Reviews tagging 'Religious bigotry'

Nightbirds by Kate J. Armstrong

12 reviews

emsunflower's review

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adventurous emotional inspiring mysterious medium-paced
  • 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


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sadiesaurus's review

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adventurous emotional hopeful reflective tense medium-paced
  • 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

4.75

I really enjoyed this book. The writing was good, the world felt built out and real, the characters (for the most part) felt multidimensional and believable. There were a couple points where it felt like a side character turned on a dime without enough buildup to why they'd feel that way or change their mind in such a manner, but not enough to make me not love the book. 

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bookb1itch's review against another edition

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emotional mysterious tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

Gorgeous, intriguing cover.  Perhaps I made this harder on myself by listening, rather than reading.  There were too many girls and the narrator didn't give them disctinct enough voices.  I was often confused about which "she" was being described.  This spoilt the story for me.  I liked the concept of female magic terrifying the patriarchy, though.  Some great, feisty, feminist moments.  Some of my students have really enjoyed this, though, and will be eagerly awaiting the sequel.

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sophiesmallhands's review against another edition

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emotional mysterious tense fast-paced
  • 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


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jules6469's review against another edition

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adventurous slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.5

I wanted to enjoy this but I just didn’t. The pros are the setting and the concept of magical girls and a magical underground, fighting against the injustice of the church and such. The cons were everything else. I didn’t love the characters. The pacing made it feel like a chore to read. My interest level in the story was like a roller coaster but ultimately flatlined.

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tomoonarmy's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

3.5


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theaceofpages's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

Magic is illegal. But as always seems to be the case, exceptions are made for the rich and powerful. The Nightbirds - a group of masked girls - have magical gifts that they can pass on to others (but not themselves or each other as was the case with the fabled Firebirds) with a kiss. But as the fight against magic grows stronger, they find themselves increasingly at risk and start to lean more about their powers and magic in general.

I had such high hopes for this book. While I did enjoy the plot, I have to say that the characters were largely a let down. While they did all have their defining events, they felt a bit samey and at times I struggled to keep track of which plot belonged to which girl. They all had similar tones and with all the jumping around between points of view it was difficult to pin down personalities. They all just kind of merged into each other. I often felt like the settings had more personality than the actual characters. Which is unfortunate since the relationships between the characters are so important to the storyline.  Fenlin felt the most distinctive to me and is probably the only truly memorable character. It's been a couple of days since I finished the book and she's the only one I really remember. Everyone else is a blur. That's because she was so separate from how the rest of the world works.  I often felt a little lost, although the world kept me just interested enough to keep going.  That being said, I definitely started to enjoy it more towards the end when plots started converging a bit more and the events started being more about the group rather than individuals. It definitely got a bit more coherent at this point. I did kind of forsee quite a few of the plot points though.

I don't think I will be continuing this series as it fell a bit too short of what it should have been, especially because f the characters. I hope that others have better luck with this book than I did.

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wrensreadingroom's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

5.0


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cosxshea's review against another edition

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adventurous medium-paced
  • 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

3.0

There were a few pacing issues with this book. Parts of it seemed to drag on for pages, but then a chapter later we were jumping through a week in the span of a paragraph. 
Despite this, I loved the plot and each of the storylines. The characters had internal issues to work through all while fighting a corrupt system. These problems made each of them more endearing.

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ceeshay's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced
  • 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


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