agustdefault's reviews
169 reviews

absolutely flew through this. what an INCREDIBLE conclusion (ik theres more books but this can definitely stand alone as a trilogy). I honestly didn’t really love the first book but Pierce Brown’s growth throughout this series has been so clear. Everything in this book felt so real. Its friendship, betrayal, rage, love, heartbreak just UGH. The relationships and character dynamics are what really made this book as good as it is. He dove so deeply into character motivations and everything was so clearly thought out that he had me on the edge of my seat the entire time. There is never one clear answer or right thing to do, there’s a real acknowledgment of the atrocities that come with war. just wow. the characters are deeply flawed but you come to understand their actions, even if you dont agree with them. 

ps. i love you forever sevro. one of the greatest side characters ever written. 

huuuge step up in quality. the beginning was a bit slow i think due to the time jump but i got so much of what i was looking for in the first book. the stakes feel so much higher, i love how much grander this book was and it turned into a true space opera rather than being confined to the institute. i finally actually feel a connection to darrow and i love how much further he dove into the ethics and guilt involved in war and revolution. all of my complaints about the female characters and the use of sexual violence as a plot device are completely fixed in this entry. and finally!!! not everything was super obvious. he really built up the tension in this book so much better. obviously there were stakes in the first book but i knew what was going to happen the entire time so i couldnt really get invested or feel the tension. this time was so different. that ending ?!? will be picking up morning star Immediately.

i knew something was gonna happen at the end but was not expecting ares to be dead or for jackal and roque to find out about darrow. im still not sure whats going on with mustang but i honestly expected the whole build up to him telling her to be very anticlimactic. i thought either she would be immediately understanding or say that she had already figured it out so i actually appreciate that that storyline wasnt unbelievably easy like it often is in these types of stories

this one was hard to rate for some reason. i absolutely flew through it like could not put it down!! i love a good battle royale story. i went into this only knowing that trope and im really glad i did because the first ‘twist’ (not really because its in the synopsis) really caught me off guard and i loved it. i really enjoyed the characterization and how even though there are So Many characters they each have a distinct voice and were pretty easy to remember. i think this is an unpopular opinion but i could have done with way more worldbuilding and set up before the institution.

i would have loved to spend more time in the mines and see more of darrow and eo together to make me care about them more. i also honestly could have read another 50 pages of him preparing to become a gold. i felt like that part was pretty rushed and didnt hit as hard as it could’ve. also the ending with mustang like both of those reveals were so obvious omg.

 
other than just generally needing more, my only real problem was the way sexual violence was used as a plot motivator. i dont think including that content is inherently problematic, but the amount of times it was used to move the story along or define certain characters bugged me. 

not nearly as scary as i thought it would be. i think the ideas were really cool but the writing style wasnt really anything to write home about. i wish we had spent more actual time in the house??? like for how much this was supposedly a haunted house book a majority of the book did not actually take place in the house. i think this would have worked better as a novella and the ‘reveal’ of like what happened to stacy would have hit much harder bc it seemed pretty obvious from early on. there were just too many hints at it and it wouldve been more impactful without them. even tho this book was only 260 pages it took much longer than i expected to read. we spent so much time with this ‘agh i have this big secret omg this terrible thing happened’ and not enough time with all the super cool strings that tied everything together. all of the pieces were great, but they didnt quite gel the way i wanted in the end. 

i wish we would’ve had more povs from stacy. also max and jane their story was super interesting esp the ‘i have to get me back’ thing. and the scene of eric seeing himself ?!?

overall the ideas were really great and i look forward to seeing what this author puts out. 

i honestly wasnt expecting much going into this, as most people (including sanderson himself) say this is one of his weakest works. if thats true….i cant wait to get to stormlight. i really loved this story but it doesnt quite match up to mistborn for me so im giving it as close to five stars at it can get. i loved the world and really felt like i was there the whole time! my only issue was with character development, specifically sarene and raoden. while i did end up caring about them, they didnt really have any sort of character arc and they stayed true to their original traits. hrathen really stole the show as far as character arcs go, though i did feel like his attitude toward sarene could’ve been a smoother transition. so excited to explore more of the cosmere!!!

ok omg im loving this series!!!! i loved how this one dove deeper into power dynamics and the dangers of giving someone unyielding power…even if they are the good guys. also started to get into an interesting discussion on societal change relying on violence that i wasn’t expecting from a ya superhero story.

im kinda dreading the big reveal now tbh bc adrian and nova r so cute :(

this story is interesting bc while i wouldn’t say i have been surprised by any of the events or twists im still on the edge of my seat waiting for them to happen?? like theres somehow suspense even after ive correctly predicted everything thats happening and thats pretty impressive. 

ive seen a lot of people say this book dragged but i flew right through it! honestly, it was very predictable and i guessed most if not all of the big reveal moments but i had a lot of fun with this story and will def pick up the next one. 

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