Scan barcode
monicalaurette's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
“But comfortable doesn’t win battles.”
“It makes you worthy of the title rebel.”
“But even through all of that, the sun was shining.”
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, War, and Violence
Moderate: Medical trauma, Medical content, Gun violence, Blood, Abandonment, and Death
Minor: Lesbophobia
honeyreads1066's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
This book changes the focus to follow Carmen instead of Dani which because of the way the last book ended I wasn't too keen on but I got used to it eventually. I like that we get to see the relationships that Carmen developed and also the way she felt about Dani. I'm kind of upset that this didn't have the same political stuff as the first one, I really enjoyed the sneaking around and trying to figure out certain things and this one was a lot more action.
I also didn't like that a few of the big twists at the end were really predictable and not in a satisfying way. I hoped that some things would come out of nowhere or there would be a massive curveball but nothing hit the way that some of the twists did in the first book.
I think overall this was an okay conclusion to the duology but because I loved the first one so much, with the change in story style and perspective, inevitably, I was never going to like the second one as much.
Moderate: Gun violence, Murder, War, and Violence
Minor: Homophobia
booksthatburn's review against another edition
- 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
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.
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
elenamarmiroli's review
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
L'opera è partita a mio parere non in maniera interessante, soprattutto perché avrei preferito a continuare a seguire Dani, invece che Carmen. Una volta che Carmen
Anche il finale non è male, solo che il conflitto principale viene risolto in maniera sbrigativa e in maniera ambigua.
Quello che mi è mancato in questo libro sono stati anche i paralleli tra i rapporti tra gli Usa sotto Trump e il Messico e le due popolazioni divise dal confine all'interno del romanzo, cosa che era più presente nel volume precedente.
Inoltre, le frasi all'inizio di ogni capitolo erano più interessanti nello scorso volume perché parlavano dei doveri della prima moglie e di come ottenere quello che vuole, mentre queste si rifanno alla rivoluzione, cosa che ritengo meno interessante da apprendere e mi sembrano pure meno vincolate al contenuto del capitolo.
Graphic: Violence, Blood, and Racism
Moderate: Death
treeworms's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
Graphic: Blood, Child death, Death, Gore, Body horror, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Lesbophobia, Misogyny, Murder, Police brutality, Racism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual content, Violence, War, and Xenophobia
Minor: Sexual assault and Sexual violence
lindseyhall44's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Graphic: Blood, Death, and Violence
Moderate: Abandonment
Minor: Sexual violence
bisexualwentworth's review against another edition
- 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? Yes
4.0
I think a lot of the negative reviews I’ve seen of this book were from people who wanted more of a romance focus, and that’s a little odd to me because the first one was very balanced between revolution and romance and I thought that this one was too.
My only real issue with this book is the plot. Too many things happen too quickly, and they’re often not connected enough to what happened in the first book. I think this is because the author was trying to wrap up the story in two books.
The overly fast-paced plot along with the addition of two new major characters who couldn’t have appeared in the first book kind of makes me wish that this had been a trilogy rather than a duology. That might just be personal taste, though. I never love it when major players are introduced in the final installment.
But overall, I still loved the characters and the world and I really loved what this book did with Alex, and I would highly recommend this duology to anyone who, like me, is a fan of sapphic forbidden romance and also revolution.
Graphic: Violence and Death
nefariousbee's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Moderate: Child death, Death, Death of parent, Gun violence, Murder, Religious bigotry, Sexual harassment, and Violence
cindespair's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Graphic: Death, Grief, Gun violence, Sexism, and Sexual harassment
Moderate: Death and Violence
Minor: Cursing
kaidoz's review
- 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
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.