kenna13's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Ableism, Classism, War, Blood, Animal death, Colonisation, Confinement, Torture, and Violence
Moderate: Death of parent, Death, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Gun violence, and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Slavery
msradiosilence's review
- 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
3.5
Content warnings at the bottom. :)
Listen, Levana was wrong. She was bad, she killed LOTS of people, and she deserved retribution, but the way they defeated her was just horrible. So she
Spoiler
has burns, because Cinder’s mom pushed her into a fireplace, but we’re supposed to believe thatSpoiler
we’re allowed to throw Levana’s looks in her face, and ultimately kill her, but Cinder should be celebrated for overcoming the same injuries?This book is also like 200 pages too long. The rest of them just kept running and hiding and separating and it kept happening. Twice is redundant, three times is annoying, and four times is fucking ridiculous. Talk about tedium.
And somehow, even with the book being too long, Winter and Jacin’s relationship was too rushed. How can a book be too long and have the main romance be so quick? Yadda yadda, that’s how. Those 200 pages of the same shit could’ve been dedicated to building Winter and Jacin’s relationship.
The one thing that we had a decent time of was the setting, at least. Meyer did a grand job describing the moon and its colonies, which…if you could do it well in this book why didn’t you in literally all the other books? Ugh.
Rating: 3.5
Would I recommend? Not really, unless you enjoy hypocrisy, 16yo moon queens, and long drawn out action sequences.
Content warnings: Genocide, Medical content, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Classism, Car accident, Colonisation, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, War, Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Grief, Murder, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Gun violence, Bullying, Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Animal death, Child death, Death of parent, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Body shaming, and Pandemic/Epidemic
Graphic: Animal death, Ableism, Body horror, Genocide, Alcohol, Blood, Body shaming, Torture, Medical content, War, Car accident, Grief, Pandemic/Epidemic, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Death of parent, Mental illness, Child death, Bullying, Child abuse, Colonisation, Death, Murder, Violence, Fire/Fire injury, Classism, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, and Suicide
strawberrytheauthor'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
I really enjoyed it and while it ended predictably it was a good ending. I have now started Fairest: Levana’s Story right away.
Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Violence, Classism, Death of parent, Murder, Pandemic/Epidemic, Medical content, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, and War
emilyandthewhippet's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
3.0
Graphic: Grief, Blood, Body shaming, Classism, Death, Gun violence, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Violence, Murder, and War
meghansarmiento97's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Blood, War, Medical trauma, Murder, Police brutality, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Suicidal thoughts, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Torture, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Gaslighting, Forced institutionalization, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, and Vomit
namzuru'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: Injury/Injury detail, Death, Bullying, Panic attacks/disorders, Blood, Classism, Violence, and War
Moderate: Confinement, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Physical abuse, Murder, Medical content, and Child abuse
Minor: Rape, Sexual harassment, and Fire/Fire injury
nrogers_1030's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Mental illness, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Violence, Death, Gun violence, War, Torture, Animal death, Ableism, Body horror, Emotional abuse, Gore, Grief, Kidnapping, Panic attacks/disorders, Murder, and Death of parent
Minor: Forced institutionalization
anielabooks's review
- 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: Blood, Death, Violence, Chronic illness, and Mental illness
Moderate: Colonisation, Death of parent, Animal death, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Torture
Minor: Body shaming, Confinement, Child abuse, Genocide, Emotional abuse, Grief, Kidnapping, Medical content, Medical trauma, Slavery, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual assault, and Ableism
maria_pell'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
5.0
Graphic: Ableism, Blood, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, Physical abuse, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Trafficking, Violence, War, and Xenophobia
Moderate: Body shaming, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual harassment, and Misogyny
Minor: Animal death
theespressoedition's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
The culmination of the series is so well-done with this book. It brings all of the characters together, shows us how evil is vanquished, and gives us hope for the future. However, there's a little bit of an opening ending, which I really like. Not everything is wrapped up in a nice, neat little bow. There's just enough to question what could come next for the characters. Maybe I'm bizarre for liking that - especially after four long books, but I really enjoy visualizing what could happen for all of these awesome characters we've come to appreciate and understand in a new way.
At a certain point, you might forget that you're reading fairytale retellings. I know that I did. In fact, it wasn't til Winter mentioned (for probably the eightieth time) that she was "a girl of snow and ice" that I thought, oh yeah, this is based on Snow White. Insert laughter here! They're just so well-written that I didn't even think about how similar they were to already-familiar stories. I loved every second of it.
Now that I own the box set, I'm really excited to read the two novellas that come with it. I remember picking through Fairest in the past, but I can't seem to conjure what it was about (aside from knowing that it has to do with Levana) and I never read Stars Above. I can't wait to dive in and enjoy even more of this world.
Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Confinement, Death of parent, Gore, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Mental illness, Murder, Torture, and Violence