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juan_adhd_reading's review against another edition
- 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
3.5
I hope this review won’t be too long, so I’ll start with the positive, which is Gabriela’s amazing world building skills. The world of Venazia and Fedria felt so vivid and it was incredibly detailed. The remarkable amount of effort she put in developing everything from politics, to mythology, to the familial and inter species relationships that we witnessed. You can just tell everything came from a place of love, and I greatly appreciate that. The fact that the world is latine inspired really helped me visualize everything, as it came really close to my own home. I would definitely read the second book in the series as the story was intriguing and original.
I also want to praise her realistic portrayal of colonization, and how its effects are felt even generations after “liberation”. Eva’s journey and perspective is really valuable, showing the efforts needed to decolonize one self, and the trauma it can carry.
My main issues with this book were the pacing and the characters. Firstly, the first third or I would even say half of this book can be really slow and challenging to read. This is because it focuses mainly on the world building and developing character’s relationships and goals, rather than advancing the plot. That being said, after it picks up, it does so wonderfully, as the rest of the book is full of action, adventure, tension, magic, and drama.
As for the characters, it was incredibly hard for me to love them. For the majority of the book, the goals of most of the characters are selfish, naive and stupid; their actions, despicable (sometimes even downright evil). However, the place from which they make these terrible decisions is one of desperation, lack of autonomy and grief. So while I don’t agree with their actions, most of the times I do understand them.
Here’s a rundown of what I think of each character:
Reina follows suit, and while I do agree her character is way more understandable and redeemable than Javier, she should’ve faced more consequences for her actions. It’s because of her that seven women were brutally murdered, and undoubtedly even more of the ones initially mistaken as Damas del Vacío, without even mentioning the countless infanticides. Yet she gets to be Ches’ hero, the one who stopped Ramaghut, so she doesn’t face any repercussions.
Eva didn’t do anything as dastardly, but she definitely had her flaws, including her incredible naïveté, and lack of action when it’s needed the most (think, when she didn’t defend Doña Rosa).
Maior is by far the most likable, lovable character of the bunch. Although it is acknowledged that initially she was racist to Reina (and called her a duskling, which would be a slur in this world) at the time she was also kidnapped by her, so... And it is pretty obvious that she grows by the end, and does not hold these views any longer (which were mostly forced on her by the hyper religious, racist culture of the Apartaderos).
I have nothing to say of Celeste, except the way she treated Reina with an air of superiority all the time, even when she calls her a friend, annoyed me to no end. I was really glad this was also acknowledged in the last chapter.
Though at the end all characters grew, it was definitely an effort to enjoy the story because of them. At the end of the book, I would say they are at a place where I would enjoy their continuing growth if I read the next book.
Graphic: Body horror, Toxic relationship, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Kidnapping, and Child death
Moderate: Religious bigotry, Racism, Colonisation, Ableism, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Car accident, Slavery, and Suicide
Minor: Emotional abuse, Incest, and Death of parent
scrubsandbooks's review
1.0
I strongly recommend reading the review written by “Christopher’s Colorful Corazón” on Goodreads under this book for an in-depth thoughts on the entire book.
Graphic: Child death, Body horror, Racism, Ableism, Colonisation, Violence, and Death
Moderate: Body shaming, Medical trauma, and Religious bigotry
Minor: Death of parent
nely's review against another edition
Moderate: Colonisation, Fatphobia, and Ableism
hailstorm3812's review
- 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
3.75
Graphic: Ableism, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, and Body horror
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Child abuse, Death, Bullying, Chronic illness, Colonisation, Miscarriage, and Misogyny
Minor: War, Suicide, Homophobia, Genocide, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Rape, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, and Xenophobia
_teoeo's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
The blurb was really promising but after reading the book I have to say that even with good plot ideas the execution wasn't as satisfying.
Let's start with the things I enjoyed:
- The woldbuilding happened through the eyes of the protagonist
- The arc of suspense at the end was quite good and I enjoyed reading the last chapters.
But the biggest issue I had with the book was the timeline. The story expanded over a view years and because of that it feld like the author wanted to put too many plot points in this book. There was too little focus on different events and they fell a bit flat. Also, the characters seemed kinda inconsistent and some of their actions didn't made sense.
Another thing I didn't like were the love interests. They were either racist (at least in the beginning) or abusive and still, the protagonists fall for them. I really didn't like that the abusive behaviour was explained with
All in all I would say that the ideas for the plot are could be good but it needs a little more balance between booklength and events in the story as well as more comprehensible character building.
Thank you NetGalley for providing an e-ARC of this book!
Edit: changed my review to 2 stars, for the more I thought about this book, the more problematic aspects I've found. Especially the ableism, ugh!!
Graphic: Ableism
Moderate: Blood, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Cultural appropriation, Incest, Child death, Colonisation, Gaslighting, Medical content, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Bullying, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, Death, Racism, Toxic friendship, and Violence
Minor: Rape, Abandonment, and Suicide