The design and UX isn't done, Rob and Abbie, okkurrrr! 😌
moon_rose's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- 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
5.0
madkatrob's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
fast-paced
- 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
Content Warnings
Moderate: War and Death
ronniewest's review against another edition
5.0
Even though I’ve read it before it’s still good enough to make me cry.
jpayne's review against another edition
4.0
The books slowly got better, she had a great idea. I’m just not sure how I feel about her style of writing
theredpanda17's review against another edition
5.0
The best Unwanteds book yet. I think what finally pushed this series to a 5/5 for me was the investment I have in Aaron's character and the growing mystery of the outside world. It's enjoyable, creative, interesting, and much more unpredictable than the previous 5 books in the series. I'm eager to see how it ends in book 7!
yapha's review against another edition
4.0
Excellent continuation of the series! You must read them in order to appreciate what happens. I am eagerly awaiting the 7th book. Highly recommended for grades 4-8.
dragontomes2000's review against another edition
4.0
This installment was leaps and bounds better then the previous entries in the series. The biggest improvement was the character development which was something I have been hoping for since like book 2 and I am so happy it happened before the final book. My only negative qualm with this book and actually with the series as a whole is how predictable it can be and that is why I just cannot rate this book higher then 4 stars. I am having a great time reading this series and am so looking foward to finishing the last book.
rahinroy's review against another edition
5.0
really really fun until it wasnt.
incorent rant:
im just annoyed about kaylee. i really wanted this to be a seperate world system - theres no reason to introduce irl world into this (unless book 7 just mega proves me wrong).
I loved aarons redepemtion arc - the confusion and anger throughout these last few books has been really interesting to follow (started off feeling forced, then moved to being fairly natural in books 4/5). Ishibashi's role was amazing - the whole thing felt like zukos arc from atla (just skipping the first step of iroh following zuko around and just vibing). I was suprisingly most exicited for aarons chapters - the process from being selfish to understanding respect to trying to fit in to helping out to wanting to stay was amazing and it felt natural. It made the past many books are weird back and forth and hinting of goodness worth it, bc it didnt feel like the typical villian 180 that you see. very happy with that. especially good bc the book made you like aaron more than alex, which noone would have expected even 1 or 2 books ago. its not just sympathy, you get frustrated with alex and become proud/have respect for aaron.
i am still annoyed about kaylee and america. at the risk of sounding mean it felt like a young fanfic writer trying to introduce their OC. I can get past the japanese dudes bc they were mysterious (even though there wasnt a great reason for them to be mysterious), but introducing the time (through the graves + kaylees dialogue) plus actual locations (US, JP) felt like the entire world becoming pointless. i dont know what book 7 is going to do but hopefully its good.
this book also created so many questions as to what in the world the ancient sector is. i remember when they first explained it wasnt just a place to be killed i was very confused, now im even more confused. it feels like that place in The Giver whose name i dont remember, but its actually like a retirement home + death row? why is there a line to die? why are they chained? very lost there.
overall big thing i think im missing:
any media with a magic system (or even elemental system, like FMAB) needs to have some display of ultimate power to let you know the extents of the magic and to keep you impressed. Dumbledore's battle in book 5, ATLA's avatar state, FMAB's Roy (the fire guy idk his name) vs lust/envy. even from a villian pov it works: ozai on the airships, bradley retaking the capital also work to demonstrate this. this series never has that. the only major chance to have it was with marcus, but he only had like 1 notable moment in the first battle where he froze the last few remaining troops. the way the magic system is built it feels like noone has exceptional talent, which is good ig for sending a message of like "work hard and be creative and you can be cool too!" but its dissapointing as a book to not have the super cool scene that everyone keeps talking about. in fact, the most we've seen is gondaleery 1vX'ing the unwanteds, but even then her power feels rather out of place and never actually that strong. i was hoping for a cool moment with alex, but it never really came - the closest thing was the pulverize spell but that was effectively just a 1 time failure.
sidenote other problem:
there are so many books in the private library why are you not spending all your time divying them up amongst more people. literally 99% of your problems could prob be solved with those books.
incorent rant:
im just annoyed about kaylee. i really wanted this to be a seperate world system - theres no reason to introduce irl world into this (unless book 7 just mega proves me wrong).
I loved aarons redepemtion arc - the confusion and anger throughout these last few books has been really interesting to follow (started off feeling forced, then moved to being fairly natural in books 4/5). Ishibashi's role was amazing - the whole thing felt like zukos arc from atla (just skipping the first step of iroh following zuko around and just vibing). I was suprisingly most exicited for aarons chapters - the process from being selfish to understanding respect to trying to fit in to helping out to wanting to stay was amazing and it felt natural. It made the past many books are weird back and forth and hinting of goodness worth it, bc it didnt feel like the typical villian 180 that you see. very happy with that. especially good bc the book made you like aaron more than alex, which noone would have expected even 1 or 2 books ago. its not just sympathy, you get frustrated with alex and become proud/have respect for aaron.
i am still annoyed about kaylee and america. at the risk of sounding mean it felt like a young fanfic writer trying to introduce their OC. I can get past the japanese dudes bc they were mysterious (even though there wasnt a great reason for them to be mysterious), but introducing the time (through the graves + kaylees dialogue) plus actual locations (US, JP) felt like the entire world becoming pointless. i dont know what book 7 is going to do but hopefully its good.
this book also created so many questions as to what in the world the ancient sector is. i remember when they first explained it wasnt just a place to be killed i was very confused, now im even more confused. it feels like that place in The Giver whose name i dont remember, but its actually like a retirement home + death row? why is there a line to die? why are they chained? very lost there.
overall big thing i think im missing:
any media with a magic system (or even elemental system, like FMAB) needs to have some display of ultimate power to let you know the extents of the magic and to keep you impressed. Dumbledore's battle in book 5, ATLA's avatar state, FMAB's Roy (the fire guy idk his name) vs lust/envy. even from a villian pov it works: ozai on the airships, bradley retaking the capital also work to demonstrate this. this series never has that. the only major chance to have it was with marcus, but he only had like 1 notable moment in the first battle where he froze the last few remaining troops. the way the magic system is built it feels like noone has exceptional talent, which is good ig for sending a message of like "work hard and be creative and you can be cool too!" but its dissapointing as a book to not have the super cool scene that everyone keeps talking about. in fact, the most we've seen is gondaleery 1vX'ing the unwanteds, but even then her power feels rather out of place and never actually that strong. i was hoping for a cool moment with alex, but it never really came - the closest thing was the pulverize spell but that was effectively just a 1 time failure.
sidenote other problem:
there are so many books in the private library why are you not spending all your time divying them up amongst more people. literally 99% of your problems could prob be solved with those books.
little_livre_buho's review against another edition
5.0
This book was phenomenal. Everyone of the unwanted books has improved upon the last one!!!! I loved the character development in this book!!