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decklededgess's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- 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? It's complicated
4.0
trigger warnings: sexual assault (opening scene), sexual violence related ptsd, drug addiction, trafficking, racism, imprisonment and confinement,
This book was a tough one. I had to pivot from physical to audiobook just to make it easier to process. From the get go it's apparent this is a rather loose allegory for Westward expansion era slavery. I mean really only the densest of people isn't going to pick up on that. It's really well researched and tactfully written. The attention to detail in terms of character development, trauma responses, relationship and trust building, were all incredibly crafted. The characters felt real, their responses felt genuine, amazing and touching stuff to read.
The fantasy worldbuilding was a bit confusing but this is book 1 in this world/series, most of it was expository which is understandable, and this was a heavily character driven book so I wasn't too phased. Plus if we're considering the prior knowledge we already have about Wild West America, really all you have to do is swap certain terminology and you've got 90% of it covered.
Amazing book, can't wait to get to my ARC of the second book!
This book was a tough one. I had to pivot from physical to audiobook just to make it easier to process. From the get go it's apparent this is a rather loose allegory for Westward expansion era slavery. I mean really only the densest of people isn't going to pick up on that. It's really well researched and tactfully written. The attention to detail in terms of character development, trauma responses, relationship and trust building, were all incredibly crafted. The characters felt real, their responses felt genuine, amazing and touching stuff to read.
The fantasy worldbuilding was a bit confusing but this is book 1 in this world/series, most of it was expository which is understandable, and this was a heavily character driven book so I wasn't too phased. Plus if we're considering the prior knowledge we already have about Wild West America, really all you have to do is swap certain terminology and you've got 90% of it covered.
Amazing book, can't wait to get to my ARC of the second book!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Drug abuse, Drug use, Addiction, Blood, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Grief, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Trafficking, Torture, and Rape
mandkips's review
challenging
dark
emotional
tense
medium-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
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Trafficking, Slavery, Misogyny, Sexism, and Murder
Moderate: Blood, Death, Violence, Addiction, Bullying, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Kidnapping, and Suicide
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