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takarakei's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Jarrow is the best character. Protect Jarrow.
There is also a minor romance subplot which feels... very underdeveloped. Hella insta-lovey and I just didn't really understand why it needed to be there if it was so underdeveloped. It does have LGBTQIA+ rep.
I'd say this is maybe give it a try if this is your genre cause it's short, but borrow it from your library.
Graphic: Abandonment, Gore, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, Misogyny, and Blood
Moderate: Violence and Gun violence
Minor: Trafficking and Infertility
ksuazo94'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? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Child abuse, Physical abuse, and Domestic abuse
Moderate: Gore, Violence, and Sexual assault
mxbluet18'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
4.75
☆
☆
I wasn't necessarily sure how I was going to fair with this one, but I have really enjoyed it. I've read reviews describing it as 'a fairytale stapled to a thriller', and I wouldn't argue with that assessment.
~
I don't read much in the way of fairytale retellings, nor do I read many thrillers, partly because I don't like being scared. But this was struck a pleasing balance between suspenseful and uncertainty for the reader, with the calm of childhood.
~
I liked the way it went back to Devon's childhood and the experiences she had then, to show how her personality and resentment for the Families develop. And with the fairytale aspect of it, I liked that there was inclusion of dragons and knights, and Camelot.
~
Something I found interesting was the whole thing with the Ravenscar family, and how they had monopoly over an important element, and therefore to some degree had complete control over the other Families. Though I didn't like the arranged and forced marriages and pregnancies, however I'm aware that's the part of the plot that's intended to make people uncomfortable.
Graphic: Child abuse, Gun violence, Murder, Gore, Violence, Body horror, Death, and Domestic abuse
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Homophobia, Torture, and Physical abuse
vegetablemathematics's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Moderate: Sexual assault and Rape
Minor: Trafficking
starrysteph's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Murder, Drug use, Homophobia, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Violence, Alcohol, Body horror, Car accident, Gaslighting, Infertility, and Pregnancy
bitteralbatross's review against another edition
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
Graphic: Child abuse
Moderate: Physical abuse, Murder, and Misogyny
Minor: Sexual violence, Trafficking, Stalking, Rape, Religious bigotry, Sexism, and Sexual assault
hailstorm3812's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Misogyny and Confinement
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Alcoholism, Sexual assault, Child abuse, and Drug abuse
Minor: Homophobia, Pregnancy, Trafficking, and Acephobia/Arophobia
leonormsousa's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
QUOTE
Certainly, it could inspire goodness. She didn’t argue that. Poets would tell you that love was electricity in your veins that could light a room. That it was a river in your soul to lift you up and carry you away, or a fire inside the heart to keep you warm. Yet electricity could also fry, rivers could drown, and fires could burn; love could be destructive. Punishingly, fatally destructive.
And the other thing, the real bloody clincher of it all, was that the good and the bad didn’t get served up equally. If love were a balance of electric lights and electric jolts, two sides of an equally weighted coin, then fair enough. She could deal.
That wasn’t how it worked, though. Some love was just the bad, all the time: an endless parade of electrified bones and drowned lungs and hearts that burned to a cinder inside the cage of your chest.
And so she looked down at her son and loved him with the kind of twisted, complex feeling that came from having never wanted him in the first place; she loved him with bitterness, and she loved him with resignation. She loved him though she knew no good could ever come from such a bond."
- Sunyi Dean's writing is stunning (something I've confirmed in her two recent short stories), and I think I might read everything she puts out there
- So many great and strong passages! (I'm not one to annotate but this book made me want to)
- We love a book that doesn't shy away from talking about misogyny and oppressive societies
- How the author explored the topic of love, especially maternal love and how it can twist your moral boundaries (see the quote I included)
- The queer rep <3
- The concept of book and mind eaters was so interesting and original, and the chapter introductions with the lore really made the experience better
- It really stuck with me (it has been 4 months since I read and I not only think about it but almost feel like rereading it)
- The dual-timeline storytelling works so well
THINGS I DIDN'T ENJOY
- The ending was a bit too rushed and even almost “too easy”.
- Some details were given a lot of emphasis in the book but then ended up not playing any part at all, which felt a bit misleading and incoherent.
THINGS THAT I'VE SEEN CRITICISM ABOUT AND WHY I ACTUALLY LIKED THEM
- The world-building is limited - I think that the vagueness and unresolvedness of this book fitted it quite well. It's very rooted in Devon, so for me, it made sense that we didn't knew much about the book/mind eaters origin or lore (or other topics of the book in general) because she didn't knew it as well, either because she wasn't given that information as a woman or because it was not knowledge the book eater society had at the time.
- The abrupt ending - I actually like open endings and thought this one fitted the book well
READ IF YOU ENJOY
- creepy books with grey/dark characters
- stories about unhinged women trying to break free
- topics like misogynist societies and motherhood
- urban fantasy/sci-fi elements as a means to uncover and discuss real-life situations
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Violence, Gaslighting, and Death
Moderate: Pregnancy, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Sexual assault, Blood, Alcoholism, Body horror, Body shaming, Cannibalism, Child death, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Physical abuse, Stalking, and Vomit
Minor: Trafficking, Acephobia/Arophobia, Homophobia, and Slavery
ashleyrunswild'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? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Abandonment, Alcoholism, Blood, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Slavery, Rape, Sexism, Trafficking, Misogyny, Body horror, Cannibalism, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Murder, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Vomit
kaiyakaiyo's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Graphic: Child death
Moderate: Child abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, and Misogyny