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madarauchiha's review against another edition
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.0
Uhhhh it's competently written. It's pleasant. you won't find this book particularly challenging or unpleasant. it's a very basic ya fantasy with all the ya levels of tropes and cliches and plot points. Almost to the point of being a bore. That's not to say it's a terrible book. It's competently written and the premise is interesting. But incredibly white and lacking any diversity or pseudo diversity in the form of token black characters or characters of color. I don't rec this book on the fact that there's other more interestingly written and plotted books out there.
I had no idea it was a sequel, or that it was a series. I think the most unlikable things about this book is that the characters are boring. The main character has things happen to her and she makes poor decisions, but that's about it. All the characters feel shallow and don't feel like people. That this is a sequel doesn't give this problem leeway as Silas and other characters are apparently new in his book, and haven't been given character development in the first book. The MC feels like a non-sexy sexy lamp trope in which she could be replaced by any other throwaway character and nothing in the plot would change. It's very clear that she's supposed to be the self insert for young readers. Not that this is a bad thing but such a concept could [and has been] better executed. Hell, I would be more interested if she was even a purposefully unlikable protagonist.
The plot feels like it has no self directed drive, but is playing connect the dots on a premade template on what YA fantasy is supposed to play out. The female MC has a love interest with the barest excuse of why it's forbidden on his part. Except it's quickly shrugged off by the male love interest, so there goes the one percent of any tension built up in about 2-4 scenes.
Frankly I'm rooting for the villain. I swear I'm not some h*rny villain character lover but frankly he has the most interesting arc and plot drive than anyone else in this story. I don't like that the author resorted to cheap sexual abuse in order to make him a villain. That feels incredibly weak and shallow when the character already has excellent reasons to be a conqueror [would-be] king anyways.
I'm not finishing this series because it's boring, I can very quickly tell what the ending is going to be like, the prose is not compelling enough to warrant interest, and honestly it's white. It's so white. Everything in this book has been done before by better white authors and we really don't need another empty, shallow, white fantasy book series.
I also take issue with the golems. Golems are uniquely Jewish in origin. I am not Jewish and won't speak for Jewish people, but I understand there is a specific cultural context to golems. This author should not be using golems in this book when a) there are other ways to depicted earthen monsters and b) are they Jewish? Is this book Jewish? Is the author making the villain Jewish because he's using golems for genocide and mass murder? There's so much wrong with this piece of the book that could have been avoided.
Content warnings:
Minor: emetophobia, rape,
Medium: body horror, mouth trauma, pregnancy, manipulation, torture,
Major: murder, wars, gore, wars, sexual harassment, anti refugee sentiment, mass murder, back trauma, injuries, gore, body horror, imprisonment, incest, orphaning,
I had no idea it was a sequel, or that it was a series. I think the most unlikable things about this book is that the characters are boring. The main character has things happen to her and she makes poor decisions, but that's about it. All the characters feel shallow and don't feel like people. That this is a sequel doesn't give this problem leeway as Silas and other characters are apparently new in his book, and haven't been given character development in the first book. The MC feels like a non-sexy sexy lamp trope in which she could be replaced by any other throwaway character and nothing in the plot would change. It's very clear that she's supposed to be the self insert for young readers. Not that this is a bad thing but such a concept could [and has been] better executed. Hell, I would be more interested if she was even a purposefully unlikable protagonist.
The plot feels like it has no self directed drive, but is playing connect the dots on a premade template on what YA fantasy is supposed to play out. The female MC has a love interest with the barest excuse of why it's forbidden on his part. Except it's quickly shrugged off by the male love interest, so there goes the one percent of any tension built up in about 2-4 scenes.
Frankly I'm rooting for the villain. I swear I'm not some h*rny villain character lover but frankly he has the most interesting arc and plot drive than anyone else in this story. I don't like that the author resorted to cheap sexual abuse in order to make him a villain. That feels incredibly weak and shallow when the character already has excellent reasons to be a conqueror [would-be] king anyways.
I'm not finishing this series because it's boring, I can very quickly tell what the ending is going to be like, the prose is not compelling enough to warrant interest, and honestly it's white. It's so white. Everything in this book has been done before by better white authors and we really don't need another empty, shallow, white fantasy book series.
I also take issue with the golems. Golems are uniquely Jewish in origin. I am not Jewish and won't speak for Jewish people, but I understand there is a specific cultural context to golems. This author should not be using golems in this book when a) there are other ways to depicted earthen monsters and b) are they Jewish? Is this book Jewish? Is the author making the villain Jewish because he's using golems for genocide and mass murder? There's so much wrong with this piece of the book that could have been avoided.
Content warnings:
Minor: emetophobia, rape,
Medium: body horror, mouth trauma, pregnancy, manipulation, torture,
Major: murder, wars, gore, wars, sexual harassment, anti refugee sentiment, mass murder, back trauma, injuries, gore, body horror, imprisonment, incest, orphaning,
Content Warnings
Graphic: Antisemitism, Body horror, Blood, Death, Genocide, Gore, Misogyny, Sexual assault, and Violence
Minor: Incest and Rape
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