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embee3'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? N/A
5.0
Graphic: Genocide, Violence, and Medical content
Moderate: Blood and Alcohol
Minor: Homophobia, Sexism, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Classism
erebus53's review against another edition
- 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
4.0
This book finally sees people talking about what happens when the heir to the kingdom, Muntadhir, falls in love with a man art arms. Dammit why can't you all just let them be happy! And wait, in the last book didn't we find out that Jamshid has even more secrets about his person that even he is probably unaware of...? I had to find out more, and I do wish it took less that 20 chapters to unfold! But there is so much to unfold in a place where you arrange marriages for political reasons, and when everyone is lying to each other - things get messy in a great bit hurry.
Meanwhile back in the small desert town of Bir Nabat, the exiled prince finally seems to have stopped getting regular visits from assassins. He's knuckled down in serious service to the community as an irrigator and well builder and is starting to bring prosperity to a place that was dwindling into the dust. Less said about magical water powers the better, but everyone close to him knows that he doesn't come up for air nearly enough to seem.. normal, and he's awfully good at falling asleep in random places and accidentally waking up having "found" a brand new spring.
And then one of his rich cousins turns up with a year's worth of taxes in cursed salt, that only someone with their bloodline can return to Daevabad, and if it doesn't get there then there might be military retribution so .. he's wrangled back to his home city, consequences be damned.
Seems that everyone is preparing for the biggest festival in decades, and also that everyone who ever wanted to attack anyone is waiting for that time to do all their "plans".
Nahri petitions her father-in-law Ghassan, to bankroll a rebuild of the hospital her people once used, and to be able to treat the half-blood Shafit there as well as anybody else. She and Ali are working to try and patch up relations within the city, but their idealism can only get people so far..
Civil unrest is at an all time high, and meanwhile, plotting in the background Manizheh has her own plans, and central to them is re-re-resurrecting Darayavahoush. Again. Poor b*stard. We get to find a bit more about the history and magic of the land, the nature of Ifrits and the Marid.
Oooh this gets messy. I'm not a super fan of battles, but I do like big reveals. It's tense and frustrating when you have enough information to cobble together what's going on, but the characters haven't been told yet. Why do revolutions have to be so messy!!? That poor library. That tower... hey people were using that! I might ned a bit of a break before I delve into future volumes.
Graphic: Bullying, Cursing, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Slavery, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
brynalexa's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Alcohol, War, and Classism
mxpringle'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
4.75
Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Sexism, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Medical content, Murder, Alcohol, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Moderate: Sexual content and Sexual harassment
laurenkimoto'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: Alcoholism, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Hate crime, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Cultural appropriation, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Moderate: Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Homophobia, Infertility, Infidelity, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Alcohol
chelsaat'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
I love Ali, my murderous little cinnamon roll with little head for political strategy.
Graphic: Death, Violence, and Murder
Moderate: Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Sexism
googlegirl'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
4.75
Graphic: Violence, Mass/school shootings, Murder, and War
Moderate: Alcoholism, Misogyny, Sexism, and Slavery
claudiamacpherson'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
Moderate: Alcoholism, Body horror, Child death, Cursing, Death, Genocide, Gore, Hate crime, Infidelity, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Medical content, Trafficking, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Minor: Gun violence, Self harm, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, and Police brutality
readandfindout's review against another edition
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.5
Themes: 4 stars
Characters: 4.5 stars
Plot: 4.5 stars
Worldbuilding: 4.5 stars
Graphic: Confinement, Death, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Murder, and War
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child death, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Sexism, Grief, Religious bigotry, and Death of parent
booksthatburn'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
THE CITY OF BRASS set up a complicated system of alliances, slights, centuries-old grievances, and current injustices. In THE KINGDOM OF COPPER, the web gets a few more strands like slave auctions and mass murder of the oppressed, then pulls the strands tight to slaughter whoever gets in the way. It’s intricate, filled with conflicting allegiances, friendships, and hidden family. There’s some political theater, but almost every gesture carries behind it the threat of real violence against a plethora of minor and secondary characters, stacking death and misery higher and higher until the main characters can take it no more and the bloody showdown commences. There’s always another way that someone was terrible a long time ago and now a new person is ready to kill in the name of the long-dead. Three protagonists, all utterly convinced that their way of doing things is the one that will work, and a bevy of secondary characters all with their own deadly plans that cross and combine in unexpected ways to drench the city in blood.
I love the world building. A lot of the backstory was set up by the first book, but they live long lives and the pace at which new revelations occur is just right. In a world where there’s someone who knows what happened and might even have been there, it’s a matter of having the right protagonist ask the right question of the right person at the proper time… usually after a different protagonist tried to learn the same thing and was rebuffed. It’s a layered style that keeps any one character from knowing everything while making sure that by the time the reader gets the answer there’s been enough of a build up that it feels like a revelation. It even works when one character keeps trying to figure out something one of the other two already knows. Ali is my favorite, but together he, Nahri, and Dara combine to cover enough of the story’s angles to leave me very happy as a detail-hungry reader.
The pacing is excellent, the conclusion is stunning. I loved every minute and I’m ready to read the final book.
Graphic: Death, Torture, and Violence
Moderate: Child death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Sexism, Slavery, Vomit, Medical content, and Medical trauma
Minor: Death of parent
CW for major character death (graphic).