Reviews

Otherworldly by F.T. Lukens

Only show reviews with written explanations

justen's review against another edition

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adventurous 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

damien666's review against another edition

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adventurous medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

The story got a bit boring at times but overall it was entertaining. The characters were interesting enough. I did like the way the five year winter was handled, the little glimpses we got of former glory and how it effected peoples lives. The feeling of belonging and finding your place was well done.

eleonora_fr's review against another edition

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hopeful 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? No

3.0

bookgirl1861's review against another edition

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adventurous funny hopeful lighthearted 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

scschaecher's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes

4.0

I mean cmon it’s FT Lukens. Very predictable but sometimes that’s not a bad thing. They love to write a trope and hey I love to read a trope.

I liked how Ellery didn’t say they believed in the goddess even in her face. An interesting message about what faith means and how religious trauma can impact people.

Yay found family yay magic boyfriends

glutenfree_nonbinary_heehee's review against another edition

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emotional funny relaxing sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.25

I listened to the audiobook version and loved all of the performances.

I really wanted to like this book more than I ended up liking it by the end :(

Pros

Nonbinary MC !!
Cozy vibes
Supernatural/gods and goddesses vibe
The opening really had me hooked
Urban fantasy
Cute fluff
Queerness and it being normalized/no biggie
Lovely sapphic rep and found family vibes

Cons

“They licked their lips” is this author’s bread and butter for some reason,,, it’s everywhere
Some lines were for sure written as “this is a quotable bit” rather than “sure that’s cute and a cool thing to say in a conversation by this person”
The redressing of Greek myths is super obvious when used, but not in a fun way. Like at the end,
we were like “ok yea btw Orpheus and Eurydice moment bc I said so” and “look they’re better than Orpheus bc they didn’t look back”
I made some audible sighs of my own at that point
Why were the scenes with the goddess (why don’t any of the big three have a name??) so easy? Like that whole section of the book didn’t feel like there was much of a risk of things not going well the first time we see her. I know she’s a goddess but she was so very one dimensional
Hated the whole undead feeding scene. Bad bad bad. I get the point but I can still get the ick
For some scenes, I was like oh this reminds me of
Percy Jackson, but then the coinciding Percy Jackson scene was better maybe

I think overall, I had no expectations going in other than great cover artwork, a nonbinary protag, and some cozy magic stuff. And those things got mainly fulfilled! Some stuff at the end left an eh taste in my mouth and I do wish we’d had more world building. I will say, don’t go in excepting 100% cozy vibes bc I was STRESSED at a lot of points. I probably won’t pick up other books by this author if this is their formula, but I am glad I gave it a listen.

Content Warnings