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aseel_reads'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
3.75
Moderate: Sexual harassment, Body shaming, Child death, Child abuse, Colonisation, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Religious bigotry, Toxic friendship, Genocide, Gun violence, War, Blood, Kidnapping, Medical content, Rape, Torture, Violence, Vomit, Bullying, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Slavery, and Toxic relationship
taratearex's review against another edition
- 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
3.5
This is a fantasy loosely based on French colonization of a North African country, I was on board from the start with that premise as I studied Arabic and lived in Egypt for a summer, so I really enjoyed seeing the fantasy elements that referenced this and I thought this worked really well and was really well done, the world felt real and the worldbuilding interesting and detailed. I enjoyed the absolutely messy characters in this, even if I was like WHAT ARE YOU DOING a lot of the time, I think the messiness also did make sense when you think about Luca's desire for power fighting with her desire to be a good leader, this gets very white savior too so it's hard to sympathize with her character at all sometimes, but her as the opposing character to Touraine did make for interesting dynamics. And then Touraine, oof, her being deeply brainwashed by the military and then being thrown back into a world she should have known and dealing with a lot of trauma trying to free herself and find herself, she's a mess and it makes sense why- but the in world motivations for why characters sympathized with her did get a bit hard to believe. BUT everyone in this book is deeply flawed and so messy I went with it, and they are all handled with care, even side characters have stories to make them fuller people. Also the disability rep was great and I loved that it was a queer normative world.
Where I think it goes off the rail a bit is just that there are a lot of loose ends that get left dangling as you go through the book and so when I got to the last quarter I expected to see some of those tied up and instead it went kind of more off the rails. Motivations of characters became even more murky, the magic that gets introduced doesn't really get much explanation or time so I'm still not really sure what happened in a couple of the last scenes, and there's an alliance that seemed crucial sort of disappears?
Knowing that this is a trilogy it's always hard to know if some things are just being saved for the next book, so maybe some of these will be explained more in the next book, and I do think I will continue with the series as it was really engaging - it was very dense though so I totally see where some people lost interest in the complicated military and political dynamics, but I thought it was all very interesting, sometimes I'd look up and I'd just read for an hour without looking up, which is kind of rare for me.
Graphic: Blood, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Colonisation, Death, Racism, and Violence
Moderate: Kidnapping, Medical content, Medical trauma, Panic attacks/disorders, Excrement, Grief, Cannibalism, Fatphobia, Sexual assault, and Vomit
talonsontypewriters's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Murder, Gore, Gun violence, Slavery, Violence, Grief, Blood, Classism, Confinement, Xenophobia, Colonisation, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Police brutality, Racism, and War
Moderate: Chronic illness, Torture, Emotional abuse, Religious bigotry, Ableism, Medical content, Sexual harassment, Pandemic/Epidemic, Trafficking, Child abuse, Fire/Fire injury, and Kidnapping
Minor: Animal death, Child death, Vomit, Death of parent, Sexual content, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, and Alcohol
Execution by hanging. Power imbalance in relationship (representative of colonizing government/colonized subject).bookcasey's review against another edition
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Strong colonizer themes.
Graphic: Gun violence, Violence, and Colonisation
Moderate: Medical content
Minor: Sexual assault and Sexual harassment
laurajeangrace's review
- 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
3.75
Graphic: Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, Colonisation, War, Vomit, Violence, Racism, Xenophobia, Death, and Confinement
Moderate: Medical content, Sexual assault, and Rape
alexalily'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
5.0
Graphic: Classism, Medical content, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual assault, Grief, Gun violence, Murder, Colonisation, Confinement, Death, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Violence, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, Terminal illness, Gore, Police brutality, Slavery, and War
Moderate: Blood, Bullying, Chronic illness, Physical abuse, Torture, and Alcohol
Minor: Ableism, Animal death, Excrement, Self harm, Vomit, Cursing, and Child abuse
leaflit'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
4.0
Graphic: Chronic illness, Blood, Racism, Death, Gun violence, Violence, Colonisation, Confinement, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Grief, Lesbophobia, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Slavery, Torture, Toxic relationship, Ableism, Alcohol, Child abuse, Genocide, Medical content, Outing, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Sexual content, Sexual violence, and Terminal illness
griffinthief'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
3.0
Graphic: Racism, Violence, Chronic illness, Cursing, Blood, Emotional abuse, Grief, War, Medical content, Murder, Physical abuse, Vomit, Torture, Classism, Confinement, Death, Genocide, Terminal illness, Sexual harassment, Religious bigotry, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Police brutality
Moderate: Ableism and Suicide
foreverinastory'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? Yes
5.0
Touraine was stolen as a child and raised in the Balladairan empire. The only loyalty she has is to her fellow Sands, the other stolen Qazali child soldiers. Now that Touraine has been sent back to her homeland she has reckon with the ties she thought were gone and what rebellion means. Princess Luca needs to get her uncle off the throne. If she can stop the rebellion in Qazal, it will prove she's ready to ascend the throne. But negotiating peace comes at a higher price than she expects.
I am really glad I took my time with this book. I loved getting to know Touraine, the Sands, the Qazali and the whole world. It was immersive and I constantly wanted to know more about this world and the magic. Touraine makes a lot of mistakes and difficult decisions throughout this book. It was quite messy, but seeing the way her loyalties kept her torn between the Balladairan Empire and the Qazali felt realistic and truly illustrates how insidious colonisation is.
I wouldn't really categorize this as a romance, though there are some romantic relationships in this. I don't really know how to feel about the possibility of Luca and Touraine, especially after the end. There is definitely a power imbalance here and while Luca is a nice person, there's lived experiences she'll never understand. Plus throughout this we see Touraine constantly have to sacrifice those close to her, but Luca is constantly insulated from this choice. I guess the jury is still out on this ship for me, but I'm very invested in these characters future journeys, especially Touraine.
Rep: Sapphic BIPOC female solider MC, sapphic disabled female MC who uses a cane periodically, BIPOC supporting cast, wlw side characters, nonbinary side character, queer normative world.
CWs: Animal death, blood, colonisation/imperialism, confinement to prison cell, cursing, death, genocide, grief, gun violence, injury/injury detail, murder, racial slurs, racism, torture, violence, war. Moderate: fire, kidnapping, medical content, attempted/threatened rape, sexual harassment, slavery (forced enlistment of conquered people). Past mentions of child abuse/death by the military.
Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Colonisation, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Genocide, Grief, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Racial slurs, Racism, Torture, Violence, and War
Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Kidnapping, Medical content, Rape, Sexual harassment, and Slavery
Minor: Child abuse and Child death
paigemandia's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Graphic: Rape, Gun violence, Violence, Sexual harassment, Religious bigotry, Murder, Medical trauma, Medical content, Grief, Gore, Forced institutionalization, Excrement, Death, Colonisation, Blood, Animal death, and Alcohol