lovegriefandgender's review against another edition

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adventurous funny lighthearted medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Ok look so about 20 pages in
one of the characters turns out to be trans.
Shocking, right? Anyways it was lovely to see in a silly, completely melodramatic fantasy novel and I found myself buying into the world a lot more. One hilariously ridiculous sex scene, and
I'm not sure how I feel about trans characters making themselves into "the version they've always seen themselves as"
but I had fun and that's what this stuff is for.

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emmajh91's review against another edition

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challenging tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0


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bookhoe1's review against another edition

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emotional mysterious 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

4.75


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laurenleigh's review against another edition

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adventurous funny tense medium-paced
  • 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

4.0

Slow start to this one, but it definitely picked up and got its footing with the midway plot turn. (Not a real twist, just a major development.) Fantastic discussion of gender politics within a witchy version of our world. The characters were strong and compelling, and our villain was quite entertaining to read. Not sure if that’s because of or in spite of her despicableness. However, there were multiple plot points at the very end that just really frustrated me. I was seriously considering reading the sequel, but I don’t think I will now. Also PS DO NOT read the sequel’s blurb if you don’t want spoilers for this book.

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kynajayne's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional tense fast-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

I did enjoy this, the magic system and social justice themes were well executed. I look forward to reading more of the world.

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blacksphinx's review against another edition

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tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

On one hand, I feel like the main message of this book is important and I'm glad its been so successful. But I bounced off of the extremely causal prose hard, and it was difficult to read so much misogyny directed at women by other women (please stop calling each other cunts holy shit!) 

(I am also very tired of books that go "covid happened but we used magic to make it go away" ugh! And blaming the anti-vax movement on warlocks is so distasteful.)

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kellys_bookcase's review against another edition

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dark emotional hopeful mysterious medium-paced
  • 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? It's complicated

4.0

A strong first book in a series. The characters are well fleshed out, so you can understand their motives, even if you disagree with them. I accidentally spoiled the end for myself, so I can't comment too much on the twist - but I probably wouldn't have seen it coming!
You know it's a good book when the only real criticism you have is that Busted didn't debut until 2002!

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readingelli's review against another edition

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adventurous medium-paced
  • 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

4.5


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rory_o_rama's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional medium-paced
  • 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

4.5


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angelbabe_cj's review against another edition

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challenging dark hopeful tense fast-paced
  • 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? It's complicated

4.25


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