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kghunter's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
“[…]the truth was very costly at times. How terrible, to navigate the world without a story to comfort you.”
If you were to remove all of the sentences in this book that described one of the characters blushing, it would probably be about half its current length. I don’t know if this is just a more common experience of fair skinned people or what but I think a group-read of this in which everyone took a shot every time someone blushes would be a pretty fun way to get absolutely shittered with your friends if they also happen to be into horny fantasy mystery novels that involve a lot of quivering and clenched fists.
Blushing and quivering aside this was a truly enjoyable read. Reid is brilliant at capturing the “dark academia” imagery and I loved how she used such a beautifully painted, fantastical storyline to examine themes of misogyny, victim-shaming, childhood trauma, and isolation, as well as gender-based violence, bigotry, and oppression. As a reader who originally chose to read this book to scratch my annually occurring wintertime dark academia itch, its depth and sincerity came as a pleasant surprise.
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Kidnapping, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, and Colonisation
aliceinstoryland's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Moderate: Child abuse, Mental illness, Sexism, and Sexual assault
eedle_cacleberry's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexism, and Sexual assault
Moderate: Alcoholism, Confinement, Violence, Death of parent, and Abandonment
Minor: Sexual content and Alcohol
sammiebauer's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
the thing that bothers me a lot about reid's writing is that she has a very distinct style and interest that comes through in every book i have read by her: she has a huge interest in exploring misogyny and the way that women are exploited and oppressed, and a huge interest in discussing the way different hostile cultures interact with each other during some kind of wartime or industrial development between countries. now, i can see the merit of these topics. i myself have been on the receiving end of discrimination based on gender in the past as a transgender man. but...every single man in these stories except for the very best of them - the love interest - are predatory and terrifying to the very juvenile and immature young female protagonist. i found the protagonist of this story to be very uninteresting. her experiences deal mainly with being exploited by the men in her life, with no meaningful friendships outside of that, and when she does begin a friendship with someone, it's a man! and this young man she is friends with is now portrayed as the only good man. he respects her and thinks all other men are disgusting for what they've done, he is seen as this absolute paragon of goodness, and she automatically, immediately, has feelings for him, despite her past experiences. she seems to be fixed by her relationship with this young man despite everything else that has been done to her. and despite the fact that she has been sexually abused and harassed in the past by older men, she is extremely sexually attracted to this young man, and the story barely addresses the intricacies of her experience with that. it completely undermines the message of this story, which is about how women are mistreated in academic fields that are dominated by men!
now, to address the other part of my problem with this story -- this book is not the greatest offender of this crime that reid has written. i would say that the wolf and the woodsman is worse about this. this romance takes place between this young woman and this young man during a time of war between their two countries. there are interesting ways to handle this, certainly, but instead, the author chooses to use xenophobia as a bargaining chip in the banter between these characters. the young woman frequently insults the young man's heritage and call him borderline slurs based on his country of origin, and while he rarely rises to the bait and insults her back, he forgives her every time. his offense is to insult the magical religion of her country by being an academic skeptic, which is, in my opinion, really not the same. magic in this book is an extremely nebulous concept.
the fact that i gave it a whole three stars is me making a concession for this story. i thought the atmosphere and general plot of the book was very interesting and engaging. the worldbuilding was well done. the writing was not bad, it was just stylized and overly flowery and repetitive in places that i found to be very annoying. the emotional core of this story was affecting to be sure, i teared up slightly at the end, but i also saw the different twists coming from a mile away - literally from 20% into the book i knew how it was going to end. i also do not want this to be taken as me insulting the themes of misogyny and xenophobia. those are topics that can be explored extremely well in other places, but the nuance given to those topics here was incredibly poor and lacking in many ways. i do not recommend this book but i wanted to write down my thoughts on it anyway.
Graphic: Mental illness, Sexism, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, and Sexual harassment
Moderate: Religious bigotry, Abandonment, and War
Minor: Child abuse, Car accident, Death of parent, and Colonisation
may4la's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- 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
Graphic: Body horror, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, Sexual assault, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Gaslighting, and Colonisation
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Drug abuse, Drug use, Pedophilia, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Cultural appropriation, Alcohol, War, and Injury/Injury detail
kat42's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
However, the characters and romance were dull to me. Effy's prejudice is somehow okay now that she's fucked Preston? Also the sexual abuse she has dealt with is pretty key to her character, but then when she has consensual sex with Preston, the word Reid chose to describe it was "assault"??? My other issue is that everything happened so easily for the characters at the end. The conflict gets resolved in like two pages, and someone literally just tells Effy and Preston all the answers to everything instead of the two of them having to piece it together on their own.
Graphic: Misogyny
Moderate: Sexual assault and Sexual content
Minor: Child abuse and Mental illness
kelseydaffodil's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
wow. WOW. what a book. i loved so much of this. the vibes, the setting, how it was clearly not in our world yet held some of our own things (cameras, cars, phones). the fact that the fairy king was not romanticised, not like other books. the constant guessing. preston. oh wow, what a sweet guy. exactly what effy needed to ground her. and effy. what an incredible protagonist. i loved her so much.
Graphic: Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, Sexual assault, Grief, and Sexual harassment
Moderate: Death, Drug use, Sexual content, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Minor: Alcoholism, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Religious bigotry, Alcohol, War, and Injury/Injury detail
allisonsmith120's review against another edition
4.0
Graphic: Misogyny, Sexism, and Death of parent
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Grief, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail
savanah's review against another edition
- Strong character development? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, Sexual assault, and Sexual harassment
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Chronic illness, Confinement, Emotional abuse, and Mental illness
Minor: Schizophrenia/Psychosis
erienne's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Moderate: Mental illness and Sexual assault