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opallight's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Graphic: Torture, Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Medical content, Gore, Death, and Body horror
Moderate: Cancer and Cannibalism
kalmia31's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.75
Graphic: Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Murder, Death, Death of parent, Gore, Medical trauma, Vomit, and Body horror
Moderate: Chronic illness, Misogyny, Forced institutionalization, Torture, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Child death, Bullying, Classism, Emotional abuse, Grief, Physical abuse, Abandonment, Ableism, Child abuse, Mental illness, Terminal illness, and Toxic friendship
Minor: Cannibalism, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Self harm, Cancer, Pregnancy, and Religious bigotry
zannayo's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Violence, Body horror, Child death, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Torture, Grief, Gore, and Death of parent
Moderate: Terminal illness, Self harm, Cancer, Suicide, Cannibalism, and War
(Mentions specific character deaths)ekcd_'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
4.75
One of the few books I’ve read where I had to physically shout HOLY FUCK during it.
Right now I have it a 4.75 and I’m not entirely sure where the deduction comes from. Maybe the gore? Maybe I’ll change the stars later
Graphic: Blood, Cursing, Medical trauma, Suicide, War, Chronic illness, Gore, Physical abuse, Death of parent, Vomit, Terminal illness, Torture, Body horror, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Violence
possibilityleft's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Violence, Toxic relationship, Grief, Gore, Child abuse, Torture, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Cancer, Body horror, Self harm, Religious bigotry, Murder, Medical content, Genocide, Death, Cannibalism, Blood, Terminal illness, Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, Child death, Abandonment, and Physical abuse
madamenovelist'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
Graphic: Gore, Cursing, Body horror, Violence, Torture, Medical trauma, Medical content, Blood, Toxic friendship, Terminal illness, Colonisation, Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Cancer, Grief, Death of parent, Death, and Classism
wickedgrumpy's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
5.0
I went into this book knowing almost nothing beyond the tag line of Lesbian Necromancers in Space and that it was genre-bending for sci-fi and fantasy. That was enough to sell me on reading it, even though I heard mixed things.
Did it deliver on those premises? Mostly. There are characters that identified as women and showed attraction/flirted with others that also identified as women, some of those characters were also necromancers. With regards to being in space, there is very limited space shuttle travel, so I don't know that I would really quantify it that way, though there is ample room for that to change for the future in the series.
This book was indeed a crossover between sci-fi and fantasy in that it involved a technologically advanced civilization (space travel, and such) but with the deep roots of necromancy that almost took it into dark academia territory. The necromancers are all obsessed in learning new theorems/spells and figuring out things in their specializations, and there are also trials they have to pass and mysteries to solve before they can advance.
There's a lot of tension because it is a competition and you don't really begin to understand the stakes until Act II and then the full whammy hits you near the end.
Also, I feel like I have a conspiracy theory based on the epilogue/info peppered throughout the book so click for spoilers, I guess:
Minor: Abandonment, Body horror, Cursing, Suicide, Torture, Medical content, Murder, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, Cancer, Death, Slavery, Death of parent, Grief, Infertility, Terminal illness, Bullying, Chronic illness, Child abuse, Classism, Confinement, Forced institutionalization, Genocide, Gore, Child death, Stalking, and War
thewickedbookworm's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Violence, Suicide, Murder, Physical abuse, Bullying, Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Terminal illness, Death of parent, Gore, and Death
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Blood, Body horror, Cannibalism, and Torture
Minor: Religious bigotry, Panic attacks/disorders, War, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Cursing, Abandonment, Blood, Grief, Self harm, Cancer, and Medical content
huntress's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
3.0
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Cancer, Cursing, Death, Chronic illness, War, Terminal illness, Blood, Gore, Murder, Violence, Body horror, Child death, Child abuse, Death of parent, Suicide, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Vomit, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Slavery, Grief, Genocide, Torture, Suicide attempt, Bullying, and Suicidal thoughts
Minor: Cannibalism
erebus53'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? It's complicated
4.0
This is a story about a group of necromancers, each paired with a fighter, who are attempting to unlock the secrets of a complex that will allow them to ascend to semi-godhood. They are needed as the tools of a mighty god necrolord who is .. running out of minions (which could cause the end of the empire?). The plot flow runs like a party based RPG and the challenges feel a bit like a videogame. I was reminded of Portal more than once.
This book is a confluence of nerdinesses. The language was appealing to me because the author is a New Zealander (like me). Many of the quirky idioms are from my local Kiwi dialect and from internet memespeek, which meant that I was right at home with the queer parlance. There was even a "yeah nah" in there which made me chuckle, and, until now, I have never once heard of someone referred to in a novel as "a bit of a d*ck". As someone who is interested in anatomy, I found myself familiar with medical terminology that was liberally peppered through the book, and as someone who reads psychology books, I was also familiar with random gushes of pop-psychology neuroscience. This might make the book a little impenetrable or, just exotic? to some readers.
As far as the action in the story is concerned, combat flows like an action anime. There are rapier duels and magic duels and combos of the two. There are weird undead things and so much rot, bone, teeth, goo, viscera, flesh, blood, body parts.. unidentifiable liquids. Things jab and pierce and stick and gloop and spray. I was reminded of Akira, Elfen Lied, and Attack on Titan (and many other newer and less well known titles). The plot turns on a dime and the antagonists launch into expository monologues that reveal that you were completely in the dark in so many ways, but I don't hate it.
Also as in anime there are some .. kind of problematic moments that are pure "fanservice". The main character is continually eyeing-up and sexualising other characters, which comes across as funny, and also very gay, but also a bit eyerollingly cringe.
Wrap this all together with some deep lore, trauma-informed tragic backstory, a few (deliberately) disastrously toxic relationships, and some feels, and you get a recipe for a book that launches a fandom. Yeah, I'll read the others, even if parts of it are a hot mess and I don't actually enjoy all the fight-scenes and battles. The characters are fun and there is enough deliberately left unrevealed that I am intrigued to find out what comes next.
Graphic: Cursing, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Grief, Medical trauma, Blood, Death, Medical content, Murder, Self harm, Death of parent, Cancer, Chronic illness, Gore, Violence, Terminal illness, Vomit, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Confinement, Cannibalism, Mental illness, Suicide, and Suicidal thoughts