Reviews with content warning for Blood - The Book That Wouldn't Burn

It's taking me some time to figure out what I'm going to say about this book tbh.
I want to start off by saying that I did have fun with this book. The second half was actually pretty crazy with all the twists and revelations we get. It was so fun to watch those play out and be surprised by them.
That being said, I didn't get as immersed in this book as I wanted to. The beginning was really slow for me and though I think it was more or less necessary so we could understand the characters and the world, it did still drag for me.
And I'm not sure if it's because of that or something else, but I didn't really care for the characters as much as I wanted to either. I didn't connect with them like I should and that probably has more to do with the writing style. I don't think there was very much emotions from the characters as there could have been. We needed more moments where we slowed down with them and actually got their feelings about the events that were happening. There were so many moments where something big would happen to Livira -

like when she was promoted to librarian and then people were trying to kill her

- and then it would just jump to a few years down the road and we didn't get any sense of her reactions and emotions at that moment. Those would have been perfect times to give us something about her and help us connect to her, but we didn't get that which left me feeling very distant from them. I know the timeline needed to jump around a little bit to give us a sense of that happening in their lives and to keep the plot moving forward, but helping the reader feel connected to the characters is just as important in my opinion and I think it should have been focused on a little bit more here.
I do want to read the next one to see what happens and I hope that helps me not feel as distant from the characters, but we'll see.

Content Warnings

dhh08's review against another edition

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adventurous dark sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

Content Warnings

kayceeisbookish's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional informative inspiring mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

A powerful story on the effects of knowledge on society. Told in duel POV and across expanses of time, this novel definitely had me deeply rethinking about how I look at books and reading as a way to transcribe, hold, and pass on knowledge through time. This is a book that is thought-provoking and sticks with you a long time after you finish reading.

Content Warnings