sonshinelibrarian's review against another edition
5.0
Wow. This was just as good and just as rough as Bitterblue. Cashore continues to deal with the trauma and PTSD and emotional baggage and damage caused by King Leck, this time with Hava. In a lot of ways Hava seems younger than her 20 (21?) years, but it's so clear the ways her growth has been hindered by everything she's gone through. And Cashore lets her grow without glossing over anything. Hava literally has to relearn how to think about herself and about others, to find a way to move forward while realizing and acknowledging that the past will always affect her in some ways. I pretty much cried straight through the last third of this book. I'm ready to cry just writing this review.
Trigger warnings abound for this book, but Cashore handles everything with a sense of hope that keeps it from getting too dark. This book destroyed me in the best possible way and, like with Bitterblue, I'll be thinking about it for years to come.
Trigger warnings abound for this book, but Cashore handles everything with a sense of hope that keeps it from getting too dark. This book destroyed me in the best possible way and, like with Bitterblue, I'll be thinking about it for years to come.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent, Animal cruelty, and Grief
Moderate: Rape, Murder, Abandonment, and Emotional abuse
Minor: Child abuse and Pedophilia
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.
Content Warnings
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
Content Warnings
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.hyleore's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
inspiring
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
This might be my new favourite in the series. I often like first-person narration less than I do third-person, but in this case I think it was perfect, because Hava thinks and experiences things in such a unique way that it's fascinating, and nice, and touching to be in her head as we see this story unfold.
I love this series, and how similar stories unfold in new ways with new characters each time. I think it's amazing, and I get so emotional and passionate each time. It always involves a sleepless night of reading. It always involves tears, not in a bad way. I guess these are some of my favourite books. I needed a space to ramble about that x)
But this one is even better, because of the foxes.
I love this series, and how similar stories unfold in new ways with new characters each time. I think it's amazing, and I get so emotional and passionate each time. It always involves a sleepless night of reading. It always involves tears, not in a bad way. I guess these are some of my favourite books. I needed a space to ramble about that x)
But this one is even better, because of the foxes.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Abandonment and Sexual content
Minor: Sexual violence
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