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elliott_the_clementine'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
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, War, Violence, Colonisation, Religious bigotry, Confinement, Blood, and Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Confinement, Slavery, Torture, and Racism
hannahmichele5'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? Yes
4.5
Graphic: War, Colonisation, and Death
Moderate: Violence and Blood
hungrybruno's review against another edition
Moderate: Racism, War, and Colonisation
bucketsjen's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
There's some cool mythology, an interesting story, and it does some things in a way I haven't seen before (picking up the story of a child Chosen One as they're moving into an adult, dealing with PTSD and being a former savior who now uses her powers to cheat at footraces against other teenagers). There's themes of anticolonialism and the importance of connection. All of that was good.
Some other things are predictable (the romance setups most particularly, but I didn't mind that).
There's multiple instances where the writer had things happen off page for reasons I didn't get. One chapter, a character is keeping a major secret from the others and stressing about their bad reactions if they found out. Next chapter, the other POV character is reflecting on being told the secret and how they'd been slightly concerned but otherwise didn't react. Why the build up if there wasn't going to be any explosion or fallout, and why have it happen off-page instead of being an actual scene?
There's also a lot of "how does that work?" moments - that dragon is way too powerful for anyone to have a hope of defeating but also now a character is basically solo-ing it and winning, there's a massive battle going on but two characters have the chance to completely catch each up on what's going on, stuff like that.
The ending isn't an ending, which was exasperating. It's a complete cliffhanger and none of the plotlines or character development got resolved - this very much was a "part one", but the second book isn't out yet. And really, a book should be able to stand on its own and have its own story even if it exists within a larger tale. This didn't - it felt like I only read half a book.
Moderate: War, Racism, Colonisation, Grief, and Violence
explicit language, depictions of PTSD (nightmares, unwanted memories/flashbacks, dissociation, anxiety, mistrust, hypervigilance, self-destructive behavior), explicit descriptions of war, blood, and corpses, grief (expressed in healthy and unhealthy ways), racism (challenged), minor character deaths, a near-fatal beating, and stolen body/mind autonomynerp'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
5.0
Moderate: War, Colonisation, Racism, and Death
alfarmer'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
3.75
Graphic: War, Violence, and Colonisation
shannahtan'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? No
4.25
Things I liked:
- Rooted in Jamaican history
- Sapphic slow burn romance
- Elements of demisexuality
- Focused heavily on familial love and friendship
- Characters reside in a gray area that challenges your sense of morality
- Plot was a bit predictable
- Characters didn’t have a ton of depth. Faron as the Childe Empyrean continuously made rash decisions. Elara was trying to find herself and escape her sister’s shadow.
Graphic: Violence, Colonisation, and War
Moderate: Death
Minor: Racial slurs and Slavery
hellodebbies'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? Yes
5.0
It is fast-paced, the plot is fluid and the characters are really great (well I admit sometimes they make us roll our eyes)
I really liked the contrast of the two sisters, on one hand we have Faron who is quite selfish and behaves like a kid (which can be understandable since she went to war at twelve 💀). On the other hand, we have Elara who is the very definition of the older sister, very serious and altruistic.
The romance (which are not the main point of the book) were good 😌 Kamilah knows how to write romance.
The idea of following the story after the "main" events
Super interesting villain, especially with the gods and the parallels of the children Empyrean is interesting as well
Graphic: Racism, War, Colonisation, Racial slurs, and Violence
ashylibrarian'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
4.0
Graphic: War, Colonisation, and Violence
Moderate: Racism and Death
peggyluwho'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
The author wove a good story with engaging characters. I was curious to find out where the story was going, though I had predicted some of the twists of early on. I feel like too much was put into the description of people’s outfits and some of the immaturity of the characters was off putting. However, it’s YA and I’m not the target audience.
Graphic: Colonisation, Death, Violence, and Xenophobia