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peachani's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Graphic: Transphobia, Blood, Murder, and Panic attacks/disorders
Moderate: Grief and Child abuse
Minor: Animal death, Child death, and Kidnapping
mousey's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Graphic: Cursing, Grief, Gore, Murder, Child death, Deadnaming, Deportation, Dysphoria, Outing, Racism, Blood, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Death of parent, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Sexism, Transphobia, and Violence
m0usey's review against another edition
- 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
4.25
Graphic: Gore, Grief, Transphobia, Death, Death of parent, Blood, Deadnaming, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Medical content
Minor: Child death, Outing, Child abuse, and Dysphoria
cerealceec's review against another edition
- 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
2.5
the characterisation left more to be desired. julian is charming and lovable and is probably the most developed out of everyone, but i still felt like he lacked depth. maritza is a spunky purple-haired vegan and not much else. yadriel isn't an annoying protagonist or a complete blank slate, but i wanted a little more from him.
one big issue with yadriel's characterisation, which intersects with how i felt about the plot, is that he nearly doesn't have a character arc at all. we know only a few pages in that lady death considers him a "real" brujo, so the main conflict involves family and community acceptance. multiple times, julian brings up an interesting question—is yadriel trying to prove himself as a "real" brujo to his family, or himself? i thought it was interesting that yadriel responds that they're the same thing, and i was looking forward to the book exploring this more in-depth, but it never happened. yadriel's family
all that said, my main gripe was the writing style, namely the fact that it was very, very juvenile and bland. i know it's a YA novel, but this still almost feels like the driest YA novel i've read in terms of writing style. there is just no creativity or flow in the way things are described, which is a shame because the worldbuilding is so interesting and clearly took a lot of work! there were lots of visuals that could have been written to be much more impactful. it felt like reading a wikipedia article about the plot instead of reading the actual book. lots of telling instead of showing, and heavy exposition, especially towards the beginning, which made the first 80ish pages pretty slow to get through.
overall—sweet romance, last half was hard to put down, lovely representation... just wish it had gone through A LOT more edits.
Moderate: Violence and Transphobia
Minor: Child abuse
mirireads's review against another edition
- 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
4.25
Moderate: Transphobia, Physical abuse, Child abuse, Murder, and Death
Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Outing, and Deadnaming
azaelia's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
You can tell this book was written by a trans author, the main characters identity was handled so well, this is the most I’ve related to a trans character before, and it really adds to the quality of the writing.
Moderate: Transphobia and Death
Minor: Child abuse and Death of parent
arthur_ant18's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
Graphic: Deadnaming, Transphobia, Death, Blood, and Grief
Moderate: Death of parent, Violence, Homophobia, Sexism, Misogyny, Medical content, Murder, Racism, and Dysphoria
Minor: Animal death, Self harm, Cultural appropriation, Child abuse, and Car accident
cozyteareads's review against another edition
- 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
3.75
Graphic: Death of parent, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Murder, Transphobia, Violence, Dysphoria, and Child abuse
Moderate: Drug use, Abandonment, Drug abuse, Outing, Medical content, Grief, Death, Racism, and Bullying
Minor: Animal death, Abandonment, Car accident, and Physical abuse
letiross's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
4.25
Graphic: Transphobia, Blood, and Death
Moderate: Death of parent, Deadnaming, and Violence
Minor: Child abuse
nerdysread's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Graphic: Transphobia, Violence, Death of parent, and Murder
Moderate: Child abuse, Homophobia, Racism, and Transphobia