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bluejayreads's review against another edition
4.0
On the surface, an entertaining heist fantasy where a group of teenage magic thieves stumble on a conspiracy that they have to stop before it destroys the world. But it's also a viciously emotional story about loss, fear, friendship, and love. I can see how some people might find the emotions over-the-top and Diz's reactions ridiculous, but I found them spot-on to my experience with Borderline Personality Disorder. Even though I could see where Diz was making things harder for herself, I could relate. A solid read all around.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment and Grief
Moderate: Death of parent, Death, Terminal illness, and Chronic illness
Minor: Ableism, Gun violence, and Excrement
Pandemic, natural disastermiserablemoons's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
funny
inspiring
lighthearted
relaxing
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Chronic illness, Terminal illness, and Panic attacks/disorders
Moderate: Death of parent
melaniereadsbooks's review
adventurous
tense
medium-paced
- 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
4.25
I am apparently reading England's books in reverse order of when they were published so I guess I'm onto the Disasters next haha!
This book was so fun, but dealt with some really heavy topics! I didn't particularly love Dizzy, the MC, but I do think she grew a lot over the course of the book. I really loved Remi and the rest of Dizzy's found family/heist crew! I can't help but think I would have enjoyed this more if told from Remi's pov instead of Dizzy's.
The world building is really interesting and I love the blend of sci-fi and fantasy! This is kind of a bit of cyberpunk, too, which is really fun! I enjoyed the plot a lot and loved the parts about magic and tech! Great book!
This book was so fun, but dealt with some really heavy topics! I didn't particularly love Dizzy, the MC, but I do think she grew a lot over the course of the book. I really loved Remi and the rest of Dizzy's found family/heist crew! I can't help but think I would have enjoyed this more if told from Remi's pov instead of Dizzy's.
The world building is really interesting and I love the blend of sci-fi and fantasy! This is kind of a bit of cyberpunk, too, which is really fun! I enjoyed the plot a lot and loved the parts about magic and tech! Great book!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Death of parent, Death, Chronic illness, Terminal illness, and Panic attacks/disorders
Moderate: Gun violence and Violence
Minor: Blood
solomonsnow's review
adventurous
funny
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
medium-paced
- 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
3.5
Pros:
- A nice found family main cast
- Majority of the main cast are of mixed races
- Majority of main cast are also LGBT
- The worldbuilding is awesome; a mix of magic realism and sci-fi. Large and expansive cyberpunk-esque cities in a futuristic setting with hovercars and robots. The magic system of "maz" is incredibly interesting with magic users being able to pull the magic from the air and "weave" it, and "techwitches" wear cybernetic gloves that allow them to do the same
- Main character is a hacker and the author actually knows what they're talking about - no technobabble or jargon to be seen here
- The mystery around maz-13 is pretty good and I didn't manage to predict the outcome
- Canon gay relationships, yay!
Cons:
- The main character is unbelievably obnoxious and she'll probably anger most readers. Her constant avoidance to talk or do anything to help herself is beyond incomprehensible and you'll be pulling out your hair wondering why she doesn't just say what's on her mind. This is probably the worst thing about the book that really brings it down
- The trauma and darkness of everything is sometimes laid on a little too thick and can get corny or laughable at times
- Lots of Tumblr humor that will get on most people's nerves unless you're 16 years old and still say "hecking pupper"
- Pacing is unbelievably slow in the first half, and then unbelievably fast in the second half. You go a solid 200 pages without knowing the general appearances of 3/4 of the main characters
- I predicted the twist character betrayal from the moment the character was introduced
Overall a 6.5/10. Read it if you're in the mood for some fun shenanigans, an epic world and a nice gay romance but don't expect anything groundbreaking.
- A nice found family main cast
- Majority of the main cast are of mixed races
- Majority of main cast are also LGBT
- The worldbuilding is awesome; a mix of magic realism and sci-fi. Large and expansive cyberpunk-esque cities in a futuristic setting with hovercars and robots. The magic system of "maz" is incredibly interesting with magic users being able to pull the magic from the air and "weave" it, and "techwitches" wear cybernetic gloves that allow them to do the same
- Main character is a hacker and the author actually knows what they're talking about - no technobabble or jargon to be seen here
- The mystery around maz-13 is pretty good and I didn't manage to predict the outcome
- Canon gay relationships, yay!
Cons:
- The main character is unbelievably obnoxious and she'll probably anger most readers. Her constant avoidance to talk or do anything to help herself is beyond incomprehensible and you'll be pulling out your hair wondering why she doesn't just say what's on her mind. This is probably the worst thing about the book that really brings it down
- The trauma and darkness of everything is sometimes laid on a little too thick and can get corny or laughable at times
- Lots of Tumblr humor that will get on most people's nerves unless you're 16 years old and still say "hecking pupper"
- Pacing is unbelievably slow in the first half, and then unbelievably fast in the second half. You go a solid 200 pages without knowing the general appearances of 3/4 of the main characters
- I predicted the twist character betrayal from the moment the character was introduced
Overall a 6.5/10. Read it if you're in the mood for some fun shenanigans, an epic world and a nice gay romance but don't expect anything groundbreaking.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders and Terminal illness
Moderate: Blood, Death, Death of parent, and Violence
Minor: Cursing and Gun violence
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