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marleywrites's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
medium-paced
- 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? It's complicated
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Torture, and Murder
Moderate: Blood
Minor: Infidelity
booksthatburn's review
Didn’t like it, not totally sure why.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Blood, Violence, Murder, and Death
Minor: Torture and Infidelity
therainbowshelf's review
adventurous
emotional
tense
slow-paced
- 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? It's complicated
4.0
A fun fantasy read. I don't love political intrigue, it's one of my least favorite features of fantasy books, but this book was still fun even witu the heavy focus on the ruling families drama. Loved having a gender fluid witch protagonist and a protagonist exploring her identity.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Murder, Death, Violence, Dysphoria, Torture, Sexism, Grief, Homophobia, Classism, Confinement, Child death, Bullying, and Medical content
Moderate: Death of parent
Minor: War
Poisoning, death of siblingcams_all_booked's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
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
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Torture, and Murder
Moderate: Homophobia, Blood, and Death of parent
Minor: Pregnancy, Grief, and Transphobia
plumpaperbacks's review against another edition
I’m honestly really bummed, because I’ve read so few fantasies with non-cis protagonists and I was so excited for this. There’s nothing actually wrong with this book, other than its extremely slow pacing. Although I liked the characters, I just got bored, and I feared I’d push myself into a reading slump if I tried to push through to the end. Whenever I think of reading a book and realize I don’t really want to, it’s time for me to be done with that book.
I’ll definitely be reading more from Capetta in the future, because some of their books sound incredible. I’m hoping this was just a weird one-off situation, and that I like their other work more.
Representation
I’ll definitely be reading more from Capetta in the future, because some of their books sound incredible. I’m hoping this was just a weird one-off situation, and that I like their other work more.
Representation
- genderfluid protagonist and love interest
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Misogyny, and Murder
Moderate: Blood, Child abuse, Gore, and Torture
Torture - brief scene where the protagonist witnesses someone flaying the skin off someone else’s hands before she puts a stop to it. Child abuse - brief references to experiences she and her brother had with an older sibling prior to the story.rosejoy's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Moderate: Abandonment, Child death, and Death of parent
Minor: Blood, Dysphoria, Grief, and Torture
alyssa_s10's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Death, Gore, Murder, Torture, and Violence
Moderate: Child abuse, Death of parent, Genocide, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, and Misogyny
malloryfitz's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Blood, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Homophobia, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexism, Torture, and Violence
Minor: Lesbophobia and Pregnancy
lizreadssurprisinglyoften's review against another edition
tense
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.25
My mind feels too cluttered to really process books right now, so I'm not sure why I keep reading them at this pace. Anyway, what I'm trying to say is that this book seemed to go by too quickly for me to connect.
I really liked Capetta's writing style and how detailed the world was. The romance had a lot of potential, but it relied way too much on physical stuff (I saw one reviewer describe it as 'insta-lust' rather than insta-love, and I think that's fitting) which I'm just too tired and ace for.
My other main concern was with the non-binary representation. I've seen several reviewers praise it for 'destroying the gender binary', but it doesn't really? It felt like the main characters were only genderfluid because they had the magical capability to transition to 'male' and 'female' bodies whenever they wanted to. There was no exploration of how they'd identify if they couldn't do that, no exploration of any gender that isn't binary, a weird subtext assumption that the only way you can be male or female is if your body looks like the cis ideal, and no discussion of pronouns beyond one short, unsatisfactory paragraph at the start of the book (you could make the argument that it's a historical fantasy and thus they wouldn't know about neutral language, but in my opinion, if you can invent a magic system, you can invent a way to include they/them pronouns.) I know the author is non-binary, and if this is how she represents her experience, then she's free to do so, but as a genderflux non-binary person it really didn't click with me. I hate to over-critique representation, and I'm glad that non-binary characters are becoming more acceptable in mainstream fantasy, but I don't think I'd recommend this book.
I really liked Capetta's writing style and how detailed the world was. The romance had a lot of potential, but it relied way too much on physical stuff (I saw one reviewer describe it as 'insta-lust' rather than insta-love, and I think that's fitting) which I'm just too tired and ace for.
My other main concern was with the non-binary representation. I've seen several reviewers praise it for 'destroying the gender binary', but it doesn't really? It felt like the main characters were only genderfluid because they had the magical capability to transition to 'male' and 'female' bodies whenever they wanted to. There was no exploration of how they'd identify if they couldn't do that, no exploration of any gender that isn't binary, a weird subtext assumption that the only way you can be male or female is if your body looks like the cis ideal, and no discussion of pronouns beyond one short, unsatisfactory paragraph at the start of the book (you could make the argument that it's a historical fantasy and thus they wouldn't know about neutral language, but in my opinion, if you can invent a magic system, you can invent a way to include they/them pronouns.) I know the author is non-binary, and if this is how she represents her experience, then she's free to do so, but as a genderflux non-binary person it really didn't click with me. I hate to over-critique representation, and I'm glad that non-binary characters are becoming more acceptable in mainstream fantasy, but I don't think I'd recommend this book.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Blood and Sexual content
Minor: Homophobia
My mind feels too cluttered to really process books right now, so I'm not sure why I keep reading them at this pace. Anyway, what I'm trying to say is that this book seemed to go by too quickly for me to connect. I really liked Capetta's writing style and how detailed the world was. The romance had a lot of potential, but it relied way too much on physical stuff (I saw one reviewer describe it as 'insta-lust' rather than insta-love, and I think that's fitting) which I'm just too tired and ace for. My other main concern was with the non-binary representation. I've seen several reviewers praise it for 'destroying the gender binary', but it doesn't really? It felt like the main characters were only genderfluid because they had the magical capability to transition to 'male' and 'female' bodies whenever they wanted to. There was no exploration of how they'd identify if they couldn't do that, no exploration of any gender that isn't binary, a weird subtext assumption that the only way you can be male or female is if your body looks like the cis ideal, and no discussion of pronouns beyond one short, unsatisfactory paragraph at the start of the book (you could make the argument that it's a historical fantasy and thus they wouldn't know about neutral language, but in my opinion, if you can invent a magic system, you can invent a way to include they/them pronouns.) I know the author is non-binary, and if this is how she represents her experience, then she's free to do so, but as a genderflux non-binary person it really didn't click with me. I hate to over-critique representation, and I'm glad that non-binary characters are becoming more acceptable in mainstream fantasy, but I don't think I'd recommend this book.
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