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medini_l's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- 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
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Rape
Moderate: Blood, Alcohol, Murder, Death, Injury/Injury detail, and Violence
Minor: Vomit
nytephoenyx's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I really, really enjoyed this (as expected). It got its hooks into me because I finished this over a week ago and I am *still* angry about the ending. It's a great ending in a writing sense - I was so wrapped up in everything else the possibility didn't occur to me. But it's strong and dramatic and sets up *so many* questions for the next book and in that way, it's brilliant. I haven't seen much of the show, so the content is still new and exciting for me!
My biggest qualm is the way Julia's story was handled. There's an aspect to the general journey that I understand, but her critical moment was absolutely unnecessary and could have been handled without sexual violence.
Otherwise, this book had a great sense of urgency, a lot of appropriately frustrating moments that kept me engrossed as a ready, and the right balance of magic and not to be compelling without feeling impossible (in its setting).
My biggest qualm is the way Julia's story was handled. There's an aspect to the general journey that I understand, but her critical moment was absolutely unnecessary and could have been handled without sexual violence.
Otherwise, this book had a great sense of urgency, a lot of appropriately frustrating moments that kept me engrossed as a ready, and the right balance of magic and not to be compelling without feeling impossible (in its setting).
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcohol, Blood, Death, Grief, Rape, and Sexual violence
Moderate: Forced institutionalization, Misogyny, and Violence
Minor: Classism and Terminal illness
literarywreck's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
- 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
2.0
Third Read, 2022.
I'm too attached to the show to give up on this series. I liked this book a lot better divorced from the first one. It still has some misogyny (and other harmful -isms) but significantly less than the first. The addition of Julia's perspective was a nice upgrade from only Quentin's.
I still have a lot of issues with the use of rape as character development in Julia's plot. I detest the message that comes along with that choice and especially the choice to both remove Julia's shade and start her transformation into a goddess with it, which felt like a type of commentary on the outcome of sexual assault in terms of personal growth (as if to say, sure, it breaks you, but it also makes you into a better form of yourself?) which just wasn't Grossman's to make in the first place.
_________________________________
Second Read, 2021.
Made it fifty percent through before tiring of having my filter for blatant misogyny constantly on. There are better books to put my energy into. DNF.
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First Read, 2015.
Ugh. Why did I finish this.
I'm too attached to the show to give up on this series. I liked this book a lot better divorced from the first one. It still has some misogyny (and other harmful -isms) but significantly less than the first. The addition of Julia's perspective was a nice upgrade from only Quentin's.
I still have a lot of issues with the use of
_________________________________
Second Read, 2021.
Made it fifty percent through before tiring of having my filter for blatant misogyny constantly on. There are better books to put my energy into. DNF.
_________________________________
First Read, 2015.
Ugh. Why did I finish this.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness, Death, and Rape
Moderate: Misogyny, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Colonisation and Cursing
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