Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.73 AVERAGE
3.73 AVERAGE
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
sad
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:
Yes
No review for this book can go without touching on the scandal and honestly, I can't say one way or another what BIPOC and Jewish readers are getting from it, so I'm not even going to go near the controversy, just. Go read other reviews from BIPOC and Jewish readers, that's all I can really say. I preordered this way before everything started going down, and as a white person I can't give a judgement call if something is actually racist over BIPOC and Jewish voices but I personally didn't see anything that seemed offensive despite being on the lookout for it after flipping through a few reviews before reading.
However, I will say I don't think this book would've gotten any of the actual discussion levels it's getting without the controversy. It's a somewhat long and like... Alright queer fantasy YA book. There's nothing that sticks out to me about this one, it was just alright. The characters were decent even though they didn't really stick with me, and the magic system could've used a lot more fleshing out, but the story was fine. It's overall just fine, and probably would've just sat in its corner of a list of YA books with unique magic systems or with interesting worldbuilding or that sort of thing. It's a middling debut, and though the themes of trauma throughout are something that I would say were done very well, it still didn't resonate that much with me. I understand that there was some kind of A:TLA inspiration, but I don't even really see that very much aside from a few cheeky references.
However, I will say I don't think this book would've gotten any of the actual discussion levels it's getting without the controversy. It's a somewhat long and like... Alright queer fantasy YA book. There's nothing that sticks out to me about this one, it was just alright. The characters were decent even though they didn't really stick with me, and the magic system could've used a lot more fleshing out, but the story was fine. It's overall just fine, and probably would've just sat in its corner of a list of YA books with unique magic systems or with interesting worldbuilding or that sort of thing. It's a middling debut, and though the themes of trauma throughout are something that I would say were done very well, it still didn't resonate that much with me. I understand that there was some kind of A:TLA inspiration, but I don't even really see that very much aside from a few cheeky references.
adventurous
challenging
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Ok this one is an interesting one to review.
i think one of the major issues for me is that I'm getting too old for YA. So a lot of the tropes that play out in this book are not really up my alley anymore. That being said like 10 yrs ago I would have probably had less issues with it.
Though some of the things I couldn't get over, like the pacing was kinda all over the place, some things could have been developed a bit more (especially in regard to the relationships between all the characters)
I did really like the world and the concept though once again it could have been more fleshed out.
i think one of the major issues for me is that I'm getting too old for YA. So a lot of the tropes that play out in this book are not really up my alley anymore. That being said like 10 yrs ago I would have probably had less issues with it.
Though some of the things I couldn't get over, like the pacing was kinda all over the place, some things could have been developed a bit more (especially in regard to the relationships between all the characters)
I did really like the world and the concept though once again it could have been more fleshed out.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
inspiring
tense
medium-paced
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
adventurous
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
N/A
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
N/A
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
i had a really hard time getting into this book and staying focused on this book. i really wanted to love this book but i just found it boring. i’ll probably try this book again another day in the future but i could not finish this book.
The writing style is inconsistent (and just weird at a few points) and 30 pages in I predicted pretty much everything that's going to/will happen
I thought about about dropping this book for 2 days and finally decided when I read only a few reviews almost every one that is in the 3-4 stars range says it picks up after the first half of the book
I'm sorry but I'm not going to read 250 pages to then have the chance to enjoy it
I'm sure the author put a lot of effort into this book but ultimately I wish this would have gone through on last editorial check
Anyone below the age of 16 might enjoy this or someone new to ya phantasy
In the end queer folk are desperate for queer media and I get that but we need to expect more
I thought about about dropping this book for 2 days and finally decided when I read only a few reviews almost every one that is in the 3-4 stars range says it picks up after the first half of the book
I'm sorry but I'm not going to read 250 pages to then have the chance to enjoy it
I'm sure the author put a lot of effort into this book but ultimately I wish this would have gone through on last editorial check
Anyone below the age of 16 might enjoy this or someone new to ya phantasy
In the end queer folk are desperate for queer media and I get that but we need to expect more
adventurous
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:
N/A