Reviews with content warning for Deadnaming - Sir Callie and the Champions of Helston

Reviews tagging 'Deadnaming'

Sir Callie and the Champions of Helston by Esme Symes-Smith

39 reviews

bardicbramley's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense 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

5.0

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paladinosaur's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging hopeful inspiring 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

5.0

God this book is so good. I don’t think I’ve ever seen myself more in a protagonist, I wish I could send this book back to my 10 year old self because I know they’d just love it.

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modernmatilda's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional hopeful inspiring sad tense 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? It's complicated

4.0

I am so happy books like these exist in the world; books full of hope and triump and honestly, kids putting rude adults in their place. The nonbinary, queer reb is off the charts and I loved that Callie was flawed too. I would have liked more sword fighting and dragons and less speeches, but I think that is maybe to come in other books. As another reviewer said "be prepared to spend the entire book mad at abusive men"

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betweentheshelves's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful 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

4.5

A lovely middle grade fantasy that's all about finding yourself, being true to yourself, and fighting for those that are different from the norm. Callie is such a great main character, and they are not afriad to jump into the fray, especially if they see an injustice happening. They fight for what's right, and have acquired some great friends along the way.

The pacing was pretty good for this one, as well as the world building. My only complaint is the details about the outside force attacking Helston seemed a little fuzzy, but since it semes like this is the first book in a series, there's time to expand on that in later books!

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321zeggy's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring tense

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Loveable characters? Yes

4.25

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katebrownreads's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional fast-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

4.5

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emily_mh's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

This book was admittedly light on the fantasy plot. The reader knows there’s a “threat” from within a forest, though exactly of what scale and for what reasons is uncertain. While the book’s ending made it clear that this aspect of the plot will be centred in the sequel, I was certainly expecting a few more events of direct involvement with the threat in THIS instalment, but instead it was left to loom in the background. This made it hard to believe in the stakes associated with this part of the plot, particularly as Callie and their father go through the forest (wherein lies the threat) and emerge relatively unscathed with relatively little effort.

The above is a fairly significant criticism. However, I couldn’t rate this less than 4.5 stars which I think speaks to the HIGH quality of the rest of the book. The characters are incredibly dynamic, and I mean ALL of them, not just Callie. Every main and side character had an emotional and at times confronting arc, and every character’s development was earned (rather than just a sudden change in character). As a reader you bear witness to the conversations that progressed the characters, the events that shaped their change. It was truly incredibly done.

The found family element of this book was immaculate. I think some authors think that they’ve achieved this trope simply by having a friend group present in the story, but Symes-Smith clearly knows you have to write this dynamic super carefully to make it believable. Through their writing they convey such intimacy between the characters, both physical and emotional, and once again the reader is privy to the moments which develop and strengthen these bonds. The love that Callie, Nick, and Neil had for one another, and how they extended this to the other children unconditionally, made me feel so warm and happy.

This story is written in a way that is allegorical, so that modern middle-graders (and other readers) will be able to recognise our own binary, oppressive world in that of Callie’s, and so be encouraged by Callie and their friends to enact change. I also think it’s incredibly important for MGs to see healthy and happy family and friend relationships modelled as they are in this book. I really wish I had had this book growing up, as it puts into words the difficulty of being different in your identity, and strongly asserts how exactly how well you should be treated by those around you. It’s safe to say this made me cry multiple times.

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