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angiehunny'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? No
4.5
Minor: Child death and Grief
hollsbookshelf'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? No
3.5
Moderate: Child death
lolajh'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? No
4.5
Graphic: Suicide, Toxic relationship, Grief, Stalking, and Child death
Moderate: Drug use and Mental illness
xlivjones073's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Graphic: Stalking and Child death
foxwish's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Harris also added in overt references to her previous work which took me out of the story, she references A Pocketful of Crows with "A named thing is a tamed thing." and multiple uses of the word "honeycomb" as reference to her short story collection Honeycomb. I don't know if all these stories are meant to be taking place in the same universe, but the references felt very out of place regardless.
Graphic: Child death, Death of parent, Drug use, and Grief
Moderate: Suicide
renpuspita's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
I think the fault is entirely on mine because while I'm familiar with the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, Joanne M Harris took liberties in retelling the Child Ballad, King Orfeo and The Elphin Knight while writing Orfeia and I admit I'm not familiar with them! Since the ballad use ye old English and English is not my native, it's difficult to me to understand the meaning of the ballad without try to googling it first. However, Harris's writing is lovely and the story itself actually is about a mother's love to her daughter. Although, I got confused about some things like the situation regarding Daisy's death because it's so convoluted. The illustration itself inside the book is pretty to look at but also unnerving, perfectly compliment the book's content.
I guess, I need to re-read Orfeia in order to understand the story especially about Daisy. Overall, the narrative itself are pretty much easy to understand. The description about London Beneath, London Beyond and the land of Death kinda remind me of Gaiman's novel. The story itself end with a happy note, regarding how you view it. At least, Fay is finally happy and remember that Orfeia at first is always about mother's love so you will get my gist. A lovely novella about retelling of King Orfeo and the myth about Orpheus and Eurydice.
Graphic: Child death and Death
Moderate: Drug use
nb_alex'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? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Child death
Moderate: Drug use
vigil's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
i really enjoyed the prose and atmosphere of the book, so much so that despite my (currently in flux) feelings about the ending i'm totally interested in picking up another book from her. going into this, my only awareness of the story was the basic description on the backcover, (sidenote: this cover is absolutely stunning on both sides) a modern fairytale about a mother attempting to retrieve her daughter. as the narrative moved forward, it began to weave in other myths and folklore, to varying degrees of success, but in regards to its advertised and original intention, i think it did it very well.
i was almost immediately pulled in by the hazy atmosphere of the story, befitting both the fairytale aspect, and the character one, as fay is lost in her own grief. i would have liked to see more urgency regarding that in the story, as i don't know if i was feeling my own anticipation, or something actually being built into the story. considering the ending, i'm leaning towards the former. i enjoyed fay as a character, but the writing for her made her come across much younger than she actually was at times. unfortunately, i felt like she was the one character that was fleshed out the most, and everyone more or less existing as plot devices
i think this idea and its execution was inventive and very intriguing, but is cramped by the lack of narrative space. personally speaking, i think making this book longer would've given it the room it needed to breathe. especially in regard to the twist ending, which in my opinion, is already somewhat odd, but bogged down by how vague, abrupt, short, and thus unsatisfying it is. if you can't figure out a way to properly justify and explain a twist, especially in an ending, its probably cheap, and better left behind. this ending especially did not seem to line up with the narrative or protagonist that we've been getting familiar with.
Graphic: Child death, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Murder, Suicide, and Mental illness
nicoleceballos's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Moderate: Child death, Death, and Suicide
Illustrationskatypicken'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? No
5.0
Fay Orr is lost in modern London, cut off from her life by the death of her only daughter. Running through London late at night, she is drawn into the fantastic world of London Beyond, from where she sets out on a dangerous, puzzling and terrifying quest to find and restore her lost daughter.
Joanne Harris weaves song and myth into her story, always keeping at the centre a devastated mother who has lost her child.
Beautifully illustrated by Bonnie Helen Hawkins (although for someone like me, with a phobia of butterflies and moths, some pictures are disturbing!)
Graphic: Child death, Death, and Suicide