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allisonsmith120's review
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcohol, Blood, Death, Grief, Murder, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, and Violence
Moderate: Car accident, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual content, and Injury/Injury detail
ramunepocky's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
3.0
This book infuriated me so goddamn fucking much. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed it and it was a wild ride, but it definitely didn’t need to be as long as it was and it definitely didn’t need to be so thoroughly entrenched in relationship drama when a much more interesting and deadly overarching storyline was happening. I feel like the whole Shadow Game was just drowned out by Enne and Levi’s relationship bullshit and it was so frustrating to read, and I don’t understand why it was necessary, I have never been so bored reading a book about a death game because half of it wasn’t the death game at all. And every time it switched back to being specifically about the high stakes and the shadow game, it was suddenly extremely interesting again, and it was so rich in world building and lore, and I rlly loved that part, but the relationship drama just brought it back down again. I genuinely considering DNF’ing this book on more than one occasion b/c of it. Their relationship just ended up so toxic too, like I couldn’t buy it as actually romantic anymore bc it just didn’t work at all. There was too much manipulation and resentment there.
I hate Enne with a burning, fiery passion and she joins Jace Herondale in the ranking for my least favourite characters of all time. She made me so unbeliavably and uncontrollably angry. She was so selfish, she didn’t take responsibility or accountability for anything. She decided almost immediately that she’d played no part in Jac’s death despite being the hand that pulled the trigger and the one that came up with the idea to kill him to break Levi’s heart. But no, ofc, that couldn’t be precious, naive Enne’s fault. And how she just decided that Vianka was the one who’d shaped her into Seance and made her the way she was, despite the fact that making Lola take the street oath under duress and threat of death was her own decisions and actions, despite the fact that she’d actively wanted to hurt and kill Sedric Torren, despite the fact that Enne herself had manipulated Vianka, but ofc, everyone else is to blame and she played no part in that at all. Because innocent little Enne could do nothing wrong. She continued to constantly say she couldn’t rely on anyone for anything whilst expecting them to drop everything to do something for her, and then being bitchy because she got the thing she wanted, but wasn’t happy about it. There was just no winning with her, and it pissed me off so fucking much. I wish she had died.
I feel bad for Arabella tbh; she suffered at the hands of the misers and made some poor decisions based on it, but she’d done some good too in her deals. She wasn’t exactly a bad person, and she wasn’t a good one, she was just trying to make the world a better place and deal with the choices she’d made and yet she was constantly labelled as the devil. I wish she had just killed Enne tbh; Enne deserved it and the world could have been a better place without her.
It hurt seeing Lola lose sm and becoming so angry and bitter, but honestly, I related to it so much bc I was also filled with sm bitter hatred towards Enne. It broke me seeing her not realise what/who she had bargained away and every interaction she had with Tock where she couldn’t remember, but them reuniting at the end and getting the happy ending they deserved brought my heart sm joy. Tock was the first person to realise Lola had made a deal with the Bargainer from only one interaction with her, and she never gave up on her!!! I LOVE THEM SM!!!
I have sm more to say, but I am tired and my words are not working esp when this review is already so long but alas
I feel like this was very much a book where there wasn’t rlly clear bad and good guys because every single character had had their own motives, and done both right and wrong, and were all morally grey. Except Enne ofc. She was the real antagonist.
I hate Enne with a burning, fiery passion and she joins Jace Herondale in the ranking for my least favourite characters of all time. She made me so unbeliavably and uncontrollably angry. She was so selfish, she didn’t take responsibility or accountability for anything. She decided almost immediately that she’d played no part in Jac’s death despite being the hand that pulled the trigger and the one that came up with the idea to kill him to break Levi’s heart. But no, ofc, that couldn’t be precious, naive Enne’s fault. And how she just decided that Vianka was the one who’d shaped her into Seance and made her the way she was, despite the fact that making Lola take the street oath under duress and threat of death was her own decisions and actions, despite the fact that she’d actively wanted to hurt and kill Sedric Torren, despite the fact that Enne herself had manipulated Vianka, but ofc, everyone else is to blame and she played no part in that at all. Because innocent little Enne could do nothing wrong. She continued to constantly say she couldn’t rely on anyone for anything whilst expecting them to drop everything to do something for her, and then being bitchy because she got the thing she wanted, but wasn’t happy about it. There was just no winning with her, and it pissed me off so fucking much. I wish she had died.
I feel bad for Arabella tbh; she suffered at the hands of the misers and made some poor decisions based on it, but she’d done some good too in her deals. She wasn’t exactly a bad person, and she wasn’t a good one, she was just trying to make the world a better place and deal with the choices she’d made and yet she was constantly labelled as the devil. I wish she had just killed Enne tbh; Enne deserved it and the world could have been a better place without her.
It hurt seeing Lola lose sm and becoming so angry and bitter, but honestly, I related to it so much bc I was also filled with sm bitter hatred towards Enne. It broke me seeing her not realise what/who she had bargained away and every interaction she had with Tock where she couldn’t remember, but them reuniting at the end and getting the happy ending they deserved brought my heart sm joy. Tock was the first person to realise Lola had made a deal with the Bargainer from only one interaction with her, and she never gave up on her!!! I LOVE THEM SM!!!
I have sm more to say, but I am tired and my words are not working esp when this review is already so long but alas
I feel like this was very much a book where there wasn’t rlly clear bad and good guys because every single character had had their own motives, and done both right and wrong, and were all morally grey. Except Enne ofc. She was the real antagonist.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Toxic relationship, Gun violence, Death, Injury/Injury detail, and Violence
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