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metaphorsandmisc's review
emotional
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- 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
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Kidnapping, Sexual assault, Rape, Blood, War, and Child abuse
kylemhaggerty's review against another edition
adventurous
hopeful
mysterious
tense
fast-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
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Blood, Toxic friendship, Death, Kidnapping, Murder, Child death, Colonisation, Rape, Sexual assault, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Abandonment, and Fire/Fire injury
stripedstone's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Murder, Blood, Rape, Child death, Sexual violence, Grief, Confinement, Violence, Pregnancy, and Kidnapping
takarakei's review against another edition
adventurous
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
4.5
This book gave me Miyazaki vibes and I say that as someone who strongly dislikes the comparison of almost any book to his movies because I rarely agree. I was specifically thinking about Laputa a lot, but also bits of Howl's and Spirited Away.
Just really beautiful writing, very descriptive imagery that built a very lush and intriguing world. I am very excited to read the sequel.
Just really beautiful writing, very descriptive imagery that built a very lush and intriguing world. I am very excited to read the sequel.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Murder, Child death, and Blood
Moderate: Violence, Confinement, Kidnapping, Rape, and Slavery
Minor: Pregnancy, Sexual assault, and Sexual content
rape/SA:beckyyreadss's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
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
4.0
I have had this book on my TBR for so long and whilst I was on a treat yourself day and went a little bit overboard at Waterstones, I picked up and wanted to get cracking. I really enjoyed this book, but it was just a bit slow at times for a fantasy book.
This book has two points of view. The first is Lazlo Strange, he is a war orphan and junior librarian. He has always feared that his dream chose poorly. For as long as he can remember he has been obsessed with the mythic lost city of Weep, but it would take someone bolder than he to cross half the world in search of it. Then a stunning opportunity presents itself, in the person of a hero called the Godslayer and a band of legendary warriors, and he has to seize his chance or lose his dream forever. Laslo is determined to find out what happened in Weep two hundred years ago to cut it off from the rest of the world. What exactly did the Godslayer slay that went by the name of god? And what is the mysterious problem he now seeks help in solving? The second point of view is Sarai, she is a half-human and the godslayer murdered her parents. People were terrified of her because she is blue skinned. She is stuck in a building in the sky with her friends. All of them have different gifts and hers is to give people nightmares. Her moth fly down to the people of weep and she can control their dreams and thoughts. When she goes into Lazlo’s dreams, she is amazed that he can see her, talk to her and control his own dreams. How did he dream her before he knew she existed.
I think I can agree with everyone when I say that I loved Laini’s writing style and the way she describes things so beautiful and make you feel like you are lying on a soft pillow. I love the love story between our two MCs, I think it was so adorable and innocent. Lazlo being a monk and not knowing how to act in a dream. Sarai just wanting some peace and quiet and wanting to give up her powers because it was hurting her. I just wanted to hug her throughout this whole book – she just wanted to have friends and live. The story was so unique, and it was so interesting, I just stay in that world forever. Weep was so beautiful built that it felt like I was in the world myself.
One thing that I struggled with is how slow-paced it was towards the end, I think it was because I was waiting for all the action and Laini was dragging it out to the last minute. Once we got to the plot twists and the action it was all good, but I felt like after the middle I was definitely trying to power through to finish this book off. I felt like there was a lot of side characters that we didn’t know much about, so I didn’t really care for them. They all weren’t properly developed, and I just wanted more. It just felt like the characters who were developed was our MCs, the Godslayer and Minya.
That cliffhanger was mean as anything. Like there is no way the ending happened like that – surely, surely this is just some messed up dream. Anyway, it’s making me want to run out straight away to get the second book in the series and start it tomorrow.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Death, and Child death
Moderate: Kidnapping, Rape, and Slavery
Minor: Sexual assault and Sexual content
vanesst's review against another edition
adventurous
hopeful
mysterious
medium-paced
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child death, Rape, Blood, Confinement, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, and Kidnapping
barefootbeauty99's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
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
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Blood, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Confinement, Child death, Rape, Kidnapping, Sexual content, Sexual violence, and Death
Minor: Classism
nyree42's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
medium-paced
4.0
Beautifully written, magical and hopeful yet challenging and dark story about mysterious people with otherworldly and dangerous powers, and the city who fears them. Glad I read it when the second book is available to pick up immediately, since it ends on a cliffhanger.
On the negative side:
Note that the adult/minor relationship tag refers to a 20-year-old in a romantic relationship with a 17-year-old, which I personally think is close enough in age to be acceptable in the world of this story, although other readers may not agree, as in our real world it seems rather sus for a 3rd year college student to be dating an 11th grader in high school.
There are also descriptions of a sexually active 15-year-old with their teenage lover, plus mentions of another young couple who are sleeping together. All the teenage sex, despite not being graphically described but only alluded to artistically, was rather off-putting because an adult writer should not be encouraging her adolescent readers to engage in sex - it leads to consequences like STDs/STIs, unwanted pregnancies, and emotions that are too complicated for most young people to understand.
This inevitably results in broken hearts and emotional trauma in the majority of cases, which then leads to some (or many) people having difficulty finding love as adults because their teen romances ripped a hole in their heart they've not been able to repair so far. For real, I know people in their 50s who still haven't recovered from their adolescent entanglements and that's why they are single today... and that's why their would-be partner is also single. These are consequences that resulted in the unhappiness of two people (much like Eril-Fane and Azareen in this book, although in their case they had no choice in the matter).
So if you're a teenager reading this review - don't be inspired by the exploits of the young lovers in this book, and instead wait until you're older to chase... "that." You'll have more of a chance to mature and develop so that you also meet somebody mature who can give you the true love you'll want to receive and give in return.
On the negative side:
Note that the adult/minor relationship tag refers to a 20-year-old in a romantic relationship with a 17-year-old, which I personally think is close enough in age to be acceptable in the world of this story, although other readers may not agree, as in our real world it seems rather sus for a 3rd year college student to be dating an 11th grader in high school.
There are also descriptions of a sexually active 15-year-old with their teenage lover, plus mentions of another young couple who are sleeping together. All the teenage sex, despite not being graphically described but only alluded to artistically, was rather off-putting because an adult writer should not be encouraging her adolescent readers to engage in sex - it leads to consequences like STDs/STIs, unwanted pregnancies, and emotions that are too complicated for most young people to understand.
This inevitably results in broken hearts and emotional trauma in the majority of cases, which then leads to some (or many) people having difficulty finding love as adults because their teen romances ripped a hole in their heart they've not been able to repair so far. For real, I know people in their 50s who still haven't recovered from their adolescent entanglements and that's why they are single today... and that's why their would-be partner is also single. These are consequences that resulted in the unhappiness of two people (much like Eril-Fane and Azareen in this book, although in their case they had no choice in the matter).
So if you're a teenager reading this review - don't be inspired by the exploits of the young lovers in this book, and instead wait until you're older to chase... "that." You'll have more of a chance to mature and develop so that you also meet somebody mature who can give you the true love you'll want to receive and give in return.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Racial slurs, Slavery, Toxic friendship, Bullying, Child abuse, Gore, Death of parent, Grief, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, Child death, Confinement, Genocide, Murder, and Racism
Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, War, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Suicidal thoughts, and Violence
amallard's review against another edition
adventurous
lighthearted
mysterious
relaxing
fast-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
2.25
I put this down as lighthearted but you might like to check the content warnings, because I get that folks who resonate with the writing may feel differently. To be clear - I'm not dismissing or downplaying these traumas. I am dismissing the way they were done here, please don't come for me, it just elicited nothing in me.
Revision: theadult/minor relationship did elicit something in me because wtf was that, lads, wtf wtf that was not cool but it was written as Something Beautiful.
Let me splat down the good. Imagery was a happening thing. Backstory was a smoothly-delivered thing. Dialogue was a frequently-fun thing. Mystery was a suspenseful thing.
Let me splat down the bad I could take. Imagery sometimes happened too much. Tropes sometimes delivered too stereotypically. Explanation was sometimes exposition. I run low. Let's move on.
What did I ardently dislike? Unmarked spoilers from here on out.
Look away if you don't want spoilers.
Look away.
Okay.
Returning to the point made above: a guy who has been raised with four girls his whole life says that they're like sisters to him...but not quite. He then proceeds to have sex with the littlest, who is fifteen. She's fifteen. I don't care if they gave her a fake birthday so she could pretend to be sixteen - she's fifteen. Also, as someone who was raised with not-brother brothers, this whole speel is so gross to me. What, are adopted siblings not siblings? Does biology trump everything? Are platonic bonds worthless? Is that the case here? They. Shared. A. Mother.
I don't like Sarai but I'm being brave about it. Passion brings a character to life, makes me care for them. Give them an interest. Give them a hobby. Let me know how they spend their quiet minutes, their free time when they can steal it. Lazlo had a passion, Minya had a passion, Calixte had a passion, Sparrow had a passion, even the "it-might-be-love-what-we-have" paedophile had a passion.
Luckily, so did Sarai. You're gonna call me hypocritical but hers was complaining. I'm a very positive and optimistic character on the whole, with a lot going for me; I assure you that my hobby is not. If you think I'm being harsh on this book, please remind yourself of the last paragraph.
My final issue. Maybe we can kick it off with an anecdote: at one point in this book, a girl forces a man to kiss her. He's deeply uncomfortable - no, more than that. He's in a very traumatic situation and she uses him against his will.
It's played for a laugh. It made me wonder if I was being too SJW about the whole thing. But it struck me as upsetting, and a dismissal of consent. If the roles had been reversed, it would have been blatantly wrong, right?
That excuse, that the perpetrator was a girl, ties into the heternormativity that permeates this. By default, the girls only think about kissing boys, the boys only think about wanting girls. Guys are masculine and strong. Girls are pure and chaste. There's a couple of token sapphics who break the mould, plus some dweeby dudes, but it's a deeply straight book.
I’m not “obsessed with forcing diversity” or “pushing an agenda” and i am not trying to overlay stories with my own false reading of queer-coding when it doesn’t exist. But it’s funny to me when a writer writes a book with homoerotic overtones, when all the coding is blatantly THERE, and then they try to do damage control. Please please believe me when I say this story felt like it was supposed to be gay.
We get introduced to Thyon Nero and he is magnificently beautiful and desperately alone with the truth of his sins and secrets, and he’s a prince but he carries the scars of his beatings, and Lazlo’s a pauper but he knows those wounds well, and when they meet in the present day there is an immense amount of fear fluttering between them, and nerves, and history, and disappointment. And there is a smart man, with an insight that rivals Lazlo’s, that grounds where his dreams. And there is a good man buried somewhere within him. And there is an interesting journey for him to take to that stage.
Look, there are intended enemies-to-lovers which have worse setups than this. It’s so natural. It’s the story offered that has a spark.
Did Taylor miss the opportunity? Did she have too many plans for the way things already went? Not much would have been lost if Lazlo and Sarai had been friends instead; on the contrary, I think an intense platonicism would have been so beautiful. He could have carried his lifeless friend’s body and its impact would not have been lost. She could have visited her friend’s dreams and their visions together would not have been diminished.
Revision: the
Let me splat down the good. Imagery was a happening thing. Backstory was a smoothly-delivered thing. Dialogue was a frequently-fun thing. Mystery was a suspenseful thing.
Let me splat down the bad I could take. Imagery sometimes happened too much. Tropes sometimes delivered too stereotypically. Explanation was sometimes exposition. I run low. Let's move on.
What did I ardently dislike? Unmarked spoilers from here on out.
Look away if you don't want spoilers.
Look away.
Okay.
Returning to the point made above: a guy who has been raised with four girls his whole life says that they're like sisters to him...but not quite. He then proceeds to have sex with the littlest, who is fifteen. She's fifteen. I don't care if they gave her a fake birthday so she could pretend to be sixteen - she's fifteen. Also, as someone who was raised with not-brother brothers, this whole speel is so gross to me. What, are adopted siblings not siblings? Does biology trump everything? Are platonic bonds worthless? Is that the case here? They. Shared. A. Mother.
I don't like Sarai but I'm being brave about it. Passion brings a character to life, makes me care for them. Give them an interest. Give them a hobby. Let me know how they spend their quiet minutes, their free time when they can steal it. Lazlo had a passion, Minya had a passion, Calixte had a passion, Sparrow had a passion, even the "it-might-be-love-what-we-have" paedophile had a passion.
Luckily, so did Sarai. You're gonna call me hypocritical but hers was complaining. I'm a very positive and optimistic character on the whole, with a lot going for me; I assure you that my hobby is not. If you think I'm being harsh on this book, please remind yourself of the last paragraph.
My final issue. Maybe we can kick it off with an anecdote: at one point in this book, a girl forces a man to kiss her. He's deeply uncomfortable - no, more than that. He's in a very traumatic situation and she uses him against his will.
It's played for a laugh. It made me wonder if I was being too SJW about the whole thing. But it struck me as upsetting, and a dismissal of consent. If the roles had been reversed, it would have been blatantly wrong, right?
That excuse, that the perpetrator was a girl, ties into the heternormativity that permeates this. By default, the girls only think about kissing boys, the boys only think about wanting girls. Guys are masculine and strong. Girls are pure and chaste. There's a couple of token sapphics who break the mould, plus some dweeby dudes, but it's a deeply straight book.
I’m not “obsessed with forcing diversity” or “pushing an agenda” and i am not trying to overlay stories with my own false reading of queer-coding when it doesn’t exist. But it’s funny to me when a writer writes a book with homoerotic overtones, when all the coding is blatantly THERE, and then they try to do damage control. Please please believe me when I say this story felt like it was supposed to be gay.
We get introduced to Thyon Nero and he is magnificently beautiful and desperately alone with the truth of his sins and secrets, and he’s a prince but he carries the scars of his beatings, and Lazlo’s a pauper but he knows those wounds well, and when they meet in the present day there is an immense amount of fear fluttering between them, and nerves, and history, and disappointment. And there is a smart man, with an insight that rivals Lazlo’s, that grounds where his dreams. And there is a good man buried somewhere within him. And there is an interesting journey for him to take to that stage.
Look, there are intended enemies-to-lovers which have worse setups than this. It’s so natural. It’s the story offered that has a spark.
Did Taylor miss the opportunity? Did she have too many plans for the way things already went? Not much would have been lost if Lazlo and Sarai had been friends instead; on the contrary, I think an intense platonicism would have been so beautiful. He could have carried his lifeless friend’s body and its impact would not have been lost. She could have visited her friend’s dreams and their visions together would not have been diminished.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Adult/minor relationship, Xenophobia, Slavery, Racism, Rape, Blood, and Sexual violence
lizzie24601's review against another edition
adventurous
hopeful
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Holy SHIT this book is so good. Incredible worldbuilding and a memorable cast of characters. It takes a bit of time for you (and Laszlo) to figure out what this book is actually about, but god, sharing that discovery with the protagonist is so worth it. It's got it all - magic, adventure, romance, rivalry, politics, and... the moral dilemma of how much empathy you should give to people who did terrible things, and their descendants who could do the same.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child death, Death, Grief, Murder, Rape, and Slavery
Minor: Blood