lauram_16'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
4.75
I couldn't keep it down the first time I read it two months ago and I'm once again re-reading for the third time. It's not a life-altering book, feels like a comfort read to me and has all the elements we love in this genre and keeps you on your toes onstantly with the actions scenes and plot.
You can recognise the tropes and familiarity of each arch and character but in such a refreshing and unique way. I feel like going home each time I pick up this book, a throwback to my teenager years but in a more mature setting (and great plot twists).
I can't rate five stars just for the explicit sexual scenes (not my cup of tea, but still bearable).
Can't wait to see what happens next and a bit more world-building (It lacks a bit in that department but I can see it getting more elaborated and intricate with each book).
Overall, a great story and 10/10 ending.
Graphic: Violence, Sexual content, Death, and War
Moderate: Animal death and Chronic illness
Minor: Drug use
bohboh's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
The protagonist, Violet Sorrengail, suffers from a connective tissue disorder and is looked down upon by others that see her darkening the famous Sorrengail family name. Though on paper this may seem as a trope, the level of absolute badassery we get to read Violet become is just so well written. The pacing of everything is perfect, down to even the character development (the hardest part).
Yarros' nails it, first and foremost, by laying a diverse character landscape of sexualities, identities, and races (human). Next, she makes them all compelling with their own motivations and mannerisms. The personality of each side character really wrenches you when they fall or uplifts you when they do something awesome. A+ storytelling in that respect.
Though I came and stayed for the fantasy setting and adventure, I found the romance was very well handled and did not detract, but rather enhanced Violet's story. This makes sense considering Yarros's mainstay is the romance genre. I still cannot believe this was the author's first foray into fantasy - It's all done so well. I am definitely keeping this book on the shelf as a future re-read.
Graphic: Sexual content and Chronic illness
Moderate: War, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic friendship, Violence, and Blood
Minor: Vomit and Drug use
microbemom's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Graphic: Bullying, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, War, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Sexual content, Violence, Chronic illness, Medical trauma, Murder, Blood, Body horror, Drug use, and Vomit
chasingpages1'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: Death, Death of parent, Sexual content, Toxic friendship, Violence, War, Bullying, Chronic illness, Classism, Colonisation, Cursing, Ableism, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Blood, Gaslighting, Misogyny, Gore, and Torture
Minor: Mental illness, Terminal illness, Abandonment, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Medical trauma, Xenophobia, Animal death, Drug use, and Medical content
luthien907's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Toxic friendship and Sexual content
Moderate: Cursing, Bullying, and Chronic illness
Minor: Drug use, Vomit, Child death, Fire/Fire injury, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, and Violence
tiana_king'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: Bullying, Sexual content, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Murder, Death, War, Chronic illness, Fire/Fire injury, and Gore
Moderate: Grief, Death of parent, and Animal death
Minor: Drug use
barda's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
There's a lot of hype over this book as it has a lot of the popular tropes in new adult romantasy at the moment - enemies-to-lovers, a female main character with a penchant for sarcasm and hitting/stabbing people, a supporting cast of vaguely diverse people that somehow either become friends-for-life with the main character or act like complete psychopaths towards her within a minute of meeting her, and of course an extremely tall, attractive bad-boy male love interest. Does this book do those tropes well? Absolutely. But does the book do much beyond that? Not really.
The world-building was a bit half-hearted and haphazard, with some things not logically making a lot of sense (why have a school based around murdering each other off as the dragons only want the strongest - when the dragons themselves will pick off all the weak ones later anyway?). Violet herself isn't too bad and it was nice to have a main character with an actual disability even if the importance of said disability is unevenly applied during certain parts of the book; however, the supporting characters could have easily been interchanged with each other with how little character development each of them receive. Xaden was fine as a stereotypical male love interest, but his attraction to Violet seems to come out of nowhere and we're not really given many compelling reasons for them getting together beyond the two of them thinking the other attractive.
The main glue of the book is, of course, the dragons. The dragons were easily the best part of the book, but they were still quite lacking in terms of overall character development. Tairn is funny and his interactions with Violet and the other characters were very enjoyable, but he's only introduced a third of the way into the book and Violet and Xaden's romance is emphasised in the latter half of the book compared to developing her companionship with Tairn. Adarna's lack of development is even more egregious; the few lines she has are absolutely adorable, but we're given so little time with her that we're instead directly told what her personality is instead of experiencing it naturally as the story develops.
So if you're the type of person that enjoys the current new adult romantasy tropes as they are, then you will probably like this book. Due to enjoying said tropes myself, I did overall have fun reading the book and will probably pick up the sequel, and it was an easy, fast-paced read. However, the lack of character development and world-building is a sticking point, and one I hope the author can improve upon as she writes the series.
Graphic: Cursing, Chronic illness, Murder, and Sexual content
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Death, Death of parent, and Violence
Minor: Drug use, Torture, Vomit, and War
wiley_coyote5'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
4.5
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Chronic illness, War, and Violence
Minor: Drug use and Death of parent
clairew97'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
4.5
Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Body shaming, Emotional abuse, Grief, Ableism, Child death, Violence, War, Animal death, Bullying, Blood, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Drug use, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Medical content, Mental illness, Misogyny, Murder, Sexism, and Sexual content
shrekked'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
Graphic: Sexual content and Death
Moderate: Death of parent
Minor: Vomit, Bullying, Drug use, Medical content, and Violence