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csmall73's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Inan and Amari keep falling into old childish narcissistic mental traps, ptsd and insecurities. Frustrating close calls and glaringly obvious pitfalls due to emotional attachments.
Still seeing more throne of glass esque than the announced Harry Potter similarities. Especially with the amount of trauma, close calls, and epic empathy fails. I’m
Moderate: Bullying, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, War, and Classism
allisonsmith120's review against another edition
3.5
Graphic: Death, Violence, Grief, and War
Moderate: Genocide, Torture, Blood, Vomit, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail
peggy_racham's review against another edition
4.75
What a great sequal.
Moderate: Body horror, Cancer, Child death, Gore, Hate crime, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Injury/Injury detail
bexs848's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
Moderate: Death and Torture
bookishperseus'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
4.0
Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Toxic friendship, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Torture and Fire/Fire injury
ethuiliel'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
5.0
Graphic: Death, Violence, and War
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Genocide, Physical abuse, Torture, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Deportation
Minor: Sexual content
paintedpolarbear's review against another edition
3.0
To start with, the introduction of Titans was, at the beginning, a logical progression from the ending of the previous book. "The Gods work in mysterious ways" indeed, and it appeared to be a natural consequence of magic returning to the world. How would maji, with their closed cultural practices revolving around magic, adapt to the sudden influx of non-religious magic users? How would the new Titans adapt to their unprecedented powers? The answer was badly, on both counts, with the arrival of Titans sowing immediate chaos and disunity among the nation. Nobody handled this well. My major gripe was how quickly the argument among the maji devolved from actual cultural concerns to "well we just have to account for them when drawing up plans on how to kill as many people as possible." The idea that this was the gods' plan all along just never came up, which is insane considering how many other discussions revolved around trying to puzzle out the gods' will. What should have been a metaphor for socio-religious conflict became "my enemy leveled up, so now I have to level up as well," ad infinitum. Nobody wins in an arms race, btw.
One constant bugbear throughout the entire book was Amari's choices and actions. She quickly went from a character I was rooting for to a character I was hoping would die in a rockslide or something. Like, I get it, what are you supposed to do when the person whose approval you need says to your face that the best thing you can do for your country is die, but...I think the right answer is NOT to turn around and immediately magically lobotomize that person, take up the role of tribal elder (it's giving settler colonialism 🥴), and proceed to develop your own special and unique take on magic that completely disregards the cultural history that you have only just now become even slightly curious about. I'm also side-eyeing Mama Agba for condoning and encouraging literally everything about this.
Not to mention the LITERAL ACTUAL WAR CRIME of TARGETING CIVILIANS. Over which she has the AUDACITY to be shocked and dismayed that people are upset that she committed. Of which SHE is upset ONLY BECAUSE IT DIDN'T WORK. And expected everyone (including her boyfriend) to forgive her when OTHER PEOPLE have to resort to BLOOD SACRIFICE to invent NEW MAGIC just to UNDO WHAT SHE DID.
(This is not to say I am not side-eying Zelie/the Iyika literally using the exact same superweapon in their attack against the monarchy in the next scene, but it's fine because they're targeting soldiers? Can we be serious.)
Oh and the epilogue. Why was the trans-Atlantic slave trade overture necessary at all?
Graphic: Child death, Death, Genocide, Hate crime, Torture, Violence, Trafficking, Religious bigotry, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail
sweetchocolatez'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
4.5
Graphic: Death, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, Grief, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Body horror, Child death, Genocide, Slavery, Torture, Blood, and Toxic friendship
Minor: Sexual content, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol
ayvie's review against another edition
This is somewhat spoilery, but not with a lot of specifics.
Zélie and Amari (whom I still love) are having the same fight they have been having since the beginning. I just desperately want them to band together to make things better. But the constant fighting against each other is helping no one. Least of all them.
Zélie wants to be done with the war and everything, believing that it was all for nothing. And there's no point in anyone else dying - they should just leave. I totally get her feelings on this. What frustrates me is that instead of doing that, she goes the revenge route and instead of seeing what's good for her people, she is singleminded in being *against* Inan. Which is going to place her people in more danger.
Amari continues to beat her head against the wall of being accepted by the magi. They do not accept her (since she is a royal that now has magic), and despite her trying to help them, and all of Orisha, be safe and healthy and happy, she's mistrusted and abused.
Since this seems to be rehashing all the issues from book 1, I think I can probably come back in book 3 to see how it ties up without even really reading the last half of book 2.
Graphic: Torture and Violence
rikuson1's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
-★★✭☆☆- (2.75/5.00)
My Grading Score = 55% (C-)
Children of Virtue and Vengeance had good moments, but I do feel the overall pacing for this book dragged a specific plot that probably didn't need as much time as it was given. Some of the characters as well did start to make decisions that felt a bit out of character for them. Or they were so dramatic that it did not come off as organic as it probably should for me with the lead-up to them making those decisions. Especially with what they decided to stand for by the end of the previous book versus what they do now. Additionally, a new antagonist is introduced in this book that was not hinted at in any way in the prior book, which made their introduction and placement in the story feel contrived. I'm not fully on board with the direction it took and is now going, but it wasn't a terrible read. One of the three main characters did make a drastic shift in character in this book by the end and people seem to not like where they are headed, but in hindsight, it does not bother me with the path that character is going down by the execution to it could have been better than what we got.
Verdict
I'll see if the third book is going to play out well with what this book apparently was trying to set up. Overall,
It Was Okay
Graphic: Torture, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Trafficking, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and War