tomasalbanez'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
5.0
Graphic: Misogyny, Child abuse, Death, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Gore, Blood, Sexism, Rape, Excrement, Violence, Murder, and Pedophilia
Moderate: Classism, Emotional abuse, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Cancer, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Addiction, Drug use, and Suicidal thoughts
n_iniel's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Rape, Child abuse, Death, Gore, Murder, Pedophilia, Drug abuse, Mental illness, and Sexual violence
rosy_posy's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.5
Graphic: Pedophilia and Rape
fionamatilda's review
- 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: Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Addiction, Drug abuse, Violence, Rape, Gore, and Death
Moderate: Excrement, Sexual content, and Toxic relationship
annemoon'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
4.5
Graphic: Child death, Death, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Gore, Drug abuse, Blood, Addiction, Rape, Drug use, Sexual content, Physical abuse, Murder, Mental illness, and Kidnapping
Moderate: Vomit, Toxic relationship, Suicide, Pedophilia, Bullying, and Gun violence
Minor: Fire/Fire injury and Infidelity
lauralee2909's review
Graphic: Sexual violence, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, and Pedophilia
mollyelyn's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Spoiler
(except when they’re not)Graphic: Blood, Drug use, Physical abuse, Medical content, Addiction, Death, Body horror, Cursing, Murder, Rape, Sexual assault, Gore, and Grief
Moderate: Pedophilia, Gun violence, Vomit, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, and Sexual content
maddiereadswords's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.5
My biggest problem with it is that you can just tell this is the first adult novel by a YA author, and I don't say that to disparage YA at all!! It just feels like Leigh Bardugo wanted so badly for this to be an Adult Novel with Adult Themes, but rather than actually writing a story that engages on an adult level with complex themes, she just decided to throw in a bunch of drug use, body horror/gore, and graphic sexual assault to remind you that her characters are Adults in College. (Check the content warnings on this one if you need them!!) It was just way too much, and yet it did nothing? Like, Alex is a recovering drug addict, but at no point in time does that actually affect her as a character except to remind the reader of her fucked up backstory, even though she's constantly exposed to and using all kinds of magic drugs (and has no qualms about using them on others). Also, as an MC she's literally just so boring. All the characters kind of are tbh, and there's so much telling instead of showing about characters. We're told blatantly that Dawes likes taking care of people, like Bardugo doesn't trust the reader to put that together from context clues. We're told that Darlington's a gentleman, but he's really just a mediocre white guy with money (literally do not get me started on Darlington, he was such a nothing character to me and the fact that he's the fan favorite is disappointing, but not surprising.)
As for the plot, it's WAY too slow. I know even the people who love it say that it picks up like 100-150 pages in, but first of all, it should not take a third of the book for things to actually get moving. That's straight up just bad pacing. Also, the dual timelines were entirely too much. It took so long to catch up to the present, and the way the flashbacks were inter-spaced, it tended to disrupt any momentum in the actual story. Even when it did "pick up" it still felt like was crawling along at a snail's pace up until the very end. And speaking of the ending, it was SO unsatisfying. It was a mediocre resolution to a bad mystery because it wasn't like there was enough information thoughtfully woven into the story to encourage the reader to put together actual clues; it was all just withheld completely until the two (TWO!!) villain monologues at the very end which is just super frustrating.
Spoiler
Also let's be so fucking honest here: Leigh Bardugo thinks she's saying a lot about privilege, class, race, and gender at Yale, but she's not actually saying anything. This is a world where secret societies of privileged students use and abuse those they see as below them, but in this world, they're using magic to do it, so it's different. Also in this world, a woman is secretly behind it all, so actually the secret societies were never the problem, and we don't have to actually interrogate whether they should be allowed to continue to operate. It's such a nothing point, but it's said like she really thinks she's done something. Sure, Leigh, whatever you say.This was such a disappointing read for me. I'm genuinely so glad that so many people love this book so much!! But it was definitely not for me. Literally the only thing that saved it from being a 1 star was that sometimes her prose was good when she wasn't beating me over the head with empty statements about characterization or waxing poetic about fucking New Haven. (I get it, you went to Yale! I do not care!!)
All of that being said, I am indeed still going to read the second book because the person who recommended it to me has insisted the second one is better, but I'm not optimistic it'll actually change my mind.
Graphic: Drug abuse, Excrement, Gore, Pedophilia, Violence, Drug use, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Body horror, Child abuse, Classism, Addiction, Blood, Death, Alcohol, Alcoholism, and Injury/Injury detail
reddragon07's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Violence, Addiction, and Rape
Moderate: Pedophilia
jelliestars's review
- 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? It's complicated
2.75
Graphic: Body horror, Murder, Drug use, Gore, Medical content, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual harassment, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Blood, Death, Drug abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, and Vomit
Moderate: Antisemitism, Classism, Excrement, Toxic relationship, Sexual content, Misogyny, Gun violence, and Emotional abuse
Minor: Cancer, Colonisation, Cursing, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Infidelity, and Slavery