merenguita's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
This book is TENSE. Especially during the middle... everytime I stopped reading I found myself more anxious than when I started.
I honestly struggled to decide what rating to give this book, the beggining was really slow, but I think it was necesarry to build up everything that happens later, it also fits with the way Hava sees and interacts with the world. I think the way it's narrated really differs from the other books of the saga, which is really refreshing, I find that in a lot of books that go through different narrators, they all kind of sound the same, where as this one felt absolutley different. That was a reason why I didn't like it at first but then I got used to it and even got to love the way Hava feels and reads as a character. I highlighted when another character says to her "You're really articulate about how confused you are" because that's a pretty good summary of how I felt.
By the end this book felt just as good as the others in the series, and I really hope Kristin Cashore keeps expanding on this world because I'm not sure if I want to let it go yet.
There's some really dense and hard to read topics throughout the story, so I would recomend to read the CW beforehand and to take your time if you have to.
I honestly struggled to decide what rating to give this book, the beggining was really slow, but I think it was necesarry to build up everything that happens later, it also fits with the way Hava sees and interacts with the world. I think the way it's narrated really differs from the other books of the saga, which is really refreshing, I find that in a lot of books that go through different narrators, they all kind of sound the same, where as this one felt absolutley different. That was a reason why I didn't like it at first but then I got used to it and even got to love the way Hava feels and reads as a character. I highlighted when another character says to her "You're really articulate about how confused you are" because that's a pretty good summary of how I felt.
By the end this book felt just as good as the others in the series, and I really hope Kristin Cashore keeps expanding on this world because I'm not sure if I want to let it go yet.
There's some really dense and hard to read topics throughout the story, so I would recomend to read the CW beforehand and to take your time if you have to.
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Grief, Blood, Vomit, Violence, Physical abuse, and Death of parent
Minor: Sexual violence and Torture
TW for hypothermia and general trauma response/trauma aftermath kind of thinglwooters's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
hopeful
mysterious
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? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Death, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Animal death, and Blood
aseel_reads's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
If this book was 100-200 pages shorter, it would have been fantastic. I liked the actual plot events and hava's character arc but because the book was so long and so slow, I started getting annoyed with hava and her behaviours.
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Death of parent, Grief, Rape, Violence, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Abandonment, and Blood
gracefully_jk's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
tense
slow-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
Graphic: Death, Drug abuse, Animal death, Gore, Blood, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, and Medical content
Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders and Dementia
Minor: Abandonment, Confinement, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Murder, Physical abuse, Death of parent, Rape, and Sexual violence
I’m using so many tags to try and make sure I’m covering everything. Much of this is only small mentions, or failed attempts, or only spoken of vaguely or in flashback memories; most of it is handled with great delicacy and gentleness. The one thing to note is the injury detail/blood warning: there is some relatively explicitly described injury, including amputation. Specifically:Spoiler
The characters find themselves stranded in an arctic-like environment; one person gets frostbite and has their toes amputated, while another person gets an unspecified injury to their leg and has it amputated. Both of these procedures and their effect on the people who received them (as well as on the main character) is described in fairly good detail, so if that sort of thing bothers you, please tread carefully. You can skip it, but it does get mentioned a few times, and the aftermath is quite evident. No one dies of these injuries.
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