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softanimal's review
5.0
Graphic: Child death, Colonisation, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, War, and Confinement
julesadventurezone'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
3.75
Graphic: Colonisation, Death, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Kidnapping, Child abuse, Genocide, Blood, Body horror, Child death, Fire/Fire injury, and Violence
Minor: Pregnancy, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, and Self harm
msawyer77's review
- 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
4.0
Minor: Confinement, Colonisation, Death, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, Self harm, and Violence
scrubsandbooks's review
- 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
This book felt more like an introduction to this world and to the political turmoil that is likely to play a huge role in the main character's future. While I don't see an indication on storygraph that it would be part of a series, the ending does set up a sort of an opening for a sequel and I am hoping it is because while a lot happens, it is still set up to read like a beginning of something bigger than what was in this book.
It is a pretty heavy info-packed book and it might take some tries to get into but when I stuck to it, I found the characters to be a whole mood ("I don't need rest, I'm fueled by spite"). Kai is straight up Le Tired, and Ziede wants to find her wife -- a relationship, by the way, that you get to see blossom in almost a mini arc between the two weaving timelines. The one is definitely worth a reread and I see it approaching the same level of "epic fantasy" as a lot of great ones published in the past.
Graphic: War, Violence, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Genocide and Confinement
Minor: Slavery
scifi_rat's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.25
Prose: 4★
Pace: 3.75★
Concept/Execution: 4★/5★
Characters: 4.5★
Worldbuilding: 4★
Ending: 4.25★
Graphic: Death, Violence, War, Blood, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Self harm
Moderate: Cursing, Physical abuse, Torture, Colonisation, Grief, Kidnapping, Confinement, and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Abandonment, Animal death, and Vomit
lbelow's review against another edition
4.0
The only reason I'm not giving it a higher rating is the flashbacks. Don't get me wrong, they were entertaining enough, but ultimately the book could be read without them without losing context. In other words: they didn't add to the story.
Graphic: Self harm, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Gore
Minor: Torture, War, and Kidnapping
chris_reads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Graphic: Violence, Death, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, and War
Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, and Murder
Minor: Self harm, Slavery, and Trafficking
alisonvh's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
That said, once I got into it, I really enjoyed it. It’s fast paced, action packed, smart, and had me laughing out loud throughout the book. All things at which Martha Wells excels.
Graphic: Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Fire/Fire injury, Kidnapping, Murder, Blood, Forced institutionalization, Death, and War
Moderate: Grief
laurareads87's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.0
This novel does a lot of things that I love: multiple timelines used effectively, political intrigue that isn't predictable, wonderful relationship dynamics between characters. It is worth noting that this is not entry-level fantasy - Wells throws the reader into the world with a list of characters and not much else to go on, and the reader must navigate a ton of new terminology (for peoples, organizations, forms of magic, etc.) without any real guidance. The benefit of this is that there is zero 'info-dumping' here. The drawback, I think, is that it can feel a bit hard to get into at the beginning. It's worth it: when it comes together, it's wonderful.
While not the focus of the book, there are ways that gender is addressed that are worth paying attention to -- demons (at least all the ones we meet throughout the book) seem to have fixed gender identities (Kaiisteron is unambiguously 'he' throughout) but may of course occupy any and all kinds of bodies, and the different cultures in this fantasy world do (or don't) distinguish gender in different ways (ex. sometimes dress is a distinguishing factor, sometimes it isn't).
This novel is, as I understand it, written as a standalone and it absolutely works as one: it is self-contained. I will say, though, that given the depth of this world-building, I'd love to see more works by Wells set in this series, whether with this same cast of characters or otherwise.
Content warnings: violence, murder, death, injury detail, war, colonization, forcible confinement, blood, torture
Graphic: Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, Confinement, Violence, War, Murder, Blood, and Torture
blacksphinx's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
However... This one is so full of heart with such a unique world that I'm wrestling with the rating. I think it's a little too much, with all its rich cultures and three different magic systems (and all the various Fantasy Words used to describe them), but I can't fault her for having a big and varied world? The danmei influence upon this work is powerful and welcomed. But the actual plot is so thin. "Nothing really happened, but it was beautiful and made me feel a spark of hope" is such a hard thing to assign a number between 1 and 5 to.
Graphic: Colonisation, Torture, War, Xenophobia, Violence, Death, Child death, Murder, Confinement, Body horror, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Slavery, Grief, Genocide, Racism, and Suicidal thoughts
Minor: Alcohol