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emily_mh's review
adventurous
emotional
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
4.75
This was a fantastic YA fantasy standalone! It was structured well, beginning with the audition and then proceeding with the stages of the tour - but Tooley makes sure to make each stage a little different, a little more challenging, and works with the characters a little more each time, so that the plot doesn’t feel repetitive. The world-building complemented the story well, being woven into the narrative rather than info-dumped. For example, characteristics of Sofi’s world are the reason behind the inciting incident and also a lot of the personal and interpersonal tension. I liked the perpetual winter setting, and found the magic system of bones intriguing.
It would have been cool to see some kind of exploration of how the papers aided disabled people, as the papers are sort of like the equivalent of tech. Currently tech IS undermining art through the use of plagiarising AI (similar to how the papers give skill to a person without them learning it) - but on the other hand, tech is immensely helpful to disabled people (like a Paper might help treat symptoms if it can influence things like body temperature, or complete tasks for people with dexterity limitations). Please note I don’t find the absence of this exploration problematic, it’s just something I wished was there! It could have also been good to showcase more the effect on society of limiting music performance to five people. However, this is a personal preference, not a critique of quality. I get there are limits to what can be explored in a YA standalone!
The character work was really compelling. You have this MC, Sofi, that’s coming out of an abusive relationship with her father and herself, trying to find goodness but really struggling, too. The biggest lessons Sofi has to learn are that “the things you love shouldn’t hurt you”, and that devotion to your craft doesn’t look like self-flagellation. Tooley also shows Sofi’s love for and knowledge of music rather than just telling us she has these, which seems to be a step authors commonly forget when centring an art form in their book.
The romance was good! It was nothing particularly outstanding, but Tooley really put in the effort to make the reader understand not only the attraction between Sofi and Lara, but their connection, the reasons why they grew to love each other - and they did grow to do this, it wasn’t insta-love.
The themes were interesting. As I mentioned before, a big part of the book is Sofi healing from abusive relationships. Another topic was that art is better with emotion. There was also a really interesting discussion of achievement! The book showed that achieving a goal or title isn’t everything, and that being too focussed on a goal can lead to feelings of worthlessness and burnout. It was also so important to see a YA MC who wasn’t able to achieve her dream, as sometimes we do fail at things or miss the mark! This is a concept you don’t often see in YA, but it’s a really important one for this age group.
I’ll wrap up on a quote that really resonated with me:
“In fact, the Muse’s silence was so loud that Sofi began to fear the voice she had once heard, that whisper of her destiny, had merely been in her own head. Another way that she had forced herself to suffer.”
Rep: lesbian MC (word not used because fantasy), sapphic LI, Achillean SC
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent, Self harm, Domestic abuse, Child abuse, and Emotional abuse
Moderate: Physical abuse, Death, Suicide, Confinement, and Grief
Minor: Alcohol, Pandemic/Epidemic, Murder, Blood, Animal death, Fire/Fire injury, Drug use, Vomit, Sexual harassment, Ableism, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: imprisonment Minor: capital punishment, childbirth, self-injury, menstruation, theft
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