You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Scan barcode
sparklefarm'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
4.5
Graphic: Confinement, Death, Torture, and Grief
Moderate: Body horror, Child death, Emotional abuse, Violence, Murder, and Classism
Minor: Sexual content, Blood, Abortion, Death of parent, and War
astrangewind'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
5.0
Graphic: Classism
Moderate: Death, Drug use, Gore, Violence, Blood, Grief, and War
Minor: Suicidal thoughts and Pregnancy
eni_iilorak's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.0
El's snarky narrative voice is at its best in this book, and I found her character growth convincing, especially regarding her growing appreciation of her mother's choices.
Enough has been said about the political allegory - it is clever and terrifyingly true.
Graphic: Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Violence, Murder, Abandonment, War, and Classism
Moderate: Gore, Sexual content, Medical content, and Grief
chris_reads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
Graphic: Abandonment and Classism
Moderate: Sexual content, Torture, Grief, and Suicide attempt
Minor: Child death and Infidelity
bookswithcuppatea'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
5.0
The enclaves are so much more complex even than I'd anticipated. El and her fellow graduating classmates are in that awkward intermediate state of being out of school but not yet being treated as adults.
So many questions were answered in this book, and yet there are quite a few plot turns that surprised me.
Graphic: Death
Moderate: Blood, Grief, Murder, and Classism
Minor: Child death
pj99's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
Graphic: Death and Murder
Moderate: Violence and Classism
Minor: Sexual content, Grief, and Death of parent
For those of whom grief is a very touchy triggerkelisabeth's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Bullying, Child death, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
micallab'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
Graphic: Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts
blacksphinx'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
I was getting really frustrated with the first half of the book. At least three times, a character would say a couple of sentences and then El would explain a ton of inferred details to us for several pages. We had some important plot threads established, and pages were ticking by with no progress being made on them. El spent a lot of time not doing a damn thing, thinking for pages about how she didn't know what to do. There was a decent chunk spent on her wanting to accomplish something I thought was extremely stupid and didn't understand her motives - and then, at almost the 50% mark, the chess pieces were finally all on the board and the game began.
I kept saying to myself "there's no way she can solve [plot thread] in [pages left]" and then she DID over and over again until I had every answer I wanted. I actually want to go back and reread the prior two books knowing what I know now, because the reveals in this book were set up long before she started drafting it, there's just no way. It is a little bit of a spoiler to say this, so just skip over it, but watching El walk away from Omelas made me cry. In this present moment of multiple genocides and an ongoing, stubbornly-ignored pandemic, it hit me just right. "You got us all out for good, and they're trying to start a war over the bones. There's a better way. We know there's a better way. And you're trying to find it."
Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Gore, Torture, and Grief
Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, and Classism
Minor: Child death, Homophobia, Vomit, and Pregnancy
whynotreadwithalex's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
Unfortunately, there are a many number of things, characters, story elements, and plot choices that I found underwhelming but what really disappointed me the most was that all of the character development we saw in El over the course of the first two books was completely undone in the first half of this one, and then not adequately built back up again by the end. This left me feeling like I didn’t know her, which is not how you want to feel at the conclusion of a series. So many of the things I had come to love about her (such as her resilience, her discipline, her strong foundation of morals, and her journey of personal growth that allowed her to let people in) either faded into the background or completely flipped. She lost her voice, her passion, her ferocity, her community, her drive. And that just wasn’t realistic, interesting, or relatable for me. Not only that, but it made me really really sad.
The wrap up regarding the creation of enclaves and how that is tied to malia was interesting — but the conflict with Ophelia, the revelation of the prophecy, and the resolution weren’t enough to make up for the other ways I was really disappointed.
Finally, I love Orion. And I truly believe he deserved better. Not just from the other characters, but from the author.
Honestly, really heartbroken with this one, guys.
Graphic: Animal death, Bullying, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Mental illness, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism