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river_jean_sterling's review against another edition
- 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
3.75
Graphic: Violence, Misogyny, Sexism, Injury/Injury detail, Body horror, Death, Blood, Sexual content, Torture, and War
Moderate: Dysphoria, Homophobia, Grief, Ableism, Alcohol, Bullying, Murder, Toxic friendship, Classism, Cursing, Slavery, Child death, and Death of parent
ivi_reads_books's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
3.75
Moderate: Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Murder, and Homophobia
Minor: Grief
dreadspawn's review against another edition
- 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
5.0
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, War, Violence, Murder, Sexism, Death of parent, Death, Child death, Sexual content, Gore, Blood, Dysphoria, Misogyny, and Ableism
Minor: Slavery and Animal death
alexbirdreads's review against another edition
- 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
5.0
I liked that there was room for joyful queer love and joyful gender exploration amid the queer tragedy, because we have a lot of stories of queer suffering. I get that it's important and that there's a place for it (and it certainly had it's place in this book!) but it's nice to have some GOOD. It feels more authentic when a whole spectrum of experiences is represented, and, if anything, the moments of joy make the moments of tragedy feel that much worse afterwards.
It's a little long and convoluted, and the story is really more about character exploration than direct action, so it might not be for everyone, but I really enjoyed it for some reason.
It really was kind of crazy, though. Like, 'one-armed dingo ate my heaven-ordained baby' crazy. You gotta love Zhu. But someone get Ouyang a therapist, my god.
Graphic: War, Blood, Murder, and Violence
Moderate: Sexism, Transphobia, and Homophobia
Minor: Child abuse and Child death
leannanecdote's review against another edition
- 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
3.75
Graphic: Body shaming, Grief, Misogyny, Murder, Mental illness, Child death, Classism, Confinement, Blood, Death, Cursing, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Toxic relationship, Homophobia, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, War, Bullying, Sexual harassment, Violence, Physical abuse, Sexism, Torture, Toxic friendship, and Ableism
Moderate: Slavery
crystalisreading's review against another edition
- 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
5.0
Graphic: Death of parent, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Vomit, Animal death, Blood, Slavery, Torture, Alcohol, Colonisation, Dysphoria, Sexism, Physical abuse, Racism, Ableism, Child death, Classism, Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Grief, Medical content, Misogyny, War, Infertility, Murder, Sexual content, and Violence
strawberrybooks's review against another edition
- 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
4.5
I will say this was more historical fiction than fantasy, I think it was a little mis-marketed.
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Blood, and Violence
cass_cgallegos's review against another edition
- 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? It's complicated
4.25
Graphic: Murder, Blood, Death, Death of parent, and Classism
Moderate: Fire/Fire injury
amazelan's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
je ne m'attendais pas à être autant transporté.e dans cette histoire, ni à m'attacher autant aux personnages ; pourtant presque toustes sont un peu affreux à leur manière. Zhu en particulier est si intéressante, et son développement est incroyable. c'est l'un des exemples les + magistraux de grey character. pareil pour Ouyang, mais différemment.
puis même les personnages + secondaires sont tous intéressants, RÉALISTES surtout dans leurs travers et leur cruauté, et leurs relations le sont toutes autant.
le désir, le destin vs les choix sont trois sujets essentiels à l'histoire et très bien développés je trouve ; ils sont finalement tous intrinsèquement liés et lient ainsi d'une certaine man ère les personnages entre eux, même si les liens se révèlent souvent destructeurs.
j'ai aussi beaucoup aimé que Zhu soit un personnage assez flou dans son genre, et surtout suivre son développement et sa prise de confiance face à cette non-conformité de genre qui fait partie de sa grande force. on voit assez peu de personnages aussi gnc, et ça fait du bien.
voir des relations peu cishet et complexes dans un livre comme celui-ci fait du bien.
les plot twists sont bien placés, l'écriture est magnifique et transporte dès le début - même si elle est assez descriptive et que le début peut paraître vraiment long (moi j'adore les descriptions comme ça donc ça m'a pas rebuté du tout ahah).
puis le mélange entre historique et fantastique est incroyable.
je pourrais écrire encore plusieurs lignes sur à quel point j'ai adoré ce livre mais j'aurais jamais les mots parfaits je crois, juste lisez-le il est TROP CHOUETTE !!
Graphic: Blood, Sexism, Violence, War, Toxic friendship, Body horror, Dysphoria, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Murder, Death, and Torture
Moderate: Homophobia
Minor: Animal death, Child death, Death of parent, and Grief
14silja's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.75
Moderate: Child death, Fire/Fire injury, War, Blood, and Death