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fairyollie'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
I know people complain that Sylah and Anoor have regressed without one another, but long-distance relationships without means of communication would be HARD! can you even imagine?
all goes to say that I fear I will be empty until The Ending Fire is released (thankfully I have pre-ordered!)
Graphic: Addiction, Death, Drug abuse, Genocide, Gore, Self harm, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Grief, Religious bigotry, Murder, Gaslighting, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Moderate: Ableism, Alcoholism, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Trafficking, Stalking, and Alcohol
abnerbee's review against another edition
4.5
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Miscarriage, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Slavery, Blood, Grief, Murder, Alcohol, Colonisation, and Classism
fernanda_o'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
3.5
Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Gore, Rape, Violence, and Blood
Moderate: Addiction, Animal death, Child death, Drug abuse, Miscarriage, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol
lisacanteven'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: Body horror, Confinement, Death, Torture, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Minor: Addiction, Drug abuse, and Drug use
barda'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? Yes
2.75
The first book had some flaws, but I still broadly enjoyed the characters, the setting, and the worldbuilding. While this second book fixed my biggest pet peeve of rapidly switching POV's (this one had the more standard format of a chapter only having one character's POV), it felt like this one was actually more confusing than the first one, and that the author lost plot momentum from the first book.
The characters just weren't as likeable in this book. I still really enjoyed Hassa and she's easily a stand-out character, but Jond was just boring and Sylah was not in the book enough for me to judge her characterisation. Anoor, however, I was the most disappointed in. Like Sylah, it feels like she barely has any screen-time in this book, but most egregiously she seems to regress in all of her character development that she gained in the first book. I hate to criticise characters who make seemingly stupid mistakes, as oftentimes they'll be realistic mistakes that you might expect one to make, but Anoor keeps making mistakes over and over and doesn't seem to learn from the negative impacts of these. She's incompetent and seemingly regains her naivety that she grew out of in the first book. This makes the twist
The plot certainly had some interesting bits, particularly with the Academy and how the cultures of the mainland work. I did also broadly enjoy the plot reveals towards the end of the book; however, they were all suddenly shoved into the end of the book leaving little room for the characters to breathe, and many of the plot twists could have been revealed and solved earlier if characters simply communicated with each other (
Broadly, this book's usually interesting plot was dragged down by its characters and overall characterisation. I still might pick up the next one when it comes out as I think the mysteries that have been set up are worth reading, but I do hope that the author can figure out where they want their characters to go.
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Blood, and Religious bigotry
Moderate: Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Sexual content, Slavery, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Minor: Cursing
purplesoccer126'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? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Death, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical trauma, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Moderate: Addiction, Drug abuse, and Sexual violence
luckylulureads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Miscarriage, Sexual assault, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Colonisation, and Classism
dani_reis'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: Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Miscarriage, Self harm, Sexual assault, and Torture
haylzno'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? Yes
4.5
So many of the questions we were left with in book 1 were answered in this sequel and it was just so satisfying to start to put the pieces of the puzzle together and start to see the bigger picture.
That twist at the end?!?! Absolutely floored me.
I'm enjoyed that we got multiple POVs in this book vs. the (almost) singular POV from book 1.
We are introduced to a new character in this book and her POVs made me truly angry. There are certain tropes used that I am personally not a fan of. But regardless of how I feel about those tropes, they added a lot of substance to the plot and it served the story well!
Battle Drum picks up almost immediately where Final Strife left off and we are thrown into the thick of it right away which I loved. Final Strife took me a second to really get into but Battle Drum stole my interest from page 1.
I also adored the world building we got in this sequel. I need fan art of the giant mushrooms IMMEDIATELY.
I cannot waitttttt for the third book. I NEED ANSWERS SAARA
Thank you to netgalley, Penguin Random House and Saara for a copy of an eARC in exchange for an honest review
Graphic: Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Murder, Gaslighting, and Colonisation
Moderate: War