rinku'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? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Spoiler
the blacksmith helping Laia, the Commander seeing that she opened a seal, or Laia and Elias not actually dying in the endSpoiler
the task where they were forced to kill each other. Of course, this moment was dramatic and well written, but this task didn’t make so much sense to me; why would the academy want to sacrifice so many of their best soldiersSpoiler
the rebels lied Laia, and that the Commander knew the truth about Laia all along. This all doesn’t matter for the fourth test of the Emperor battle were they should kill Laia. Elias is of course not able to do that, but Marcus is, so he becomes the new Emperor and Helena his deputyGraphic: Blood, Child death, Classism, Colonisation, Confinement, Violence, Death, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Slavery, and Torture
Moderate: Grief, Rape, Pregnancy, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Suicide and War
griffinthief's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Child abuse, Confinement, Sexual harassment, Police brutality, Blood, Child death, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Grief, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, and Torture
Moderate: Pregnancy
Minor: Vomit and Trafficking
bookish_kori'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
3.5
Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Murder, Sexual harassment, Violence, Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual assault, Slavery, and Torture
Moderate: Abandonment, Pregnancy, Rape, Trafficking, and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Abortion, War, and Confinement
If you read modern YA or NA fantasy, this isn’t really out of line with that. Check out specific trigger warnings because there are a few that are more unique to this book than others but overall I’d say if you’ve read Stalking Jack the Ripper, Throne of Glass, A Good Girls Guide to Murder, or anything like that then this won’t be much of a stretch. Some of my trigger warnings were a little bit like “oh yeah this happened” but I didn’t notice it at the time as that thing. Specific events:Spoiler
there’s a child whipping/execution, a description of an attempted abortion and subsequent abandonment of the infant, semi-detailed description of torture involving a knife, and two fairly detailed descriptions of loved ones being murdered (also involving blades)angstifies's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
the narrators and characters were so annoying, the main characters are 17 and 21 but i felt like i was being told a story by a fucking child.
but the absolute worst thing about this book was the <b>overuse of misogyny and sexual violence against women.</b> i get it, some books’ worlds and settings are sexist but it was so overused. there are so many mentions of rape/threats of rape when it’s not even needed, and it was absolutely pointless. and the sexism was absolutely disgusting, even the male main character himself is so fucking misogynistic and constantly objectifies the “love interests”, i could not believe this was written by a woman.
i’m gonna make examples that infuriate me about <b>Elias specifically and his misogyny:</b> using “don’t act like a girl” as a degrading insult to Helene (a woman) SO MANY TIMES, even in his internal monologue + saying things like “oh they’re women! that’s how they are!”, shut the fuck up. sexualising both Laia and Helene basically always. feeling bad for a literal abusive RAPIST. letting marcus win knowing that now he can do whatever he wants with Helene and she can’t say no to him, all for a girl with no personality he met less than 2 months ago.
the characters were almost always insufferable and the romance was shit, i at least enjoyed the overall plot and the last 80 pages were great.
Graphic: Rape, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, and Violence
Moderate: Body horror, Murder, Torture, Physical abuse, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, and Grief
Minor: Death of parent
karapillar's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Graphic: War, Sexual violence, Police brutality, Stalking, Sexual assault, Blood, Emotional abuse, Death, Child death, Child abuse, Torture, Grief, Gore, Genocide, Vomit, Violence, Trafficking, Slavery, Murder, Kidnapping, Racism, Abortion, Confinement, Death of parent, Abandonment, Xenophobia, Rape, Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, and Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Pregnancy
isi_lemonx05'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? It's complicated
4.5
Graphic: Blood, Child abuse, Colonisation, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Torture, Violence, and War
trazimmariju'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
5.0
Graphic: Abandonment, Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Hate crime, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Murder, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, and Violence
swaggynikki's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Colonisation, Death, Gore, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexual harassment, Torture, and Slavery
Moderate: Child abuse, Genocide, Rape, and Abandonment
Minor: Fire/Fire injury and Pregnancy