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btwnprintedpgs's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
While I loved the premise of the story and the tidbits of magic and horror that we get, I feel like much of the problems the characters run into are solved too easily. Need to find proof of something? Go from point A to point B and tada - it's right there waiting for them. A lot of things felt too convenient which often pulled me out of the story.
Additionally, the romance felt too quick. Effy is so rude to Preston when he, objectively, has done nothing to actually offend her. They weren't rivals, really, Effy was just a classist B who needed someone to yell at since everyone else was a misogynistic a-hole. I didn't like her a lot because of that, and their declarations of feelings came much too fast when that was the base of their relationship. It was not for me, honestly.
I did love the overall message. It didn't feel preachy - in fact, it felt magical and I loved that. The way Ava Reid weaved together the story and connected all the dots at the end was absolutely brilliant and I almost wish we could've scrapped the whole romance plot for more depth into the magic of the world.
All in all, this was a solid read, but the stakes for the obstacles they faced (other than a few obvious big ones) felt so low and too easy. I wish there was a bit more meat to those aspects, but enjoyed the book as a whole.
Plot: 3/5
Characters: 3.5/5
World Building: 5/5
Writing: 4.5/5
Pacing: 3/5
Overall: 3.5/5
TW: misogyny, sexism, sexual harassment, sexual assault, grief, injury detail, PTSD, mental illness, emotional abuse, blood; mentions death of a parent, abandonment, adult/minor relationship, xenophobia
eARC gifted via NetGalley by HarperTeen in exchange for an honest review.
Graphic: Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual assault, Grief, and Sexual harassment
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Death of parent, and Abandonment
sydapel's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Mental illness, and Sexual assault
Moderate: Emotional abuse and Sexual content
Minor: Abandonment
malisac16's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Graphic: Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, Sexual assault, and Sexual harassment
Moderate: Bullying and Abandonment
Minor: Adult/minor relationship
booketofbooks's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Sexism, Sexual assault, Gaslighting, and Abandonment
amberreadsgood's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
This had beautiful prose and lots of potential, but I think it tried to be too many things at the same time. Effy and Preston had little to no romantic tension, which made it difficult to buy the relationship as genuine, and that's without the weird fantasy racism Effy has towards Preston in the beginning. Her overcoming her misguided preconceptions seemed like a shallow way to develop her character, and personally if I were Preston, I would find it difficult to be attracted to someone who hurled racist remarks at me because they didn't agree with my academic views that I'm actively trying to prove as opposed to believing without merit.
The magic and fantasy elements were (in my opinion) so minimal that it felt like they should have just been cut to flesh out other parts of the story instead. I think it would have been more interesting to root the story a bit more in reality and lean into Effy's delusion/mental instability. For me, there just wasn't enough of the fantasy element going on to justify the presence of it at all.
I wish there had been more of a conclusion with her abusive mother and sexual abuser mentor. One felt too neatly tied up, the other not mentioned at all after the fact. It's another aspect that made me feel like too much was trying to happen here, and so it wasn't handled the best.
I still enjoyed this enough to finish it, and like I said, it had lovely writing from an aesthetic perspective, I just wish it had more substance for me to sink my teeth into. I'm aware it's a YA book, so maybe that's on me 🤷🏽♀️
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Confinement, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, Abandonment, and Sexual harassment
deetabz's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
3.75
Graphic: Misogyny and Sexism
Moderate: Bullying, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Violence, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Minor: Body horror, Drug use, Sexual content, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, and Alcohol
aksmith92's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
When Effy arrives, she realizes she will not be completing coursework alone - Preston Helrouy (sorry if that spelling is wrong - I returned my book) is also there but on behalf of the Literature College. He is apparently investigating the great works of Effy's favorite poet - what Effy wanted to do forever. There was obviously built tension, including the fact that Preston is apparently from another country (well, his father is) that Effy's country hates. Therefore, we have this odd clash between two people from different countries.
Here is what I liked: I enjoyed the atmospheric nature of the writing; the prose was lovely. It was readable and interesting. This brings me to the next thing I liked, which was the major plot point of Effy and Preston working together in this cold, dark, and rainy place. They teamed up to find the truth, and that was an interesting and fun ride. For about 80-90% of the book, even though it was young adult which I struggle to read sometimes, it felt a little bit more mature.
I must say, in general, I shy away from the very soft, docile female main character in fantasy-like novels such as this because I like a strong-willed and determined main character. Effy was NOT that. She had mental health problems and traumatic experiences and was generally anxious 90% of the time. Honestly, this felt very realistic. I believe that people didn't feel Effy as much in this book because it felt too real for the reader. She was so similar to someone we know (or ourselves), and I think sometimes that sentiment is hard to read. But I appreciated Effy. Sure, her childish behavior (and then her acknowledging it) was a bit annoying, to say the least, but she felt real to me.
Honestly, I didn't mind the romance at all. I've noted some reviews that said there was zero build-up and that Preston and Effy's relationship was boring. I disagree! While I think that Preston could likely have been a bit more layered or developed more, I thought there were cute moments between the two and thought the romance aspect was decently done.
Here is what didn't cut it for me and is why I am rating it 3 stars: I rated a whole star down because, in the end, Effy said: "She would simply DIE without Preston." Cue young adult dramatics and nonsense. It's a huge pet peeve for me. A book can read young adult but not contain corny stuff like that. Additionally, this is not rivals-to-lovers. There is a romantic component between two people with fundamentally different ways of thinking after growing up as "other." Effy is trying to make it in one of the misogynistic worlds, and Preston has genes from a place at war with their current location. There are belief systems and values tugged on here between the two, which make them different but not rivals. They aren't competing for the same thing, really, and if anything, they find a partnership sooner in the novel than I anticipated.
But here comes my biggest qualm: we don't really get the intricate world-building needed. Apparently, there is a war going on between Effy and Preston's countries. Never knew why or how. It seemed to be used as a tension plot point SOLELY for the romantic plot point. Additionally, we obviously have a world with some magical elements to it, but that wasn't explored nearly enough, especially for a standalone book. This book seemed to be about women's empowerment and a woman (barely, more like a girl) getting through really challenging times in a world that was not too dissimilar from our own. I would have been ok with the book like this, but adding in some other random elements, like war and magic, without really explaining it just a bit, made the whole thing seem disorganized.
Regardless, it was a decent read!
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Abandonment, and Sexual harassment
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Sexual content, and Alcohol
chezler24's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Via melding dark academia with eerie fantasy elements, Ava Reid has created a fairly successful mystery surrounding one of the fictional country's premier authors. Reid critiqued the country's social structure of placing women at the bottom both in daily life and more pointedly in academia. Many women, myself included, can relate to Effy Sayre in her struggle to be taken seriously by people for things that were outside of her control. I loved the atmosphere and world Reid created and wanted to learn more about Llyr and Argant. Preston and Effy served as nice foils for each other and bridged their respective realms of logic and fantasy.
While I did enjoy this read, there were some things that felt a bit rushed or I wished had been more integral to the overall plot threads. Effy wins the contest without any real struggle (yes I realize that the reason was explained later but I wish we could have seen some insight into drafting/sketching or something), her fight with the Fairy King felt like a blip, the war conflict between Argant and Llyr seemed unimportant, and the Sleeper Museum and the magic these figures possessed seemed glossed over.
The ending was nice. We see growth from Effy as well as justice for individuals wronged by those in positions of power over them.
The OwlCrate exclusive content was great! I almost wished I had a book focused solely on Angharad - the "real" one and not the book character within the book.
Probably a 3.5/5 for me. I'd place this for readers just getting into the Young Adult section with touching on more intense themes. (~16+)
Moderate: Sexism, Sexual assault, and Sexual harassment
Minor: Sexual content, Blood, and Abandonment
kenzaett's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Did I expect a wonderfully written novel thats engaging, has dark academia, found family, enemies to lovers, grumpy x grumpy, mystery, academic rivals tropes, dark urban fantasy, fae legend proving true, great world building, feminism, mental health awareness, and is trickled with beautiful poetry, in a gloomy, misty island setting??
Did I LOVE IT and read half of it within one day? Yes!!!
And the romance was JUST the right amount, not overly annoying or taking away from the protagonist's innner conflict, or the mystery in the plot.
THE FMC is called Effy, btw. What other Effies do we know? Trinket, the one from skims... She's another one in a line of amazing, uniquely flawed and intriguing characters!
The "plot twist" was a bit expectable, but I don't mind figuring it out earlier than the protagonists. It was just too obvious
You'll love this if you liked books like Divine Rivals or , cold oceans and cliff sides, LOADS of references to water, a slow burn academic rivals romance, elements of fairy tales, female empowerment, discussions of mental health... And beautiful, poetic writing!
Here are my favorite, most memorable wuotes;
(TBA)
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Chronic illness, Drug use, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Kidnapping, Grief, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Addiction, Mental illness, Terminal illness, Torture, Xenophobia, Death of parent, Murder, and Abandonment
Minor: Toxic relationship, Violence, Trafficking, and Car accident
jos_haunted_library's review against another edition
- 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? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual assault, and Classism
Moderate: Bullying, Emotional abuse, Violence, Xenophobia, Death of parent, Abandonment, and War
Minor: Gun violence, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail