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rainbowsandbookshelves's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Moderate: Animal death, Animal cruelty, Blood, Bullying, Death, Violence, Torture, Self harm, Racism, and Gore
Minor: Death of parent
forthesanityof1'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? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
I honestly think it might be me with this one, but I could not bond with the characters at all. That's not usually an issue, but I was so apathetic and downright irritated at some points that it took me well over a month to finish this. The MC was...complicated, the pacing was strange to me, the love interest was not interesting outside of the religious/moral division (which was one part of the book extremely well-done), the plot was not what I expected and at times did not make any sense, and the antagonist needed some developing to really fulfill how terrifying he could have been. There were some plot points that went over my head and sometimes the MC brought up issues at very odd times, especially with Katalin (spelling??). I would like to think this was all intentional, but some of it I think was more a by-product of poor writing and editing. I'll be checking out her other works, but I would not recommend this unless religious divide being central to the story is your thing.
One major positive: the author has a beautiful way with prose! A little too much sometimes (trying to draw a scene into a specific emotion when the actual content doesn't reflect it) but nice nonetheless!
Graphic: Antisemitism, Blood, Bullying, Child abuse, Colonisation, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Kidnapping, Racism, Religious bigotry, and Violence
thehappylittleelf's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Graphic: Blood, Bullying, Genocide, Animal death, Death, Emotional abuse, Medical trauma, Murder, Body horror, Child abuse, Racism, Self harm, Violence, Xenophobia, Gore, Physical abuse, and Religious bigotry
Moderate: Sexual content, War, and Death of parent
oliverreeds's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Abandonment, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Grief, Kidnapping, Murder, Physical abuse, Racism, Religious bigotry, Sexual content, Torture, and Violence
sarahdh'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
4.0
Graphic: Animal death, Antisemitism, Blood, Death, Gore, Murder, Racism, Violence, and Xenophobia
Moderate: Abandonment and Child abuse
howl's review against another edition
- Strong character development? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Antisemitism, Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, Cultural appropriation, Death of parent, Genocide, Physical abuse, Racism, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Violence, and Xenophobia
Moderate: Sexual content
bi_n_large'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? Yes
4.75
Graphic: Violence, Animal death, Death, Death of parent, Child death, Murder, Antisemitism, Vomit, and Self harm
Moderate: Racism and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Sexual assault
sabrinz's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
I loved the premise and the beginning where we meet Evike and her village, where most women and girls can perform some sort of magic (forging, healing or clairvoyance). But every few years, the Woodsmen come and take one girl with them to the capital and to the king.
This year, the king wants a seer, but the village can't spare one - so they send Evike who has no magic of her own.
As I said - the premise is amazing. Add to that old fairy tales and it should have been one of my new favourite books.
For me, unfortunately, the story did not deliver completely in that regard. Large parts of the story feel like the reader is just being dragged along from one point to the other. However, those stops along the story line do make sense at the end when everything comes full circle. Still, some of the characters are a bit flat (unfortunatley, I really wanted to love Gaspar (or his fellow Woodsmen we meet at first - until their untimely demise) or hate the king but also see that he's not just evil). While that came through in the story, it was more like an offhand remark rather than consuming me and the story.
Still, a very well-written story (I do like the style!) as a first book. It just did not grab me all the way.
Graphic: Animal death, Death, Xenophobia, and Racism
Minor: Physical abuse
kiaras's review against another edition
Graphic: Death, Xenophobia, Violence, and Murder
Moderate: Religious bigotry, Racism, and Antisemitism
booksthatburn'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
5.0
One of the strengths of this as an enemies-to-lovers story was that the MC and the eventual love interest had pretty good reasons to dislike each other as kinds of people, but not to already hate each other specifically, which made the transformation from ire to romance feel believable but not rushed. A lot of really excellent emotional groundwork and world-building was laid in the first half of the book, which meant that the second half could carefully subvert some (but not all) of those expectations and play with their implications in some really great ways. I feel a little as though that’s just how good books work, but the first and second half feel so distinct to me. Each had their own unique flavor which made the whole book sing. The world building is really good. I like the way that there were canonically several paths to magic, all of which are different in their particulars but involve some combination of access, mastery, and sacrifice. The MC begins the book thinking that she is unable to use the path that everyone has been expecting her to have. she finds her way into the path that’s good for her; not wholly new ground, something recognizable to those around her even if her specific blend is a bit strange.
Graphic: Blood, Gore, Murder, Death, and Death of parent
Moderate: Bullying, Kidnapping, Racism, Antisemitism, Religious bigotry, Vomit, Sexual content, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Self harm, Torture, Animal death, and Child death
Minor: Ableism, Homophobia, Domestic abuse, and Cannibalism
CW for ableism (minor), bullying, kidnapping, homophobia (minor), racism, antisemitism, religious bigotry, blood, gore, vomit, sexual content, physical abuse, domestic abuse (backstory), emotional abuse, self harm, murder, torture, cannibalism (not depicted), animal death, parental death, child death, death (graphic).