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maddydactyl's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
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? It's complicated
4.75
I loved this book so much. The development of feelings between the different love stories was completely brilliant - one set falling harder and faster, and the other set fighting it every step of the way. Rat King was truly terrifying, and I loved the use of magic throughout. Also loved the resolution with Drosselmeyer! Did not go how I expected it to at all.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Slavery, Blood, Kidnapping, Death of parent, and Murder
Minor: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Sexual harassment
I loved this book so much. The development of feelings between the different love stories was completely brilliant - one set falling harder and faster, and the other set fighting it every step of the way. Rat King was truly terrifying, and I loved the use of magic throughout. Also loved the resolution to the Drosselmeyer situation! Did not go how I expected it to at all.doahdancer's review against another edition
lighthearted
relaxing
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Confinement, Death, Misogyny, Sexual content, Slavery, Blood, Trafficking, and Sexual harassment
jakaerdor's review
adventurous
dark
tense
fast-paced
- 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
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny and Sexual content
rubiecore's review
adventurous
funny
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I have very mixed feelings about this book. I was super excited for this because the premise of a nutcracker inspired story with fae is really cool, especially knowing that the next books in the series are inspired by some of my favorite stories. And while I did enjoy it to an extent, I constantly found myself rolling my eyes or having to walk away from it for a few minutes because of cringy dialogue or convenient parts of the plot. I think if I was able to turn my brain off and not think about the dialogue or certain plot points too hard, I could have enjoyed this a bit more.
I want to preface my next point by saying that I don’t think there’s anything wrong with sex positivity or being open about sex but the way it’s talked about in this book is just so,, uncomfortably direct? No tension, nothing, just direct “hey yeah my c*m tastes different every single time” and it’s like, okay? I’m sure there were more graceful ways for that information to be presented to us. I think I knew the directness of this book would be a problem for me when we were first introduced to Louisa’s POV and while I tried to give her a chance, I just couldn’t stand her or her “enemies to lovers” relationship with the Nutcracker. The enemies to lovers plotline felt incredibly forced. The Nutcracker and Louisa disliked each other for absolutely no reason, Louisa’s reasoning being as ridiculous as “he isn’t attracted to me!! What’s wrong with him?” like,, be so fr rn. There’s no way that’s why you dislike him.
As senseless as the enemies to lovers plotline was, once the characters involved were together, their characters and relationship became much more tolerable overall. I preferred Clara and Fin’s insta-love relationship a lot more.
Generally, the plot was fine and obviously I cared enough to see it through but there were so many eyeroll moments, either because of a certain plot point feeling forced or because of extensive info-dumping through the character’s dialogue.
I might continue on in the series (bc I found out that Clara and Fin are in the second book lol) if I ever want something fast paced that I don’t have to think too hard about but idk we’ll have to see. I’m a bit bummed that I didn’t love this, especially because the third book is a Wizard of Oz inspired story and I love the Wizard of Oz ☹.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence
Moderate: Misogyny and Sexual violence
Minor: Death of parent
ednam0dewannabe's review
Not my cup of tea. Also, I didn't like the MCs
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Minor: Misogyny
ieemee's review
2.5
I was expecting a cute romance retelling of the nutcracker but this is more on the dark romance spectrum a lot of SA discussion. So I wasn’t prepared also I think I’ve found my personal ick in this book. So this may have been wrong book wrong time or even wrong book wrong person - hopefully this book finds its reader
Content Warnings
Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, Violence, Xenophobia, and War
Minor: Misogyny
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