Reviews

Beyond the Black Door by A.M. Strickland

vidya_is_vidya's review against another edition

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4.0

really really good book overall but i could not get past the fact that razim, who was like a sibling to kamai, was trying to get with her. i get that they’re not technically related but they grew up together in the same household like siblings. like come on

that gave me the ick but like genuinely the rest of the book is really really good

karebear1092's review against another edition

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dark mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

I thought the writing was engaging and it was easy to get sucked in. There was a lot at the beginning of the book about the character being broken because of her asexuality and I thought that could have been handled better. 

speculativeshelves's review against another edition

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3.0

This book had a lot of cool concepts, worldbuilding, and overall aesthetics that I really enjoyed. That being said I felt both the plot and the relationships between characters could've been expanded more. I enjoyed the book overall but I was not invested as much as I could have been.

All that said there were two main reasons I read this – asexual representation and a hero/villain romance – and those were the strongest part of the book for me (though I still would've liked to see the hero/villain relationship develop a bit more) so if you're looking for either of those things in a fantasy novel I would still recommend this!

elanna_g's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional reflective medium-paced
  • 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

se_wigget's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious
  • 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

5.0

 
Wow, this dark fantasy novel was hard to put down! It's deeply satisfying. 
 
Nehyn's manipulation is potentially triggering. Ditto Kamai's "half-brother's" grabbiness and delusions of entitlement, and her father's misogyny and slut-shaming. I'm glad Kamai makes some real friends. 
 
"I somehow felt lighter than I had in months. Years. Maybe ever. For the first time in my life, the people closest to me knew the truth about who I was, and it was okay (p. 228)." 
This is wonderful. It's so different from coming out to "friends" who pretend to be tolerant and prove to be bullying bigots. 
 
"... sometimes I'm not sure why I bother giving you anything (p. 241)." That sounds exactly like something a malignant narcissist or narcissistic sociopath would say. Manipulative as fuck. I'm glad she notices he's a "Manipulative bastard" (p. 237, in italics--she's thinking it, not calling him out), but I hoped she'd purge him from her life by the end of the book. #nonarcissists #nosociopaths #nomindfuckersnoexceptions 
 
I'm so glad she moves out of her POS father's house. #chopupmisogynists 
 
"There was a trail of roses leading into the darkness. This time, they struck me as mocking rather than enticing. Perhaps they should have seemed that way to begin with (p. 283)." 
Never kick yourself for not seeing through a verbally/psychologically abusive narcissist or sociopath all along, especially if you've been treated that way most of your life. It's normal for you to take a while to see through their mindfuckery and realize they have no right to treat you like that. And if they try to gaslight you into believing you're self-righteous for belatedly taking your boundaries seriously (projecting their sanctimoniousnesss onto you), they're full of shit and absolutely have NO right to be in your life. 
So yeah: don't kick yourself for letting a narcissist or sociopath get away with their abusive behavior in the past. And it's not, never has been, and never will be your job to be their psychological punching bag/doormat. #fuckoffnarcissistsandsociopaths 
 
Page 287: It just goes to show: narcissists and sociopaths are shallow and petty even when they're immortals. And don't get me started on the "games" narcissistic sociopaths play. Don't give them a second of your time. 
 
Page 291: A "game." A game, a game, a game. Messing with your head is a game for narcissistic sociopaths.

writingcaia's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

fpwoper's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I really enjoyed the queer representation, especially the asexual main character. The plot didn't quite grab me until over halfway through the book, sadly. Would have rated it higher if I could have sat down and cherished this book from the start. Still, amazing representation, fucking love it. 

jennaclarek's review against another edition

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4.0

So. This book was a LOT. I picked it up for the asexuality rep bc hello it is I an asexual person! And I want to say first off - the ace rep was FLAWLESS. I loved seeing my sexuality in a fantasy book. However, as someone critiquing a fantasy book (ace stuff aside)...I actually had some issues with it. And I want to be honest about it all because I think people should know.

ASEXUALITY REP:

One of my FAVORITE things about this book was the little moon chart that explained gender identity and sexuality. The author says there will be a print of the chart in the finished copy (I read the ARC). It was just so GENIUS as a metaphor to explain how gender identity and your sexuality work. And I loved how even though this was a fantasy world/setting, the characters took the time to discuss sexuality and really understand how it works.

It was odd because this book is about sex workers so I wasn't sure how an ace person would fit into that, but I loved how it all worked. We really got to see the MC explore her sexuality and figure out if she enjoyed physical touch/kissing/romance and how that all affected her. I felt so seen and it was really kind of amazing to read. If I had had this book 10 years ago I think my entire life would be different.

My only issue with the ace rep is potentially at the beginning of the book it's hinted at that Kamai doesn't have a soul + she also spends a lot of her inner monologuing claiming that she's broken and asking if she's even capable of love. Now, as the book goes on everything dispels that and basically tells her she's fine at she is, but I was very weary of it at the beginning bc so often those remarks are used against ace people and I didn't want that in this book. So, I forgive the author...but it's still important to note that there are those phrases in there.

(I did love her weird relationship with Vehyn but I wish we got to see their relationship more! She just kind of claims that they're in love and we don't actually get to see much of them falling for each other.)

CRITIQUES:

First of all, I don't have the knowledge or experience to actually critique this BUT there is a trans character in this book and I'm not sure if the author wrote him in the best way. Mainly what happens is halfway through the book, a woman explains to her friends that she thinks she's "soul-crossed" (which I do actually think is a beautiful way to explain trans people) and she identifies more as a man. However, she doesn't insist people call her a him until the very end of the book where she publicly announces that she's a man and changes her name. I felt weird about it mainly because even after the woman explains she identifies as a man, everyone continues to call him a her...but then again, they do that because he told them to. All that to say, I don't know enough about trans rep to know if that's harmful or if that's valid - which is on me more than anyone, but I wanted to see if anyone had an opinion about it for future reference. I want to get pronouns right and my brain started to get very muddled with this character bc I viewed him as a him, but the MC kept calling him a her.

^^UPDATE ABOUT THIS FROM THE AUTHOR: https://twitter.com/AdriAnneMS/status/1143707818391793664

I also want to say that from a fantasy perspective, I think the world building could have been stronger. By the time we got to the end of the book, I felt like I had a basic knowledge of the world, but even that was not really explained well. I wanted it to be more fleshed out (this book could've been like another 100-300 pages probably). More than that, I felt like it cut a lot of corners with a few cop outs and a lack of good explanations. The magic of the world makes sense, but how it was used and how the mythology of the world was used/explored was very basic. (And I know this is a standalone YA fantasy but come on I have high standards!) I still don't think I could tell you how all the goddess mythology works even after 400 pages.

Additionally, I felt like some of the dialogue was a little bit...amateur. A lot of times the dialogue took me out of the story because it seemed like something I would write in a basic first draft and it didn't seem super realistic. (But that's like...extreme nit-picking on my part SORRY)

--

So at the end of the day, I really LOVED this book because it was great ace rep...however, I had a lot more issues with it than I wanted and at the end of the day I felt that the ace rep > the actual world/technical writing of the book. I think it could have been fleshed out more and edited a little deeper. I will definitely be recommending it to my ace pals though!!

bog_walker's review against another edition

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adventurous medium-paced

3.0

thewizardem's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0