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noellegrace8's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
While I love Thorne SO much, and understand Cress and her lack of social interaction and therefore knowledge even if I personally find her to be a little exhausting, the *way* their romance is written really irks me. It's entirely limmerance from Cress and nothing from Thorne until random moments. These random moments are thrilling, with scenes written better than even Cinder+Kai or Scarlet+Wolf, but they're not enough to make up for the underlying underdevelopment of their actual romance throughout the rest of the book. The entirety of them crashing in the desert fell flat for me. My personal "I hate the miscommunication trope!" is, "I hate the 'I don't want to hurt her' trope!" And that's (sort of? It's unclear, and therefore infuriating, at times) what we're given from Thorne.
Hoping the 4th book quickly clears up the limmerance from Cress and intermittent apathy from Thorne. It's a WONDERFUL series.
I don't factor audiobook performance into my star ratings, but I would give Rebecca Soler a 4.5/5. At this point, I've gotten very used to her narration and voicing. As previously stated, she can be a bit too flat at times or have a tone that isn't quite right for what's described, but she's generally good at differentiating voices in scenes with accents and tones. I really like the way she voices Iko haha. It's perfect for that android! I don't understand why Soler wasn't asked to re-record a couple places where she says "kAY-toe" instead of "kEYE-toe" though.
Graphic: Classism, Death, Violence, Pandemic/Epidemic, Terminal illness, and War
Moderate: Kidnapping, Medical content, Xenophobia, Death of parent, Murder, Child abuse, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, Confinement, Death, Abandonment, Ableism, Colonisation, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Medical trauma, Blood, Body horror, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, and Torture
Minor: Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Car accident, Sexual assault, Gun violence, Mental illness, Animal cruelty, Bullying, Adult/minor relationship, Cursing, Gore, Grief, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual harassment, Slavery, and Trafficking
As this series is very political and based around a clear power imbalance, the things I sorted into "Graphic" are fundamental in this book. "Moderate" listings have mostly to do with plotpoints such as the classic Rapunzel-and-her-abusive-guardian retelling, the events that led to Cinder's current cyborg state, Thorne losing his vision, the tortured nature of Wolf/ his genetic alterations, and the general tension between Lunars and Earthens. "Minor" labels are due to Scarlet and Cress both being taken (separate contexts), the push and pull between most of the relationships in this series thus far (but particularly Wolf+Scarlet), and our brief encounter with Princess Winter. Lastly, the only reason I warned of adult-minor relationship is because I believe most of the male love interests in this series are quite a few years older than their female, teen counterparts. More importantly, Cress is said to be 16, and Thorne is most definitely an adult, likely about 20 (has served in the military and is a well-known criminal at this point) so... a bit gray.inkysplodge'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? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Violence, and War
Moderate: Blood, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicide, Torture, and Trafficking
Minor: Xenophobia, Vomit, Abandonment, Child abuse, Child death, Sexual assault, and Adult/minor relationship