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scrubsandbooks's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
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
4.0
If you love a Cinderella retelling crossed with Sailor Moon, with almost an anime-esque storyline, this is the one for you. Bonus for queer side characters and a himbo male love interest.
It was a cute story, I laughed a whole lot at many moment, and thoroughly enjoyed myself. This one is a good one if you’re looking for an East Asian setting that would make for a quick easy read without an overly convoluted plot. The climax though seemed to drag one and a few twists were more on the predictable side.
It was a cute story, I laughed a whole lot at many moment, and thoroughly enjoyed myself. This one is a good one if you’re looking for an East Asian setting that would make for a quick easy read without an overly convoluted plot. The climax though seemed to drag one and a few twists were more on the predictable side.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Ableism, Domestic abuse, Child abuse, and Violence
Moderate: Animal death, War, and Homophobia
Minor: Confinement and Vomit
rainydaycookies's review
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse
Moderate: Death of parent
Minor: War
hailstorm3812's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
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? It's complicated
4.0
I wasn't sure about this at first because it has a very young vibe and worried I was too old to enjoy it, but I was pleased to be incorrect. It is very silly and charming in a way that makes it enjoyable for all ages. It has mythology, fairytales, queer characters, shapeshifting cats, and good looking giggles, what's more to want? I liked the characters and relationships, especially Zhara and her sister. I will definitely be tuning in for Yulana's book and this Beast character's story.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment and Body horror
Moderate: Child abuse
Minor: War, Sexual harassment, Transphobia, Physical abuse, Homophobia, Death of parent, Sexism, and Toxic relationship
hobbithopeful's review
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
2.5 stars
I love fantasy, especially mythology, so I was so excited to read this, but the execution made me regret reading it.
An overall boring read, it lacked the type of writing that made you want to stay up all night. I don't know exactly what it is about this story or the style that makes it so hard to stay engaged with, but I largely attribute my dislike to the writing. The dialogue was very cheesy at times, and there is a lot of telling rather then showing that occurs in this book. The characters were hard to like, and the disability rep is quite frankly terrible. Suzhan was infantilized numerous times, and it feels like the author has no idea what it is actually like to live as a blind person. She is treated more as an invalid then an actual person. It reads more of an after thought then something that was put genuine time and research into.
The characters just feel so...I can't even put into words what is so wrong with them. They are fleshed out, and have different characteristics, they just feel dull. A book about fantasy and magic should never feel dull.
I did enjoy the world-building and all the magic, that was very fun to read.
It becomes very obvious within the first few chapters what is going to happen. While that is not unusual for books, instead of being excited by the journey from point a to point b, it lacked substance.
There is a lot of queer rep, in that the characters that are queer seem to flirt with everything that moves.
It has taken me an inordinate amount of time to slog through this book. I received it as an ARC through Netgalley, and heavily considered dnf-ing it several times.
I personally would not recommend this, nor I will I be reading the next book in the series. At this time I don't think the authors' writing style is for me either.
This is a winning cover, it is absolutely gorgeous, and a lot of people will definitely buy this for how pretty it looks. The composition and design work seamlessly, and I love the font used.
Thank you netgalley for this ARC
I love fantasy, especially mythology, so I was so excited to read this, but the execution made me regret reading it.
An overall boring read, it lacked the type of writing that made you want to stay up all night. I don't know exactly what it is about this story or the style that makes it so hard to stay engaged with, but I largely attribute my dislike to the writing. The dialogue was very cheesy at times, and there is a lot of telling rather then showing that occurs in this book. The characters were hard to like, and the disability rep is quite frankly terrible. Suzhan was infantilized numerous times, and it feels like the author has no idea what it is actually like to live as a blind person. She is treated more as an invalid then an actual person. It reads more of an after thought then something that was put genuine time and research into.
The characters just feel so...I can't even put into words what is so wrong with them. They are fleshed out, and have different characteristics, they just feel dull. A book about fantasy and magic should never feel dull.
I did enjoy the world-building and all the magic, that was very fun to read.
It becomes very obvious within the first few chapters what is going to happen. While that is not unusual for books, instead of being excited by the journey from point a to point b, it lacked substance.
There is a lot of queer rep, in that the characters that are queer seem to flirt with everything that moves.
It has taken me an inordinate amount of time to slog through this book. I received it as an ARC through Netgalley, and heavily considered dnf-ing it several times.
I personally would not recommend this, nor I will I be reading the next book in the series. At this time I don't think the authors' writing style is for me either.
This is a winning cover, it is absolutely gorgeous, and a lot of people will definitely buy this for how pretty it looks. The composition and design work seamlessly, and I love the font used.
Thank you netgalley for this ARC
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood and Body horror
Minor: Emotional abuse, Child abuse, and Death of parent
mezzythedragon's review against another edition
slow-paced
2.75
Conceptually, it was interesting, but the pacing got all jumbled by the middle. Also, I wasn’t getting into the worldbuilding.
But yay for not-so-subtle BTS references,
But yay for not-so-subtle BTS references,
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child abuse and Ableism
ninebookishlives's review
funny
lighthearted
4.0
Disability rep (blind sc)
Lesbian rep (sc)
Asian rep (author and characters)
Perfect for fans of Sailor Moon, Cinder, and The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea. Fun, nostalgic cozy fantasy.
Lesbian rep (sc)
Asian rep (author and characters)
Perfect for fans of Sailor Moon, Cinder, and The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea. Fun, nostalgic cozy fantasy.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Alcohol and Child abuse
Minor: Death of parent
guessgreenleaf's review
adventurous
emotional
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Physical abuse, Gaslighting, and Domestic abuse
Moderate: Death of parent, Sexual harassment, and Alcoholism
vicwaltz's review against another edition
lighthearted
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Our female main character, Zhara, is a bit generic "magical girl." Which, I guess, so was Usagi but what works in an anime doesn't necessarily translate to a novel. That said, she's one of the few characters whose motivations are super clear and also evolve throughout the novel. Han, our main guy/love interest is a full tilt himbro and while his antics are cute, they're a little hard to believe. No one would actually be this silly/dumb. His best friend Xu is significantly more interesting but also I never quite sorted what they wanted for themselves/what they're up to. This is clearly setting up to be a longer series but I would love to know more about all of the side characters. Additionally a LOT of time is spent world-building and explaining the political structure, which is interesting but also affects pacing.
I think the biggest thing is that the novel reads like a middle-grade targeted anime but that's not how it's marketed. The premise is super interesting and I really want to love it but I just don't. That said, I think if this reaches the audience of younger teens/tweens, it will be well received.
Specific to the audiobook: The narration does a phenom job bringing the characters to life! Excellent quality.
I think the biggest thing is that the novel reads like a middle-grade targeted anime but that's not how it's marketed. The premise is super interesting and I really want to love it but I just don't. That said, I think if this reaches the audience of younger teens/tweens, it will be well received.
Specific to the audiobook: The narration does a phenom job bringing the characters to life! Excellent quality.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Child abuse, and Ableism
sarahyjackson's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
mysterious
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? It's complicated
4.75
Satisfied every toonami Sailor Moon childhood nostalgia desire I had for it!
I found myself sort of rushing through the climactic event scenes but I sort of felt that way in Sailor Moon, too. Sometimes it really do be the friends and hero you make and become along the way.
I found myself sort of rushing through the climactic event scenes but I sort of felt that way in Sailor Moon, too. Sometimes it really do be the friends and hero you make and become along the way.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Ableism, Body horror, Child abuse, Death, and Emotional abuse
Minor: Lesbophobia
bookswithmick's review against another edition
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? Yes
1.0
I wanted this to be good.....and it was so, so, so unbelievably not.
This is not age appropriate for any group of people. The characters act like ten year olds and are EXTREMELY juvenile and immature, and yet they're also making sex jokes constantly and talking about porn. It is both very middle grade and very adult and YA readers are not going to jive with it, even though they're technically in the middle. Who wants to read about kids with the maturity of ten year olds making porn jokes? Certainly not me. And "joke" is a strong word. Nothing in this was funny.
The plot wasn't the worst, but it also was not original. It didn't even start until like 30% in, and by then I was so irritated it was hard to get into it. The world could have been good, but it wasn't explored much because we just had to constantly hear about Zhara having the "good-looking giggles" every. single. time. she saw someone she found attractive. A lot that happened was repetitive and I've absolutely read in plenty of other books, the characters were obnoxious, the hints at the plot twists were blatantly obvious, and it was all just very poorly executed. Could've been decent even though it was unoriginal, but the writing was so bland and repetitive that i just ended up hating every moment.
Also why is BTS randomly in this?? There's a boy band that shows up super far into the story and is very obviously BTS and it just doesn't fit at all with anything that has happened. It felt kinda weird and off.
The last thing, and one that I really struggled with: for a book that's supposed to have good representation, it does NOT. Yes, there are LGBTQ+ characters and nonbinary pronouns and that was all good. We love a queernorm world. However, there is a disabled character that was represented in a way that made me really uncomfortable. I do not have this disability so my opinion may be skewed, but she was made out to be completely useless by most of the characters for the ENTIRE book, solely because of her disability. She is defined by that alone. I couldn't tell you anything else about her besides her disability, and that's just depressing to write in this review. Don't distill someone's entire essence down to a disability!
Furthermore, the MMC is constantly put down and made fun of for being stupid and vapid. Constantly. I can't even count the number of times they told him, to his face and behind his back, that he was thick (dumb) and too obsessed with working out/his appearance and that some people liked to be around him because he was too stupid to notice anything or be a problem. WTF??? Mocking intelligence is not cute and it's not funny and is NOT something we should be encouraging in a joking manner in a YA book (he's also made fun of for not understanding porn; no idea why that was in there at all and it made me feel super weird and icky).
Obviously I am heated. This book was bad on so many levels and I honestly cannot think of anybody to recommend it to, since the characters act like actual children while also making very inappropriate "jokes" for children. And with the way some characters are treated, i just....cannot recommend this.
The good? The cover is colorful. I liked that. And i liked the concept. The execution was just not there.
Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the ALC. I feel bad I disliked it as much as I did but such is life sometimes.
This is not age appropriate for any group of people. The characters act like ten year olds and are EXTREMELY juvenile and immature, and yet they're also making sex jokes constantly and talking about porn. It is both very middle grade and very adult and YA readers are not going to jive with it, even though they're technically in the middle. Who wants to read about kids with the maturity of ten year olds making porn jokes? Certainly not me. And "joke" is a strong word. Nothing in this was funny.
The plot wasn't the worst, but it also was not original. It didn't even start until like 30% in, and by then I was so irritated it was hard to get into it. The world could have been good, but it wasn't explored much because we just had to constantly hear about Zhara having the "good-looking giggles" every. single. time. she saw someone she found attractive. A lot that happened was repetitive and I've absolutely read in plenty of other books, the characters were obnoxious, the hints at the plot twists were blatantly obvious, and it was all just very poorly executed. Could've been decent even though it was unoriginal, but the writing was so bland and repetitive that i just ended up hating every moment.
Also why is BTS randomly in this?? There's a boy band that shows up super far into the story and is very obviously BTS and it just doesn't fit at all with anything that has happened. It felt kinda weird and off.
The last thing, and one that I really struggled with: for a book that's supposed to have good representation, it does NOT. Yes, there are LGBTQ+ characters and nonbinary pronouns and that was all good. We love a queernorm world. However, there is a disabled character that was represented in a way that made me really uncomfortable. I do not have this disability so my opinion may be skewed, but she was made out to be completely useless by most of the characters for the ENTIRE book, solely because of her disability. She is defined by that alone. I couldn't tell you anything else about her besides her disability, and that's just depressing to write in this review. Don't distill someone's entire essence down to a disability!
Furthermore, the MMC is constantly put down and made fun of for being stupid and vapid. Constantly. I can't even count the number of times they told him, to his face and behind his back, that he was thick (dumb) and too obsessed with working out/his appearance and that some people liked to be around him because he was too stupid to notice anything or be a problem. WTF??? Mocking intelligence is not cute and it's not funny and is NOT something we should be encouraging in a joking manner in a YA book (he's also made fun of for not understanding porn; no idea why that was in there at all and it made me feel super weird and icky).
Obviously I am heated. This book was bad on so many levels and I honestly cannot think of anybody to recommend it to, since the characters act like actual children while also making very inappropriate "jokes" for children. And with the way some characters are treated, i just....cannot recommend this.
The good? The cover is colorful. I liked that. And i liked the concept. The execution was just not there.
Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the ALC. I feel bad I disliked it as much as I did but such is life sometimes.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Ableism, and Child abuse
Moderate: Body shaming