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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
pacifickat's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
In truth, I was a bit baffled by Inan's chapters, as he repeatedly experienced horrific realizations regarding his family's past and the corruption of the monarchy, and yet (for the most part) continued on their side in spite of feeling sick about it. He is truly a slow-turning vehicle, and it felt unbelievable to see him continue to believe in his corrupt institution. A bit on the nose in today's political climate? Perhaps.
And Amari, my favorite character through the bulk of this story, arguing for a future with peace for all Orïshans, had an enormous, disappointing twist. I'm not sure the author did enough to develop Amari to then make her murder of civilians a believable course of action, but she did sprinkle in Amari's (violently abusive) father's voice in Amari's head throughout the book as she becomes increasingly desperate to succeed. It's a clever use of POV to capture internal monologue that I am unsure will translate well into movie form should they decide to do a live action version of this series. Ultimately, she learns that peace at any price is too high a cost to pay. The author makes it sound like Amari could have a path back to grace following this murderous episode, but that will be a difficult pill for some readers to swallow after she massacred an entire village (even if the author copped out of it by conveniently resurrecting everyone...but this is YA after all).
Ultimately, it turns out that Roën, the mercenary side-character without a POV chapter of his own, displayed the most character development of anyone. He pulls a Severus Snape, going from a grey area of working for both sides for personal gain to finding a reason to fight for something better, a transformation nearly entirely driven by his love for Zélie. While I remain skeptical that two highly-volatile characters who have been primarily fueled by rage and pain can make for a successful long term relationship (perhaps one of the Healers can invent cognitive therapy), their story still felt like one of the few satisfying elements of the entire book.
So, in the end, it turns out war, genocide, structural racism, and governmental overthrow are messy. Everyone involved has mixed motivations and violence is a near a guarantee. Are vengeance-fueled teens frustrating and a little scary? Yes. Can idealism turn dark? For sure. Are child warriors disturbing? Absolutely. All in all, this is a book with complicated plot and subject matter that meanders so much I wasn't sure how the author would wrap it all up. An abrupt, cliff-hanger, twist ending may not be what we, the faithful readers, disserved after hanging on through this entire book. But what did we expect? I guess we'll have to wait for the third and final installment to see if we get any real resolution to what has been a wild ride of a series.
Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Racism, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Blood, and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Sexual content, Slavery, and Vomit
This book contains child soldiers.robinks'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
4.25
Graphic: Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and War
Moderate: Confinement, Gore, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Physical abuse, Torture, Vomit, Trafficking, and Alcohol
debthebookworm'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? It's complicated
4.0
But Children of Anguish and Anarchy is coming! So I can focus on how I feel about the pages leading up to the end.
Zélie and Inan hurt. I was excited to learn that Inan was alive, even though he was so aggravating and the reason Baba died. He and Zélie, though, were just something I wanted to work, and watching him fight himself again but this time also having to fight against his mother, I rooted for him to break free so he could do the right thing. It took the whole book, but I'm glad it happened.
Also, so much pain. Having to watch Zélie get broken down to the point where she didn't want to fight anymore was so painful. Mâzeli did not deserve to die, and it was her fault!
Overall, story-wise, I loved seeing more maji, watching Zélie blossom with her own little clan, discovering cênters, and seeing the maji sanctuary. The twists were really good. I was shocked every time. The last few chapters, jumping from character to character every 3 pages, was jarring, but I pushed through. Also unless this is addressed in Book 3, we never learned what happened to Ramaya.
I debated on how many stars to give this, but those issues stop me from giving it 5.
Graphic: Death, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, and War
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Genocide, Blood, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Classism
Minor: Animal death, Child death, and Vomit
green_amaryllis'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
4.0
Graphic: Genocide
Moderate: Death, Racial slurs, Violence, Vomit, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
minty_3'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
3.0
Moderate: Death, Gore, Mental illness, Torture, and Violence
Minor: Vomit
bodiesinbooks's review against another edition
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Body horror
Moderate: Child death, Cursing, Death, Genocide, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, and Grief