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clarabooksit's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Animal cruelty, Violence, Murder, Mental illness, Death, Gun violence, War, Kidnapping, Sexism, and Animal death
Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Xenophobia, Blood, Colonisation, Slavery, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Minor: Homophobia, Racism, and Suicide
bhelena's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.25
ultimately a gripping book i stayed up all night to finish, however there are a couple of things that stop me from rating it higher... i feel like i'm exactly the target audience of this novel, which is why found it so frustrating. i've read most of pulley's books. to be fair, a good editor would have helped most of these but it seems like publishers don't care about that anymore.
1. a common issue in this author's writing but here perhaps the most egregious – characters just fail to react to life shattering events. in a way that doesn't read like prim upper-class manners or depressed apathy or resignation in the face of war. it just seems like oversight to add it in later.
2. several severe cases of natasha pulley sociopathic female side character we're meant to find sympathetic. iykyk. agatha is the clear example but joe's rapist wife is not to be forgotten. her redeeming quality is supposed to be she's a career woman but i find that hard to sympathise with given how little she cares for her baby daughter, who she presumably wanted – given the aforementioned coercion. bad!
3. kite throwing a young boy overboard to keep a secret seems genuinely a step too far and it's never later explained and/or grappled with. i can see the black sails inspiration here (i'm sure we all do) however the writing isn't up to par with that, sorry. i don't mean to imply i'm against morally gray characters but this just seems lazy and like the author herself didn't care to question it – which is a shame, because not grappling with that versus his deep affections seems very out of character for joe.
4. the toddlers in the end. i'm sorry mrs pulley i support your ongoing gay parenting agenda HOWEVER i find it weird joe mourns lily so much but seemingly doesn't care that much for his brother and his wife ceasing to exist overnight. odd. also see previous point: personally i think him and missouri should remain childfree and help educate the war orphans on the ship. again sorry. but i find it odd how quickly joe adjusts to that given how loving and caring towards children he seems otherwise.
5. the representation here feels bridgertonesque.
apologies, may the next one be great!
1. a common issue in this author's writing but here perhaps the most egregious – characters just fail to react to life shattering events. in a way that doesn't read like prim upper-class manners or depressed apathy or resignation in the face of war. it just seems like oversight to add it in later.
2. several severe cases of natasha pulley sociopathic female side character we're meant to find sympathetic. iykyk.
3.
4.
5. the representation here feels bridgertonesque.
apologies, may the next one be great!
Content Warnings
Graphic: War
Moderate: Body horror, Slavery, Child death, Colonisation, and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Sexual violence and Xenophobia
ruthorfiction's review against another edition
challenging
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
This book models a goddamn sine wave (yes, ha ha. I will say I did love the math) from start to finish. I cannot make up my mind how I felt about it; at times I was absolutely enthralled and at other times I wanted to throw it into a river and never pick it up again.
It suffers a little from “just TELL him the TRUTH, stupid” syndrome but if you can get past that I do think Pulley handles the time travel and alternate histories/futures stuff really well. I’d love to see whatever nightmare of a timeline she had while writing this because, genuinely, what a herculean effort.
However! We are back at the true trough of the sine wave which is that both of the main characters (and many of the sides!) made me want to shout “why would you DO that??” roughly once every five chapters. I love an unhinged little weirdo as much as next person but my god. None of these people ever had hinges in the first place.
Yes, it was fun to see Joe make assumptions about Kite’s horrible seeming actions that then turn out to be reasonably justified. We spend half the book being shown that Kite is not really a monster, he’s just deeply traumatized and pragmatic and banging around inside his own skull weeping, EXCEPT then the justification for the one action Kite takes that really does make him a monster is… “it would make it harder for me to convince this man who hates me to help us”. (And help them do something I’m not really convinced Kite even wants? Are we supposed to think England winning is the good outcome because at least they outlawed slavery? Because it was their home in the first place? Because I’m mostly a dumb american but I feel like the Irish and Scotish and Welsh might have something to say about that. Whatever. An empire’s an empire, I guess.)
Anyway. I want to clamp this book between my teeth and shake it like a dog and also never think of it again. Pulley is a good writer and this book was enthralling to the point that even though it baffled me and I’m not sure I liked it I still finished. I don’t know how to end this except to say—justice for Fred .
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Slavery, Gun violence, and Violence
Moderate: Xenophobia
spacebornfew's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
- 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
5.0
There's something about Natasha Pulley's books that just breaks me every time. They contain these moments that elicit this indescribable feeling of safety and warmth and belonging that curls up in my gut and sits there for days afterwards. Those moments intersperse with heartbreak and remorse and questions about what makes us who we are... I'm going to have a hell of a hangover from this book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Self harm, Child death, Fire/Fire injury, War, Violence, Animal death, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Slavery, Gun violence, Suicide, Torture, and Blood
Minor: Xenophobia
breadwitchery's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gun violence, War, and Violence
Moderate: Child death, Slavery, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Confinement, Animal death, and Xenophobia
Minor: Suicide, Homophobia, Rape, Cursing, Alcohol, and Sexual content
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