content, Homophobia, Pregnancy, Biphobia, Blood, Classism, Cursing, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, and Mental illness
Minor: Child abuse
johns6ka'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
5.0
Graphic: Animal death and Panic attacks/disorders
Moderate: Grief, Medical content, Mental illness, Body shaming, Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, and Domestic abuse
Minor: Ableism
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? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Spoiler
This book also dives headfirst into one of my least favorite tropes, with every character having to couple up by the end of the story. As much as I like LGBTQ+ rep, Niamh and Agatha just felt forced and unneeded. But apparently it’s impossible for two characters to just be friends, so of course we also had to get Shepard and Penelope. Is it just me or does it feel like Shepard and Niamh were only introduced into the story to be love interests? I had also hoped that this book would clear up Lucy’s ending from Carry On, which was never very clear to me, but of course it just has to go muddle it up further. It’s unclear if Lucy is actually dead, which I assume she is, how long she’s been dead for, or how she died. Simon only finds out he’s related to her at the very end of the book, meaning that there is almost no time for him to deal with the fact that the Mage is his father. The man who killed one of his best friends, and nearly killed him, is his father. I feel like that would kind of shake up a person, but no. It’s discussed for, what, a paragraph? And then brushed over for the sake of “oh yay look new family”. One of my biggest peeves with the second book was that it didn’t really dive into any of the trauma that Simon and his friends almost definitely have, and this book is just more of the same. For a series that seems like it’s about what happens after the story ends, it seems to be obsessed with manufacturing more plot devices because how could a story ever not have a big bad villain trying to take over Silicon Valley or destroy the world of mages, or whatever it was Smith was trying to do in this book? I genuinely don’t know. It also felt like the author wanted to dive into the lore of vampires more, but only did so in casual conversation that we never get more than a couple lines of. No one actually outright says anything. It’s all hinted at in conversation by characters we already don’t trust.Honestly, this book has so many problems that the only reason that it’s getting three stars instead of two and a half is that I was already attached to the characters.
Graphic: Medical content, Animal death, Panic attacks/disorders, and Cursing
Moderate: Pregnancy, Death of parent, Homophobia, and Blood
Minor: Fatphobia, Fire/Fire injury, Cancer, Infertility, Kidnapping, Miscarriage, and Infidelity
vaguely_pink'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
5.0
Graphic: Abandonment, Classism, Cursing, Death of parent, Grief, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, and Blood
Moderate: Homophobia, Medical content, Sexual content, Body shaming, Bullying, Biphobia, Animal death, Classism, Fatphobia, and Lesbophobia
Minor: Confinement, Alcohol, Suicide, Ableism, Deportation, Drug abuse, and Fire/Fire injury
reading_grin'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: Panic attacks/disorders, Blood, Animal death, Emotional abuse, Confinement, and Mental illness
Minor: Alcohol, Abandonment, Death of parent, Grief, Medical content, and Sexual content
msradiosilence'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
Read my full review at: https://www.rainyreader.com/single-post/any-way-the-wind-blows.
Graphic: Alcohol, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Fatphobia, Grief, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, War, Abandonment, Animal cruelty, Body shaming, Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Violence, and Gore
headachesince03'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
4.25
Minor: Death, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Sexual content, Confinement, Grief, Homophobia, Medical content, Classism, Panic attacks/disorders, Injury/Injury detail, Abandonment, Animal death, Cursing, and Death of parent
ridesthesun'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
4.25
The character work in this book is so damn brilliant. The journey they go on together and individually is beautiful. Everyone is dealing with so much trauma, and they're all a little bit of a mess, but the growth is SO GOOD. The antagonist in this one was really a fascinating twist, and seeing how it affected Simon was heartbreaking but made so much sense.
The only thing keeping this from being a 5 is how suddenly it ended. I felt like we were just wrapping things up, we were healing, revelations were coming out, growth was sinking in, and then it ended. I just feel like there could have been a few more chapters to really wrap things up, to give closure to these characters and finish some of the loose storylines. I know that these are more character centric than plot centric stories, and I'm all for that, but it just felt like there were a lot of plot bits that never really got wrapped up.
Spoiler
And what's gonna happen with Simon's magic?? What did Smith's spell actually do to him?? He was a mage all along, but what does that look like for him now?? It just felt like those were the questions that have been building for the last two books, and we never got them answered.anyways, highly highly highly recommend. wingy and vampire boyfriends, rivals to lovers, magic goofiness, healing and growth and tender face touching. so much tender face touching.
Moderate: Abandonment
Minor: Classism, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, Medical content, Confinement, and Death
lunep'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: Sexual content, Animal death, Panic attacks/disorders, Confinement, Medical content, and Blood
Moderate: Mental illness, Classism, and Violence
Minor: Death of parent, Homophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Animal death, and Murder