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abitterknitter's review against another edition
Graphic: Toxic relationship, Trafficking, Slavery, Suicide, Classism, Injury/Injury detail, Racial slurs, Cursing, Death, Racism, Murder, Torture, Violence, Police brutality, Physical abuse, Body horror, and Bullying
Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal death, Vomit, Addiction, and Alcohol
mirandyli's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Death of parent, War, Blood, Classism, Death, Murder, Violence, Body horror, Gun violence, Medical content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Domestic abuse, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Police brutality, Physical abuse, Rape, and Sexism
a_bow's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Graphic: Murder, Police brutality, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Bullying, Colonisation, Misogyny, Animal death, Injury/Injury detail, and Pedophilia
Moderate: Torture, Suicidal thoughts, Alcoholism, Addiction, Suicide attempt, Slavery, Sexual harassment, Ableism, Blood, Self harm, and Pedophilia
Minor: Abortion, Medical content, and Vomit
byrdies's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Blood and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Police brutality, Torture, and War
Minor: Excrement, Rape, Animal death, and Cannibalism
yasidiaz's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
The series was a whole lot more brutal than I expected and is one of the main contributors to this being a 4-star rating over a 5-star rating. We don't witness the most horrifying acts committed by the other characters, but it still happens way too much for my liking. Not enough to trigger me, but enough to dampen the book just a tad for me. I heavily advise reading the trigger warnings for this book before picking it up. It's not a book for everybody.
Another critique is the lack of diversity in this. At this point, most of the books I have read are incredibly diverse and when a book is not, it takes away some of the enjoyment. It also feels odd when this is obviously inspired by leftism, a movement that has, for many years, been led by BIPOC people. A part of me hopes that changes in later books, but from what I have seen so far, I don't think that will be the case.
Aside from that, the story was intriguing and the characters were complicated. It's interesting to read a story where the characters are sometimes hard to love, even our hero, but still able to enjoy. The set-up of the world and the political intrigue that I know will get stronger in the next book is the main selling point of this book. The Golds are ruthless and you want to hate them all, but you also slowly learn war is much more complicated than that.
Despite my early critiques of the book (which I still stand by) I am intrigued to see where this series will take me.
Graphic: Sexual violence, War, Murder, Torture, Slavery, Sexism, Sexual harassment, and Violence
Moderate: Sexual assault, Injury/Injury detail, Police brutality, Rape, and Kidnapping
alainral's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, War, Death of parent, Slavery, Murder, Classism, and Police brutality
Moderate: Cannibalism, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, and Excrement
Minor: Kidnapping
kermittothebit's review
I had the overwhelming feeling that I was reading poorly-done fanfiction, even though I wasn't focused on its similarities with Hunger Games. The writing is atrocious. The main character is one-dimensional, arrogant, contradictory, and seemingly stupid. The plot is so lacking that it felt like I was missing entire portions of writing; that I was just jumping between someone's ideas for a plot without any of the fleshing-out that makes characters interesting, does world-building, or gets you invested in any character. The most complicated character was his uncle, and even that was confusing.
The world is poorly done: With barely any world-building done, you're asked to accept that
The main character is poorly done: (And that's on me, I think I should have judged the book by the four-square-inch gloss-covered picture of the leather-clad author doing his #Smolder on the UPPER left corner of the back cover. And if you think I'm being too harsh, I'd like to note that the words Pierce and Brown were indeed used within the first 30 pages)
I have more complaints but this is starting to feel like playing with my food.
I literally had more fun and used more of my brain writing this review than reading this book. Life is too short and my shelves are too packed to try this one again.
Graphic: Gaslighting, Death of parent, and Death
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Fire/Fire injury, Police brutality, Alcoholism, Slavery, and Classism
kazli's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
people weren't lying when they said this is like game of thrones in space.
Graphic: Rape, Classism, Murder, Death of parent, Gore, Police brutality, and Kidnapping
n0elle's review
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Abandonment, Death of parent, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Body horror, Death, Gaslighting, Animal cruelty, Blood, Rape, Animal death, Classism, Gore, Police brutality, Violence, War, Murder, Physical abuse, Child death, Colonisation, Confinement, Excrement, Sexual assault, Grief, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, Sexism, Racism, Slavery, and Torture
jayhall's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Colonisation, War, Violence, Toxic friendship, and Police brutality
Moderate: Sexual violence and Sexual assault