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rachelann88'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? No
4.0
Moderate: Murder and Death
Minor: Blood, Colonisation, Sexual assault, Torture, Cultural appropriation, Stalking, Racism, Sexual violence, Child death, Adult/minor relationship, and Rape
leannanecdote's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Violence, Stalking, Misogyny, Grief, Adult/minor relationship, Pregnancy, Murder, Death, Death of parent, Cultural appropriation, Colonisation, Sexual harassment, Sexism, Kidnapping, and Abandonment
Minor: Rape and Sexual assault
carolinemwatson's review
4.25
Moderate: Sexual assault, Rape, Kidnapping, Murder, Racism, Trafficking, and Adult/minor relationship
alyssasaurus's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Moderate: Car accident, Colonisation, Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Blood, Bullying, Cultural appropriation, Death, Mental illness, Murder, Pedophilia, Pregnancy, Cursing, Death of parent, Grief, and Racism
Minor: Rape, Sexual assault, Adult/minor relationship, Abandonment, and Vomit
sarahbethhh'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? No
3.0
The love and care that went into FKD was one of a kind — and unfortunately I didn’t see the same in WGU. The character development and relationships felt flat. It was difficult to care about the characters because they just didn’t feel whole. The plot felt both rushed and dragged. In a lot of ways, it felt weirdly unfocused.
However, the subject matter is so important and I am so grateful Boulley approached it from this angle. I learned a lot about a subject that’s often danced around or completely ignored. Making this topic accessible within a storyline that appeals to readers of various genres is not a feat to dismiss. While it wasn’t my favorite work from Boulley, I’ll absolutely be recommending this one for others.
Graphic: Death, Racism, Grief, Child death, Kidnapping, Cultural appropriation, and Colonisation
Moderate: Rape
Minor: Adult/minor relationship
cookiecat73'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? It's complicated
4.5
I loved the characters and the themes, thought they were very well handled. The prose was easy to read, flowed well, the sort I'm able to fly through and read lots at once. The only thing stopping me from doing that was how heavy the book was, and even despite that I read it in 2 and a half days.
Some books like this have some sort of emotional climax that I have to pause the book at to cry. That didn't really happen to me with this book. Instead I found myself tearing up at what felt like every other chapter.
I read the blurb for this book when I was around the half-way mark, thinking that it was unlikely to spoil anything that far in. It absolutely did. I guess I'm more spoiler-sensitive than most people, but wow, did they really need to tell you that in the blurb? the thing you're meant to read before trying the book? oh well.
Some thoughts about something that is kind of spoilery:
There isn't really anything in this book that I feel able to critisize. There's nothing I want to take out or completely do over. But there are a lot of moments where I think something could be added. In general I just wanted more from the book. I loved following these characters and their lives, and there are so many times when the narrative skips a few days and all we hear about them is a quick summarry from a character. I would have loved some of those days to have been included in the book. It feels like a lot happens off-page, and I know the book is fairly long already, but personally, I would have loved it longer, to have it include those days and moments it skims over. I think seeing some of that would have made the story feel more real and whole to me. (not that it felt not real or not whole! I loved the book, I mean just as an improvement.)
The other main thing I would add is more time for the emotions. Again, there are no descriptions of emotions that I would do differently or take out, but I want more. So many traumatising things happen, there are so many moments when our characters are clearly very shaken up and struggling, and personally, I think the narrative could have done with giving the emotional impact more time and space. Sometimes giving only the bare minimum in describing the characters reactions and feelings feels like a great intentional choice, but I think here we needed a bit more. We are told our main character cries a lot (which is good!) but I would have liked more descriptions of her feelings in those moments. And again it's where we skip over hours or days and processing happens off-page. I think that can work great if it's because the character barely remembers it because of how traumatising it was, but again, I think too much was left out and skimmed over in this case.
The ending and resolution too, feel a bit too fast and rushed for my taste. And I'm left a little confused over some of the things that happened, though I'm not sure if that's something the book did wrong or if not understanding was on me here.
[the "critism" about emotions is the one I stand by here the most, the others I think are very much personal taste, as it's something I've noticed happen quite a bit with books I read. my reviews are always about my personal enjoyment of books though, so I'm still mentioning them!]
Overall though, I loved this. I will absolutely be reading FIrekeeper's Daughter and probably any more books that the author writes if they look like the sort of book I like
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Violence, Xenophobia, Car accident, Confinement, Drug use, Mental illness, Misogyny, Blood, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Murder, Racism, and Sexism
Moderate: Alcohol, Forced institutionalization, Genocide, Grief, Lesbophobia, Cultural appropriation, Biphobia, Colonisation, Gore, Homophobia, Medical content, and Outing
Minor: Sexual assault, Sexual content, Vomit, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Rape, Sexual harassment, Stalking, Animal death, Sexual violence, Bullying, Cannibalism, Dementia, and Police brutality
rape is discussed more than just in passing but is not shownmoniipeters'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
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Car accident, Child death, Colonisation, Cultural appropriation, Cursing, Death of parent, Death, Drug use, Drug abuse, Grief, Murder, Police brutality, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Trafficking, and Violence
brokenbodybitch's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Violence, Religious bigotry, Colonisation, Trafficking, Torture, Genocide, Racism, Confinement, Grief, Hate crime, and Kidnapping
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Addiction, Body horror, Classism, Gaslighting, Pregnancy, Sexual violence, and Rape
librasgroove's review
4.25
However, I just did not care for the romance. There was so much more interesting things going on that I just didn’t care. Also, some of the dialogue is incredibly corny.
Moderate: Cultural appropriation, Child death, Colonisation, Death, and Racism
Minor: Rape, Adult/minor relationship, Car accident, and Sexual violence
readingwithkaitlyn'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? It's complicated
4.25
Graphic: Car accident, Death, Kidnapping, Racism, and Violence
Moderate: Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Homophobia, Murder, Blood, Stalking, Bullying, Confinement, Rape, and Cultural appropriation
Minor: Racial slurs, Slavery, Adult/minor relationship, Ableism, Child abuse, Child death, Sexual content, Police brutality, Colonisation, Genocide, Abandonment, Medical content, Vomit, Infidelity, Pregnancy, Medical trauma, Hate crime, Sexual assault, Death of parent, and Forced institutionalization
Rape is not on page, only mentioned and discussed several times on page. There are no child deaths on page, but mentions of young children who have passed.