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rensreading'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? It's complicated
5.0
the plot? exquisite! the characters? phenomenal! the progression of relationships? flawless! all the twists and turns had me on the edge of my seat!
i think my favorite character would have to be tané. we didn’t get as much of her story as we did the others, true. but she spoke to my soul. a hidden past, seemingly abandoned by her birth parents and taken in by the temple (i’m like 80% sure it was a temple anyway) to learn and train to one day become a rider, having a dragon choose her and call her kin, claiming she has the heart of a dragon all while battling an insurmountable amount of guilt for lives she’s put in danger due to her own ambition. ughhhh i just loved her. i can’t explain it right. just know she’s marvelous and i wish only happy things for her from here on out.
i also love that all the queerness was so casual. the only issue anybody had with queer couples were due to blood heirs and classism. that’s it. so refreshing for two people of the same gender to be together and no one has an issue with it for the mere sake of it. especially in fantasy! you would assume since its all made-up, homophobia wouldn’t be a thing many fantasy stories subscribe to but you would be wrong. i also love that ace and aro also had rep in this. lost of people call this a sapphic fantasy, but that feels like a discredit to all the other queer identities represented in this book.
this is a tome, plain and simple. don’t let its size intimidate you though! once the story has you, its not gonna let go until you’ve read all 800+ pages it has for you. you’ll love it. but if you have trouble reading longer books, divide the book up by parts! it helped me immensely!
and when people say the story really starts to pick up at page 250, they truly were not lying.
5 stars (:
[edited 6/29]
Graphic: Confinement, Cursing, Death, Gore, Miscarriage, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Moderate: Gun violence, Incest, Infertility, and Pregnancy
Minor: Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Gaslighting, and Colonisation
concerning the incest: a character raises a child as her own then ends up falling in love with the child once they are grown. they are, fortunately, not blood related.rtaire'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
3.0
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Child death, Confinement, Death, Gore, Infertility, Miscarriage, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Alcoholism, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, and Torture
cathwolfiereads'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
4.75
Graphic: Alcoholism, Child death, Confinement, Death, Blood, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Injury/Injury detail
phoenixfaie'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
5.0
I did listen to the audiobook as well as reading the hardback and while I liked the narrator there were a couple of character voices that I wasn't keen on and they momentarily took me out of the story, but the action had me sucked back in instantly.
Graphic: Gore, Religious bigotry, and Murder
Moderate: Confinement, Sexual content, Violence, and War
darkefyres'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? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Incest, Miscarriage, Violence, Religious bigotry, and Pregnancy
Moderate: Animal death, Confinement, Death, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Xenophobia and Medical content
liaandersson'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? No
Religion: Virtudom and the South have religions stemming from the same historical people, the differences being how these people are portrayed and what their acknowledged accomplishments were. These religious differences put a strain to the fragile relationship between the South and Virtudom. I think this is a terrific analogy of how for example, the real world has countries fighting over which is the one true religion, when the truth is there is no single right one. All of them are right, if they are right for a certain individual. I hope you will understand my sentiment once you have read it, I have a hard time conveying the message through writing.
Mislabeling: There are several instances where foreigners (in relation to the ethnic group discussed) call certain groups by derogatory terms or even slurs. It is, in my opinion, a well-executed representation of modern slurs as well as the misgendering of queer people. The reoccurring scenario where one 'foreign' individual calls another by a negative slur/term, which is then corrected as if someone was misgendered.
Queer: There is plenty of LGB representation among the main cast, as well as scattered information about historical figures and secondary characters. Still, there are no canon trans characters, even though I imagine some of them to be such. Other than the L, G AND B there is not much representation to see in regards of ace/aro, polyamory, intersex, trans and so on.
History: I loved how the history of the fictional world was incorporated as storytellings between characters, and other creative solutions. It took me a hundred pages or so to connect the dots between all the historical people and their relevance, but a bit of switching from the index back to the story here and there eventually solved all of those problems. It was all very much worth it before I even got halfway through the book.
Worldbuildning: Shannon managed to incorporate western, eastern and African fantasy. I loved to see how they all interacted with each other and enhanced one another. I don't believe I can have much to say about whether it was well represented or not, but I do hope it was done as best as could be.
A fair warning that this book, at least in my opinion, is more driven by the characters than by the plot. Due to this, I have heard the common opinion that the ending of the book is quite abrupt, while I think it is quite satisfactory, from the perspective of the character's developmental arcs.
Have a fun read!
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Bullying, Child death, Confinement, Death, Gore, Infertility, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Abandonment, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Confinement, Cursing, Infidelity, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Toxic relationship, Excrement, Vomit, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Colonisation, and Classism
Minor: Confinement, Cursing, Infidelity, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Vomit, Kidnapping, and Religious bigotry
thewordsdevourer's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
never have i read a story so vast in scope, detailed in its lore & legends, steeped in religion. additionally, it's imaginative and fresh, and manages to expertly weave all its scattered narratives tgt (sidenote: this book actually reminds me of the poppy war in its worldbuilding, historical inspo, and fire vs water magic). unfortunately, i think its vast scope's a double-edged sword. bc of its sheer range, we constantly jump around from one location and narrative to another; coupling this lack of prolonged focus w/ the (understandable) 3rd person pov, no character--even the main ones--is explored deep enough for my liking, and ultimately i dont feel any real connection w/ them. this affects my enjoyment--or rather my experience of the book: i couldnt fully immerse myself in the book, despite all the adventures, new lands, dragons, escapes, and court intrigue. it was like i was watching it all happen from a detached distance, and didnt rly feel anything no matter what's happening, despite all the countless times the main characters were imperiled. and that's...not fun bc i highly value emotional connection and evocation in my books. another quabble, although a minor one, is the ultimate dragon-wyrm showdown, where i felt like the power imbalance didnt make sense: the wyrms could breathe fire while the dragons could only fly, and for the dragons to be at a disadvantage during the battle even tho they were water creatures literally fighting in the damn ocean???
honestly, this book's rly good. i particularly enjoyed the thought-provoking exploration of religious differences, themes of open-mindedness and duty, many morally gray characters (not loth tho, thats why i have a soft spot for him), worldbuilding, and feminist msg. it's also prolly the first book w/ pet-human bond trope that melts my hard heart. unfortunately, it didnt rly click w/ me, and the lack of emotional connection--that frustrating absence of some spark, a lil sth--makes this a rly-good-but-not-yet-great read.
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Violence, Xenophobia, and War
Moderate: Biphobia, Chronic illness, Confinement, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Sexual content, Torture, Blood, Murder, and Lesbophobia
Minor: Death of parent
ameliacollins'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? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Religious bigotry, Gaslighting, and War
Moderate: Confinement, Death, Infertility, Miscarriage, Sexual content, and Pregnancy
Minor: Alcoholism, Infertility, Miscarriage, Suicide, Torture, Dementia, Death of parent, and Pregnancy
ibeforem'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? N/A
5.0
The book is a slow start, because there is a lot of world building in the first several chapters. I personally found it helpful to refer to the map, because for a while I didn't realize that the people that were focused on were in different regions of the world. But all of that world building pays off in the end as the story is woven together and our narrators cross each others paths.
A strength of this novel is the complexity of its female characters. Some are strong, some feel trapped, some are leaders, some are traitors. They are witches and queens, pirates and dragon-riders, spies and priestesses.
This particular book is a standalone, but I would definitely read more from this author!
Moderate: Violence and War
Minor: Confinement
futureofmydays'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: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Miscarriage, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Blood, Grief, Medical trauma, Abortion, Murder, Pregnancy, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, War, and Injury/Injury detail