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tasha_may's review
adventurous
dark
hopeful
inspiring
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence
Moderate: Murder and Torture
Minor: Sexual content, Injury/Injury detail, Lesbophobia, and War
elkzhra's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
fast-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
4.0
(I'm @ campus rn lol). but holy shit. Arguably my one gripe is starting right after finishing its predecessor, I feel both Carmen and Dani had the same voice. But as the story progresses, we understand how they have differences even tho they both have strong personalities. I got attached to more characters as this story explores relationships further, compared to wstdof which unravelled the world. I'm proud that I saw the reveal coming and constantly reminded myself how humanity should be the core of a revolution instead of the leaders turning into tyrants. Just in awe of how the lovers are possessive of each other and loathe Mateo. I loved reading the war scene and trying to imagine the actions in my head. For a duology, the world-building is fantastic, and I appreciate massive-brained authors... instilling the world of Medio (specifically school) in Dani's pov and La Voz in Carmen's. I'm referring to the fairytale folk-like intro and the handbook rules quotes at the start of each chapter.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Torture
Moderate: Abandonment and Lesbophobia
Minor: Death
ladygetslit's review
adventurous
emotional
inspiring
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
The first half of this sequel felt really slow to me. I enjoyed getting Carmen’s perspective, but I felt like it didn’t pick up until halfway through, and then I wanted to speed read to find out how everything worked out.
That being said, I love the strong Girl Power themes of this duology and the interspersing of Latinx culture within the fantasy world. This series is worth reading if only for the f/f relationship and the intriguing discussion of males in political power and how they seem to want to build walls (physical and metaphorical) to keep poor folks disenfranchised.
Teacher Thoughts: probably better for high school rather than middle school. I could see male readers not enjoying this much, but I can also see the need for these types of stories.
That being said, I love the strong Girl Power themes of this duology and the interspersing of Latinx culture within the fantasy world. This series is worth reading if only for the f/f relationship and the intriguing discussion of males in political power and how they seem to want to build walls (physical and metaphorical) to keep poor folks disenfranchised.
Teacher Thoughts: probably better for high school rather than middle school. I could see male readers not enjoying this much, but I can also see the need for these types of stories.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Classism, Violence, War, Blood, Death, Kidnapping, and Torture
booksthatburn's review against another edition
adventurous
reflective
sad
tense
medium-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
4.0
WE UNLEASH THE MERCILESS STORM picks up right where WE SET THE DARK ON FIRE left off, right after violence and revelations but from Carmen's perspective instead of Dani's. Read this for a character-driven story of love during danger and revolution.
The tone is immediately grimmer than the first book. Dani’s arc was one of hope and disillusionment in difficult circumstances, where Carmen’s begins in the wake of terror and betrayal with things going from bad to worse.
Carmen has two non-blood siblings who were around in the first book but this time around the narration includes Carmen's warm impressions of them. Her dynamic with Alex is fraught right now because she doesn't trust Carmen's loyalties after how close she got to Dani. Sota is more matter-of-fact and even more secretive than Alex. Speaking of Dani, Carmen starts off having no idea where she stands with Dani or whether she's cemented her loyalty with their husband since losing contact with the rebels.
WE SET THE DARK ON FIRE had a lot of worldbuilding to do and WE UNLEASH THE MERCILESS STORM uses it but doesn't add much to it in a grand sense. It adds more parts of the island, including the camp for La Voz, but other than the fact that there is a class divide it doesn't do much explaining of anything already covered in the first one. The overall effect is to treat this as the second half of one giant book rather than leaving space for someone who needs reminders since reading the first book. This is a duology, so that's fine, but this is best read as close to immediately after the first book as you can manage for the ideal experience.
The whole purpose of this book is to address things left hanging from the first book, like Carmen's sudden revelation and their entire relationship, for a start. Carmen is a different person than Dani and this book is about her troubles and goals which means there is a new storyline and some new things which are introduced and resolved. As far as I can tell this is a duology which is completed by this book. While there could maybe be more books in this setting, Dani and Carmen's story seems complete with a lot of things wrapped up. In a bigger sense I'd like to know what they do next and how the rebellion turns out in the long run, but it's closed enough to be the end.
Carmen is the new narrator and her voice is distinct from Dani's. She has a pretty different background from Dani (even at the school they received different training) and pays attention to completely different things. This picks up exactly where the last book left off, but from a different character’s perspective. This wouldn’t make sense to start here without reading the first book.
Even more so than the first book, the plot revolves around Carmen and Dani's relationship. This first thing is Carmen has to figure out how to get to Dani to see if they even still have a relationship, and the story proceeds from there. The story keeps moving and I like how it ends up, this is a good finish to the story and I'm satisfied with it overall.
The tone is immediately grimmer than the first book. Dani’s arc was one of hope and disillusionment in difficult circumstances, where Carmen’s begins in the wake of terror and betrayal with things going from bad to worse.
Carmen has two non-blood siblings who were around in the first book but this time around the narration includes Carmen's warm impressions of them. Her dynamic with Alex is fraught right now because she doesn't trust Carmen's loyalties after how close she got to Dani. Sota is more matter-of-fact and even more secretive than Alex. Speaking of Dani, Carmen starts off having no idea where she stands with Dani or whether she's cemented her loyalty with their husband since losing contact with the rebels.
WE SET THE DARK ON FIRE had a lot of worldbuilding to do and WE UNLEASH THE MERCILESS STORM uses it but doesn't add much to it in a grand sense. It adds more parts of the island, including the camp for La Voz, but other than the fact that there is a class divide it doesn't do much explaining of anything already covered in the first one. The overall effect is to treat this as the second half of one giant book rather than leaving space for someone who needs reminders since reading the first book. This is a duology, so that's fine, but this is best read as close to immediately after the first book as you can manage for the ideal experience.
The whole purpose of this book is to address things left hanging from the first book, like Carmen's sudden revelation and their entire relationship, for a start. Carmen is a different person than Dani and this book is about her troubles and goals which means there is a new storyline and some new things which are introduced and resolved. As far as I can tell this is a duology which is completed by this book. While there could maybe be more books in this setting, Dani and Carmen's story seems complete with a lot of things wrapped up. In a bigger sense I'd like to know what they do next and how the rebellion turns out in the long run, but it's closed enough to be the end.
Carmen is the new narrator and her voice is distinct from Dani's. She has a pretty different background from Dani (even at the school they received different training) and pays attention to completely different things. This picks up exactly where the last book left off, but from a different character’s perspective. This wouldn’t make sense to start here without reading the first book.
Even more so than the first book, the plot revolves around Carmen and Dani's relationship. This first thing is Carmen has to figure out how to get to Dani to see if they even still have a relationship, and the story proceeds from there. The story keeps moving and I like how it ends up, this is a good finish to the story and I'm satisfied with it overall.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Homophobia, Gun violence, Murder, Sexism, and Misogyny
Moderate: Grief, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Child death, Sexual content, Violence, Medical trauma, Torture, Death, and Medical content
Minor: Ableism and Fire/Fire injury
kaidoz's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
sad
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
3.75
I honestly liked this one better than the first book in the series. The plot was a lot more fast-paced and it seemed more life or death which made me care about the characters more.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Gun violence, Police brutality, Violence, Sexism, Misogyny, Lesbophobia, and Homophobia
Moderate: Sexual content, Religious bigotry, Sexual harassment, Grief, Death, and Cursing
Minor: Torture, Panic attacks/disorders, Death of parent, Child death, Kidnapping, Genocide, Fire/Fire injury, Car accident, Blood, Alcohol, Alcoholism, and Sexual assault
Book centers around a rebellion in a society where women are viewed as commodities. Men are given two trained wives and there is a lot of institutionalized sexism because of it. It also includes war and mentions attacks from the police state.
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