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stephaniemcuervo's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Death of parent, Blood, Child death, Confinement, Gaslighting, Genocide, Grief, Death, and Alcohol
Moderate: Torture
Minor: Infertility and Vomit
steffiraquel's review against another edition
3.0
Graphic: Murder, Death of parent, Death, and Grief
Moderate: Violence, Alcohol, Toxic friendship, Kidnapping, and Gun violence
Minor: Alcoholism, Torture, Bullying, and Suicide
jenna36's review against another edition
Moderate: Death of parent, Gun violence, and Death
betweentheshelves'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? Yes
3.0
One of my first issues with this was the world building. It's like a modern world, but it didn't feel like one? Like, I would be vibing with the magical system and the class system, but then random technology would be thrown in, like phones. While yes, a good majority of the novel takes place in an area without electricity (which is a whole other thing), I just felt the world building itself was inconsistent and hard to get a handle on. Which make it difficult for me to get fully immersed in the story itself.
This also makes use of a lot of typical YA fantasy tropes, and doesn't really turn much on its head. Do I read more than the average person? Yes. So, that might partly contribute to it. But I wanted Rhodes to do something different with our expectations, and I just didn't find that she did. This is the first in a series, so there might be hope for future books. But I didn't find that I was invested enough to find out.
Finally, the characters. Josslyn was...fine. Jericho was fine. Most of the characters were just fine. Most of them fell flat to me, and I just wanted a bit more of a spark. Something that took them out of the general fantasy tropes they were fufilling. Something that made them leap off the page. Just something more overall!
Overall, if you don't mind YA fantasy where you don't really have to think a lot, you'd probably enjoy this book. But it was a bit of a miss for me.
Graphic: Death of parent, Murder, and Death
Moderate: Torture, Violence, and Alcoholism
Minor: Bullying, Grief, and Kidnapping
natmhm's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Graphic: Death of parent, Death, and Murder
Minor: Bullying
therese_nook68's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
I was excited to read about the character, she seemed like a spoiled, close-minded brat that had a lot of room for growth. But as the book progressed, she stayed pretty much close-minded and bratty and spoiled throughout the entire book and the only way she started to open up , was because of a single girl in the prison who, she basically says is the nicest person ever and that’s the only way she managed to humanize the people who could do magic. The only way. I personally didn’t see a lot of growth with the character considering that this entire storyline hinged on her going through this change.
I felt like it was hard to conceptualize the magic system, I couldn’t see the gives and takes and see how it worked. The world-building also felt too grand and large and it was hard to visualize how the world was supposed to look and function. I felt like I was just being shown scenes but everything else around them was just a blank canvas rather than them moving from spot to spot and seeing the world.
The romance also lacked chemistry and just felt forced and somehow... random despite there being so many hints and build up to the relationship? Like I can’t see why the two characters are interested in one another outside for maybe a physical attraction.
Felt like the book just needed to be better fleshed and planned out for it to feel cohesive.
Moderate: Death, Death of parent, and Murder