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moonyreadsbystarlight's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
5.0
Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Death, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
Moderate: Suicide, War, and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Misogyny
earofthedog's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
Graphic: Body horror, Death, and Animal death
Moderate: Medical content and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
Minor: War and Transphobia
wickedgrumpy's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
3.5
Minor: Alcohol, Body horror, Confinement, Medical content, Mental illness, Slavery, Death, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Classism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Terminal illness, Toxic friendship, Cursing, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Medical trauma, Sexism, Stalking, and Toxic relationship
vickybuka's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Graphic: Death, Terminal illness, Gore, Medical content, Violence, and Animal death
Moderate: Alcohol, Suicide, War, and Death
Minor: Gun violence, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Injury/Injury detail
kathburke's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
Graphic: Medical content, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gore, and Terminal illness
Moderate: Grief and Murder
Minor: Suicide, Misogyny, Transphobia, Gun violence, and War
affabletoaster's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Took me about 2.5 hrs to read, which is shameful when you realize that I checked it out of the library twice because of my poor sitting-down-and-reading habits. Many thanks to my in-laws who watched my children while I devoured this at last!
Graphic: Terminal illness, Body horror, Animal death, and Suicide
Moderate: Medical content, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Murder, and War
Minor: Misogyny, Grief, Gun violence, Transphobia, and Xenophobia
vixenreader's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Chronic illness, Mental illness, Medical trauma, Medical content, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Terminal illness, Animal cruelty, Death, Gore, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Alcohol, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, War, and Violence
Minor: Drug use, Cursing, and Death of parent
Beware of strangulation, possession by parasitic fungus, fungi and mold, deterioration of property mirroring deterioration of the human body, infection, and drowning in pools of water.hazeyjane_2's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Kingfisher doesn't fall into this trap. She builds up the suspense by creating the fully fledged character of Alex Easton, who is an ex-soldier come to visit her childhood friend Madeline. Actual emotions, actual misconceptions, science (yay!) in the form of a female mycologist, and everything bubbling away just beneath the surface.
Side note: It was refreshing to see a military where sex characteristics truly don't matter, so, this definitely isn't a complaint. But the sentence about "people who did not want to *be* women" rubbed me a bit the wrong way. I felt that could've been worded differently. There is nothing wrong with being a woman. Changing your clothing and pronouns does not change your sex. It may change the way people perceive you, but it does not change your actual biology (unless I missed something, and this story has some magic that allows you to become truly androgynous).
I assume that Kingfisher was trying to have her cake and eat it too: both evoke the misogyny of the late 19th century and also find a way to evade it... which I highly appreciate, don't get me wrong. I liked the way she sidestepped it.
But this is fiction. Kingfisher could easily have ignored real-world history and written an alt history in which women as a class *hadn't ever* been subject to sex-based oppression. Not even a matriarchal society, just a society where no one would have blinked at a female scientist and where women had always been soldiers without question. The anecdote about how women came to join the army felt especially on the nose. We don't always have to centre the masculine experience. Or she could've made three sexes, with no further explanation needed (male, female and ka/kan), or no sexes at all.
As it stands, in a book where men and women exist, women *are* an oppressed class and sex roles are clearly similar to those of the late 19th century in our world, I would've liked a bit more information on how Galacia's sworn (and Gallacian society in general) managed to overcome the hardwired sex binary so fast, and whether this was in the military or everywhere else as well. I realise this wasn't that story, though.
Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Death
Minor: War and Vomit
owlribbon's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Graphic: Animal death and Body horror
Minor: Suicide, Fire/Fire injury, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexism, and War
sammirosewater's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Blood, Gore, Animal death, Death, Dementia, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, Suicide attempt, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Suicide, Torture, Terminal illness, Violence, and Stalking