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3.73 AVERAGE
3.73 AVERAGE
I feel so so grateful that Becca allowed me to read this early. I’ve been in a reading slump for a long time but this book yanked me out of it so fast, I can’t remember the last time I read a book in 5 days.
Becca is an incredible writer and paints such a vivid picture without it overwhelming you. The descriptions are stunning and brutal and mesmerising all at once. The characters are so realistic and everything they do feels true to them. It’s hard to choose a favourite character when they’re all so great in their own way. The enemies to lovers sapphic romance is excellent, like so so good, one of the best I’ve read!
I’m obsessed with this world of witches, magic, plagues, violence, betrayal and the message it has at its core (but I won’t spoil that, you’ll have to read it yourself). I cannot wait to buy a copy when it’s released next year!
Becca is an incredible writer and paints such a vivid picture without it overwhelming you. The descriptions are stunning and brutal and mesmerising all at once. The characters are so realistic and everything they do feels true to them. It’s hard to choose a favourite character when they’re all so great in their own way. The enemies to lovers sapphic romance is excellent, like so so good, one of the best I’ve read!
I’m obsessed with this world of witches, magic, plagues, violence, betrayal and the message it has at its core (but I won’t spoil that, you’ll have to read it yourself). I cannot wait to buy a copy when it’s released next year!
I want to do this review in two parts: one addressing the controversy, which at this point is unavoidable, and a second on the story and book itself.
- Regarding the controversy: First of, I am neither jewish nor black, so I want to be very clear that this is just my humble representation of what I have read, but I believe it is wiser to trust Jewish and Black reviewers as to how they consider the book to be. It is not my intention to take away from their voices.
Do I think there is valid criticism ? Yes
Do I think some claims are inaccurate? A bit
Please check out these reviews for context and evidence:
- https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4812626829
- https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4810285214
-https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4814072828?book_show_action=false&from_review_page=1
-https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4015477149?book_show_action=true&from_review_page=1
I want to address two things:
1) The reverse racism fantasy accusation:
I want to know why people who call it that do, for real, DM me, let’s have a chat, because this might be me being absolutely clueless.
From my understanding, the issue is that the two royals oppressing the witches are black and the witches are white. Now, having read the book, this is not accurate, factually.
I took notes from different parts of the texts, and while the mentions are subtle and could have been more visible, there is racial diversity on both sides. Witches are not all white, some being described by the mention of brown hands and so on. The last bloodwinn witch is described as brown too. On the “oppressors” side, the king before was described as a pale boy, guards are described as brown and pale, kings mages are described as white, nobles are coded as white.
So, as much as I can tell from sticking to the text, there is diversity on BOTH sides.
Are the royals oppressors? Spoiler, no. Even before we actually find that out, the text is very clear in describing them as kind and entirely different from what Ranka imagined.
Based on that, I can’t see what these reviews said I would, this is not black oppressing white by any means. At most, I think the author was very preoccupied with having diversity and went about it awkwardly: in her attempt to be diverse and “color-blind”, she failed at representing it in an appropriate manner.
2) The antisemitism claims:
I have no way of knowing this, as I am not jewish. I had no knowledge of blood libel before reading the reviews, I’m not entirely sure I understand, and I know jewish reviewers are torn on this. From my understanding, Ranka’s magic isn’t based on blood or sacrifice, the reason she is called a blood-witch is because her magic runs in her blood, making her stronger, faster, but also murderous. Her magic makes her powerful but also urges her to kill, and is, eventually, supposed to kill her. Ranka herself is not jewish-coded, and has no stereotypical physical attributes that indicate so. Honestly, if someone hadn’t pointed it out, I would have never thought about anything jewish-related while reading this. And I’ve seen many instances of blood magic in fiction, including Avatar (Blood bending), and I had no idea about the history of blood libel. On that front, I will humbly say that I don’t BELIEVE this is antisemitic, but again, I can’t be the one to make that call.
Alright, now for the book.
The plot and the characters were okay, at times very good. I liked Percy, and the dialogue, if a bit on the nose, was fun. I think it was a little bit over narrated, to a point where I would skip paragraphs because the internal monologue was just re-repeating, and re-explaining everything that we could have figured out naturally. The romance was fine….the issue being that the skip was both too subtle and too abrupt. Like, the moments where the FMC starts to feel something, it’s very pointed out and you immediately knew what the author was implying but it didn’t feel organic enough. Then suddenly they’re kissing but then nothing much happens…It made me feel both happy for the lesbian representation and a bid underwhelmed.
I’ll be honest, the controversy gave me so much anxiety, it tainted my reading of the book. I couldn’t really ever fully get into the story because I kept trying to see if the claims were correct, because I was scared to get into a book that was hurting people.
I don’t think the book is bad, honestly. The writing is okay, the plot is interesting, and the world building holds up, especially for a first book. The issue is, as has been pointed out in other reviews, that emotional moments didn’t feel emotional enough, even though you could tell what the author was going for. And that the pacing was a bit fast and loose and that the plot never seemed to become concrete enough until the second half. It felt a bit awkward.
But honestly, I think this is a good YA book, it just didn’t draw me in personally. I kept putting it down and it kept feeling like a chore to pick it up. It’s a shame, because at times, the action was interesting, the writing was good, I liked the characters... it just felt a bit like something was missing. But again, outside of the controversy, this is a good YA book, it just could have used better editing.
- Regarding the controversy: First of, I am neither jewish nor black, so I want to be very clear that this is just my humble representation of what I have read, but I believe it is wiser to trust Jewish and Black reviewers as to how they consider the book to be. It is not my intention to take away from their voices.
Do I think there is valid criticism ? Yes
Do I think some claims are inaccurate? A bit
Please check out these reviews for context and evidence:
- https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4812626829
- https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4810285214
-https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4814072828?book_show_action=false&from_review_page=1
-https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4015477149?book_show_action=true&from_review_page=1
I want to address two things:
1) The reverse racism fantasy accusation:
I want to know why people who call it that do, for real, DM me, let’s have a chat, because this might be me being absolutely clueless.
From my understanding, the issue is that the two royals oppressing the witches are black and the witches are white. Now, having read the book, this is not accurate, factually.
I took notes from different parts of the texts, and while the mentions are subtle and could have been more visible, there is racial diversity on both sides. Witches are not all white, some being described by the mention of brown hands and so on. The last bloodwinn witch is described as brown too. On the “oppressors” side, the king before was described as a pale boy, guards are described as brown and pale, kings mages are described as white, nobles are coded as white.
So, as much as I can tell from sticking to the text, there is diversity on BOTH sides.
Are the royals oppressors? Spoiler, no. Even before we actually find that out, the text is very clear in describing them as kind and entirely different from what Ranka imagined.
Based on that, I can’t see what these reviews said I would, this is not black oppressing white by any means. At most, I think the author was very preoccupied with having diversity and went about it awkwardly: in her attempt to be diverse and “color-blind”, she failed at representing it in an appropriate manner.
2) The antisemitism claims:
I have no way of knowing this, as I am not jewish. I had no knowledge of blood libel before reading the reviews, I’m not entirely sure I understand, and I know jewish reviewers are torn on this. From my understanding, Ranka’s magic isn’t based on blood or sacrifice, the reason she is called a blood-witch is because her magic runs in her blood, making her stronger, faster, but also murderous. Her magic makes her powerful but also urges her to kill, and is, eventually, supposed to kill her. Ranka herself is not jewish-coded, and has no stereotypical physical attributes that indicate so. Honestly, if someone hadn’t pointed it out, I would have never thought about anything jewish-related while reading this. And I’ve seen many instances of blood magic in fiction, including Avatar (Blood bending), and I had no idea about the history of blood libel. On that front, I will humbly say that I don’t BELIEVE this is antisemitic, but again, I can’t be the one to make that call.
Alright, now for the book.
The plot and the characters were okay, at times very good. I liked Percy, and the dialogue, if a bit on the nose, was fun. I think it was a little bit over narrated, to a point where I would skip paragraphs because the internal monologue was just re-repeating, and re-explaining everything that we could have figured out naturally. The romance was fine….the issue being that the skip was both too subtle and too abrupt. Like, the moments where the FMC starts to feel something, it’s very pointed out and you immediately knew what the author was implying but it didn’t feel organic enough. Then suddenly they’re kissing but then nothing much happens…It made me feel both happy for the lesbian representation and a bid underwhelmed.
I’ll be honest, the controversy gave me so much anxiety, it tainted my reading of the book. I couldn’t really ever fully get into the story because I kept trying to see if the claims were correct, because I was scared to get into a book that was hurting people.
I don’t think the book is bad, honestly. The writing is okay, the plot is interesting, and the world building holds up, especially for a first book. The issue is, as has been pointed out in other reviews, that emotional moments didn’t feel emotional enough, even though you could tell what the author was going for. And that the pacing was a bit fast and loose and that the plot never seemed to become concrete enough until the second half. It felt a bit awkward.
But honestly, I think this is a good YA book, it just didn’t draw me in personally. I kept putting it down and it kept feeling like a chore to pick it up. It’s a shame, because at times, the action was interesting, the writing was good, I liked the characters... it just felt a bit like something was missing. But again, outside of the controversy, this is a good YA book, it just could have used better editing.
A good time killer...
A simple story, with predictable plot twists. Strong central characters, specially female ones. It is a good book to take time off. If you like fantasy without a complicated epic attempt, it will be a good option.
A simple story, with predictable plot twists. Strong central characters, specially female ones. It is a good book to take time off. If you like fantasy without a complicated epic attempt, it will be a good option.
4.5 stars, rounded up.
Loved the characters, the ship, the world building, pretty much everything. A beautiful story
The plots, especially with all the betrayal, felt a bit confusing at times but I think maybe I’m just stupid. Will definitely reread at not 1am to get a better understanding lmao
Loved the characters, the ship, the world building, pretty much everything. A beautiful story
The plots, especially with all the betrayal, felt a bit confusing at times but I think maybe I’m just stupid. Will definitely reread at not 1am to get a better understanding lmao
adventurous
mysterious
tense
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:
No
Good writing, compelling story and interesting characters. Only queer love interests !!
While the story did not get me 100% hooked, it was well paced from beginning to end.
While the story did not get me 100% hooked, it was well paced from beginning to end.
adventurous
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
I really liked this!! There’s a part at the end that I didn’t like but I loved the characters the romance and the story. It was an easy read and just what I needed after the last two books
adventurous
dark
lighthearted
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
tense