bibliofox's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
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
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Grief, Murder, Violence, Abandonment, and Animal death
Moderate: Mental illness, Blood, Emotional abuse, Adult/minor relationship, and Confinement
Minor: Blood and Gore
brnineworms's review
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
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
4.0
I enjoyed this book but it’s not as good as the first volume. This one is much more reflective, which isn’t inherently a bad thing but the momentum of the story does grind to a halt. The opening narration of “We’ve gone nowhere. ... We’ve achieved nothing. ... But we’ve been busy” does a good job of summing up this volume’s agitated stagnation.
I’m glad some of the characters that were underused in the first book were given more attention here. Ash got sidelined this time round. She was literally gagged at one point so that somebody else could spout exposition for a change.
The artwork is gorgeous but here and there it felt a little rushed and unfinished? Maybe it’s just that the pace has changed and so an art style that complements frantic action sequences looks out-of-place when used for more contemplative scenes, and therefore its flaws become more noticeable.
I absolutely adore the style Hans used when relaying the events of Charlotte Brontë’s life. It’s so delicate and easy on the eye – it has this Art Nouveau quality to it.
As I said at the beginning of this review, I do think Split the Party is a slight downgrade compared to Fantasy Heartbreaker. Die hasn’t dropped the ball but it is fumbling just a little. I hope this turns out to be the calm before the storm and that volume 3 takes the story to new heights. I’m excited to see where this goes.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Cursing, and Mental illness
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Infidelity, Sexual content, and Violence
Minor: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal death, Biphobia, Colonisation, Death of parent, Gore, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Murder, Pregnancy, Sexism, Slavery, Terminal illness, Torture, and War
discussion of the world not being real/meditations on the nature of reality
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