spooksnake's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- 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
popthebutterfly's review against another edition
5.0
Disclaimer: I bought this book to buddy read with my friend Rachael! Check out her twitch streams (chaelcodes) and support your authors. All opinions are my own.
Book: Only Ashes Remain
Author: Rebecca Schaeffer
Book Series: Market of Monsters Book 2
Rating: 5/5
Diversity: Latinx Iranian Heritage Main Character, Thai side character
Recommended For...: young adult readers, urban fantasy, horror, thriller, paranormal, supernatural
Publication Date: September 3, 2019
Genre: YA Urban Fantasy Horror
Recommended Age: 17+ (kidnapping mentioned, torture, gore, violence, parent death mentioned, grief, racism, language, abusive parent, PTSD, police brutality mentioned, rape mentioned, narcissist parent figure, prejudice, some romance)
Explanation of CWs: Some events of the previous book are mentioned including the main character’s kidnapping and torture. There are also mentioned of police brutality, parental death, and rape, but those are not shown. There is a lot of torture, gore, and violence in this book. Grief is a heavy topic of the book, as is prejudice and racism. There are curse words in the book. There are abusive/narcissist parental figures in the book. PTSD is shown in the book. There is also some romance shown in this book.
Publisher: HMH Books for Young Readers
Pages: 432
Synopsis: After escaping her kidnappers and destroying the black market where she was held captive, all Nita wants is to find a way to live her life without looking over her shoulder. But with a video of her ability to self-heal all over the dark web, Nita knows she’s still a prime target on the black market.
There’s only one way to keep herself safe.
Nita must make herself so feared that no one would ever dare come after her again. And the best way to start building her reputation? Take her revenge on the person who sold Nita to her kidnappers. But doing that is harder than Nita thought it would be, even with Kovit by her side. Now caught in a game of kill or be killed, Nita will do whatever it takes to win.
Review: I really loved this book! Picking up from where the last book left off, even though it had been over a year since I had read the first one. The book was well plotted and it stood it’s own in the series. The book had well developed characters and the plot was well done. The writing is absolutely fantastic and this is probably one of my favorite authors now.
The only issue I really had with the book is that the main character was wrote a bit differently than in the first book, but that’s because of the trauma she had faced. I was fine with her growth, but others might not be.
Verdict: Loved it! Highly recommend this series.
Book: Only Ashes Remain
Author: Rebecca Schaeffer
Book Series: Market of Monsters Book 2
Rating: 5/5
Diversity: Latinx Iranian Heritage Main Character, Thai side character
Recommended For...: young adult readers, urban fantasy, horror, thriller, paranormal, supernatural
Publication Date: September 3, 2019
Genre: YA Urban Fantasy Horror
Recommended Age: 17+ (kidnapping mentioned, torture, gore, violence, parent death mentioned, grief, racism, language, abusive parent, PTSD, police brutality mentioned, rape mentioned, narcissist parent figure, prejudice, some romance)
Explanation of CWs: Some events of the previous book are mentioned including the main character’s kidnapping and torture. There are also mentioned of police brutality, parental death, and rape, but those are not shown. There is a lot of torture, gore, and violence in this book. Grief is a heavy topic of the book, as is prejudice and racism. There are curse words in the book. There are abusive/narcissist parental figures in the book. PTSD is shown in the book. There is also some romance shown in this book.
Publisher: HMH Books for Young Readers
Pages: 432
Synopsis: After escaping her kidnappers and destroying the black market where she was held captive, all Nita wants is to find a way to live her life without looking over her shoulder. But with a video of her ability to self-heal all over the dark web, Nita knows she’s still a prime target on the black market.
There’s only one way to keep herself safe.
Nita must make herself so feared that no one would ever dare come after her again. And the best way to start building her reputation? Take her revenge on the person who sold Nita to her kidnappers. But doing that is harder than Nita thought it would be, even with Kovit by her side. Now caught in a game of kill or be killed, Nita will do whatever it takes to win.
Review: I really loved this book! Picking up from where the last book left off, even though it had been over a year since I had read the first one. The book was well plotted and it stood it’s own in the series. The book had well developed characters and the plot was well done. The writing is absolutely fantastic and this is probably one of my favorite authors now.
The only issue I really had with the book is that the main character was wrote a bit differently than in the first book, but that’s because of the trauma she had faced. I was fine with her growth, but others might not be.
Verdict: Loved it! Highly recommend this series.
emperorxzee's review against another edition
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
emjayory's review against another edition
4.0
this gets four stars because nita is stupid. i know why she’s stupid so i get it but also like come on. kovit is also the love of my life still idc!
tessasap's review
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
girlreading's review against another edition
4.0
I didn't think book two could be any darker than book one but I'm not at all disappointed to have been proved wrong. Filled with vengeance and betrayal, this was just as gripping, dark and twisted as its predecessor, with a touch more gore and violence.
I find Nita such a interesting character to follow and the way Rebecca Schaeffer manages to make me care for these characters (yes, I'm talking to you Kovit) whilst simultaneously being utterly appalled by them, brilliantly drags you along with Nita's inner turmoil/confusion/mind set, especially when it comes to her views on 'unnaturals'.
The character growth throughout this book was fabulous. The exploration of morals, boundaries, good and evil and ultimately what it means to be human are fascinating, especially through the lens of such a morally ambiguous anti-hero/villain protagonist (I don't even know what to call Nita, she's truly in a league of her own as an MC.)
Overall, this series has me totally and utterly hooked. It's fast paced, easy to read and delivers on all fronts from characters to relationships to world building to not backing away from being gory as heck. It's just a great time.
I find Nita such a interesting character to follow and the way Rebecca Schaeffer manages to make me care for these characters (yes, I'm talking to you Kovit) whilst simultaneously being utterly appalled by them, brilliantly drags you along with Nita's inner turmoil/confusion/mind set, especially when it comes to her views on 'unnaturals'.
The character growth throughout this book was fabulous. The exploration of morals, boundaries, good and evil and ultimately what it means to be human are fascinating, especially through the lens of such a morally ambiguous anti-hero/villain protagonist (I don't even know what to call Nita, she's truly in a league of her own as an MC.)
Overall, this series has me totally and utterly hooked. It's fast paced, easy to read and delivers on all fronts from characters to relationships to world building to not backing away from being gory as heck. It's just a great time.
lil_bookworm's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.5
pearlsandmasks's review
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
- 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
4.0
fran1701's review
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes