sorkka's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Graphic: Child death and Kidnapping
Moderate: Child abuse, Abandonment, Medical trauma, and Trafficking
Minor: Animal death, Animal cruelty, and Violence
Overall this is a children's book but some children may be disturbed by the child kidnapping andSpoiler
medical trauma / child experimentation that occurs. This leads to some animal and child death.Spoiler
mother and father are revealed to be exploitative of childrenwildflower09's review against another edition
- 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
5.0
Graphic: Medical trauma, Murder, Torture, and Physical abuse
mirandyli's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Graphic: Abandonment, Animal cruelty, Forced institutionalization, Medical trauma, Toxic relationship, Gaslighting, and Medical content
ra22ouille's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
The plot ambled and the intensity/stakes kept seesawing with a lot of intensity. It took away from the impact of the ending. It felt like it was just another one of the big hurdles that had already happened and didnt feel particularly special.
I found the way some of the accents were written annoying.
Graphic: Child death, Medical trauma, and Child abuse
cassie7e's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
4.0
Also this book is unexpectedly DARK in the details, some graphic fights and descriptions of atrocities done to people in the name of something or other. Things I probly wouldn't've understood or caught as a kid but definitely noticed as an adult.
Overall very enjoyable and just what I needed when angsty YA fantasy wasn't doing it for me. It was action packed, with plot after plot strung together that might've been the sole focus in some other story, plus it was full of moral questions and mysterious characters, and gave a lot of agency to the kid characters.
Main gripe w the audiobook was Lyra's constantly exasperated/whiny voice even when she's sposed to be whispering, and that the voices cut in abruptly between bits of narration and other dialogue.
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail and Violence
Moderate: Kidnapping, Child death, Death, Animal death, Trafficking, Fire/Fire injury, and Grief
Minor: Blood, Gun violence, Infidelity, Medical content, and Medical trauma
orchidlilly's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Moderate: Gaslighting, Medical trauma, Medical content, Violence, Animal death, Child abuse, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Animal cruelty, Death, Emotional abuse, and Child death
Minor: Religious bigotry, Sexism, Colonisation, Abandonment, Alcohol, Xenophobia, Blood, Classism, Forced institutionalization, Racism, Racial slurs, and Drug use
fiveredhens's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Spoiler
the knowledge of good and evil via elementary particles10-yr-old me: wow cool ferret
Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Emotional abuse, and Gore
Moderate: Racism, Blood, Child abuse, Confinement, Cultural appropriation, Medical trauma, Religious bigotry, and Xenophobia
Minor: Abandonment, Alcohol, Colonisation, Ableism, Dementia, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Racial slurs, and Vomit
orientalism, africa as a wild monolith, romani stereotypesfeuillycakes's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Child death, Death, Medical trauma, Torture, Violence, Trafficking, Physical abuse, Gun violence, and Body horror
There’s a lot of discussion and descriptions of what is essentially an awake lobotomy but worse and more traumatic and fatal. Descriptions of violence and body horror, descriptions of experimentation on children including a form of torture that isn’t real but is still horrific to read about.aconfundityofcrows'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? No
4.0
Graphic: Animal death, Animal cruelty, Gore, Kidnapping, and Violence
Moderate: Blood, Child death, Death, Medical content, Medical trauma, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Xenophobia, and Alcoholism
Minor: Sexual violence, Body shaming, and Misogyny