Reviews

Le Porte-Lumière by Aiden Thomas

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silly_little_clown's review against another edition

I really want to finish this book because I’ve heard good things about it, and also because fantasy featuring a trans male character as the main character is hard to come by. But I think this is one of those YA books that’s aimed towards the younger demographic of young adults. A lot of the dialogues and descriptions sounds childish despite the main character being 17. And it felt like a lot of side characters just have their own set of default reactions to things. Plot points were a bit predictable and it kind of frustrates me how slow the characters were at picking clues up. Maybe I’m being too harsh.
One major downfall of this book for me is the modern elements. It seems like an urban fantasy with social medias and phones etc, however it literally just ends there. There’s no indication of other countries or world existing outside of this place. And it confuses me as to why people living in the modern age will be okay with killing a kid every ten years. It really took me out when people can literally livestream someone’s sacrificial death worldwide and no one has done anything to stop that after the Internet has come along. The lack of outrage makes this so far removed from its supposed modern setting.
Another thing is with the use of Spanish words. I know that it’s going to be really hard for a Mexican inspired fantasy to resonate with the culture it originated from to ditch Spanish altogether because the Spaniards colonized that part of the world and forced the native language out of use. But when a fantasy is built upon a world creation myth that actually happened with real living gods that have survived this long till the modern age, it sticks out when the characters use Spanish for the main part. It implies that despite the long lasting tradition of this fantasy world, it still got colonized by Spain at some point in history. I’m not sure if this series would delve into that later on but I just couldn’t stop thinking about it the whole time I’m reading this book.

stellarkestrel's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

natlonelyghost's review against another edition

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adventurous funny 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? It's complicated

5.0

isa_isa's review against another edition

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4.0

Reads a little too young for me but loooooved the trans rep!!

crystalroses68's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny 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

thepaperbackplanner's review against another edition

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5.0

Ok well I have yet another autobuy author on my hands! I loved "Cemetery Boys," and this was just as great! Great characters, beautiful world-building, and so funny! To borrow a Thomas-ism, many surprise laughs bucked in my chest 😄 Can't wait to see how our main characters get out of this mess in book two!