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novella42's review
- 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? It's complicated
4.5
I'm amazed how well this book depicts a truly sex-positive society, in a way that I've never really seen before. I don't even think "sex-positive" is the right word for it. Maresca treats the worldbuilding around sexual mores in a fascinating way, including thoughtful consent dynamics and respectful asexual rep. I'm writing this review months after reading it, and I still think about it often.
The only reason I took half a star off is that the book gets pretty chaotic at times, and that made it hard to follow. But I respect the risk Maresca took in being so ambitious with everything that went into this world and story. One thing that is very clear to me on reading this is how much fun the author was having. So, yeah, it's chaotic, but it's gloriously chaotic, and it's really fun to read. I would absolutely read more in this world, and in the meantime, I've definitely been recommending it to my extended polycule.
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Classism, Forced institutionalization, Drug use, Racism, Ableism, Car accident, Toxic friendship, Body horror, Colonisation, Confinement, Genocide, Medical trauma, Police brutality, Sexual content, Terminal illness, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: War, Cursing, Injury/Injury detail, Xenophobia, Vomit, Violence, Dysphoria, Slavery, and Gun violence
Minor: Drug abuse, Kidnapping, Infertility, Deportation, Gaslighting, Sexual assault, and Torture
ritabriar's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
The two main characters grow or change throughout the book. They don't get rid of the scars that hold them back at the beginning, but they do grow bigger than their scars so that they're not so all-consuming.
The social structure is caste-based, with legal and systematic enforcement. I really love the way the characters think about the caste system from different perspectives, specifically early on when
The magical system is inspired by mushroom ecology, the way mushrooms can permeate and connect everything in an area. The afterword mentioned "psychic mushrooms" --not psychedelic-- and this is very accurate. I loved the possibilities opened by this magic system.
This book starts at a fast pace and has a constant acceleration in pace and stakes as it goes. I still marked it as medium pace, though, because there are places you can pause along the way. The plot seems to have a structure of "walk, run, sprint, result/rest, repeat" with an echo of this structure over the entire book. Many tropes were flipped in the results, in a character-driven way.
There's a lot of sex, but there is also respect for a sex-repulsed character's wishes. (I do wish more flavors of Ace would have been acknowledged, but it's perhaps a start.) I would not call this book a romance, or even having a romance sub-plot. While there are plenty of conflicts between possible romantic interests, there is no useful resolution of the relationships on-page, though the main and main character plots ease things somewhat.
There is a lot of grey morality being practiced. Almost everyone thinks they're doing the right thing, or at least the best thing of bad options. Even Nalia
The ending was complicated: not happy but hopeful. The book ended with a generalization
Graphic: Racism, Colonisation, Drug use, Confinement, and Classism
Moderate: Cultural appropriation, Death, Gaslighting, Forced institutionalization, Sexual content, Police brutality, Medical trauma, and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Slavery, Torture, Gun violence, Suicide, and Injury/Injury detail