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bskalka's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
hopeful
mysterious
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
4.5
I really enjoyed how this book did not take itself serious until the end. I loved all of the characters (except Isis but she didn't make me mad enough to lower the rating so its fine) and how they interacted with each other. I'm not going to lie though, I did not understand the tables at all. Maybe its because I don't read a lot of heavy fantasy but I just could not wrap my head around how the games were being played. I did, however, find myself impressed with the authors ability to create the world she did. I could never think of a concept like this let alone write an almost 400 page book about it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cursing, Death, Violence, Blood, Cannibalism, Murder, and Classism
Moderate: Confinement, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, and Toxic friendship
risaleel's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
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
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Blood, and Gaslighting
Moderate: Toxic relationship, Grief, and Abandonment
Minor: Bullying, Confinement, Incest, and Classism
aliyachaudhry's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
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? Yes
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Gore, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Murder, and Abandonment
Moderate: Addiction, Infidelity, Toxic relationship, and Classism
Minor: War
dianaschmidty's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
I spent the entire book seesawing between feeling invested and confused. I must have gone back 30 seconds on the audiobook a couple hundred times, because I couldn’t have grasped what was going on without doing that.
Olivie Blake is a great writer, no doubt, but I wish this book had been written a little differently.
At the beginning of the book, we’re dropped into a story that seems like it’ll be narrated by death, which is was for a bit, but it seemed like by halfway through the book, Olivie forgot that Death was even involved. Yeah, I get that he was a little busy during that part of the book, but isn’t he supposed to be basically omniscient?
I loved the romances in the book, but at times, it felt like too many things were happening at once. Like give me two epic love stories or three separately distinguished love stories. Having three love stories all play out at the exact same time (with two of them basically forgotten for like 150 pages until they needed to be tied up in a nice bow at the end) felt like too much to really let me get to know the characters. By the end of the book, I knew Violet, Fox, and Brant, all of which I liked, but I think with as big of a cast of characters as this book had, I needed to know more.
Also, why do we never get to know how what happens to Tom at the end happens? It’s never explained…
I really liked the narrator. He did a great job with all of the different accents. My only issue with the audiobook was that some parts weren’t very conducive to this format. Like whenever the book jumped from past to present or vise versa with little warning, it was jarring.
Overall, I really liked the book, I just think it was an overly complex world at times.
Thank you so much to NetGalley, Macmillan Audio, and Olivie Blake for providing me access to this book.
Olivie Blake is a great writer, no doubt, but I wish this book had been written a little differently.
At the beginning of the book, we’re dropped into a story that seems like it’ll be narrated by death, which is was for a bit, but it seemed like by halfway through the book, Olivie forgot that Death was even involved. Yeah, I get that he was a little busy during that part of the book, but isn’t he supposed to be basically omniscient?
I loved the romances in the book, but at times, it felt like too many things were happening at once. Like give me two epic love stories or three separately distinguished love stories. Having three love stories all play out at the exact same time (with two of them basically forgotten for like 150 pages until they needed to be tied up in a nice bow at the end) felt like too much to really let me get to know the characters. By the end of the book, I knew Violet, Fox, and Brant, all of which I liked, but I think with as big of a cast of characters as this book had, I needed to know more.
Also, why do we never get to know how what happens to Tom at the end happens? It’s never explained…
I really liked the narrator. He did a great job with all of the different accents. My only issue with the audiobook was that some parts weren’t very conducive to this format. Like whenever the book jumped from past to present or vise versa with little warning, it was jarring.
Overall, I really liked the book, I just think it was an overly complex world at times.
Thank you so much to NetGalley, Macmillan Audio, and Olivie Blake for providing me access to this book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, and Murder
Moderate: Toxic relationship, Kidnapping, and Classism