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blacksphinx's review against another edition
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
I've been following Seanan McGuire on social media for several years, and she's always been upfront that this book has some issues. She's said it's kind of a rough start to the series and contains language and attitudes she would edit out if she could. I have read far worse things. This was a fun and snappy popcorn read - extremely readable and entertaining. I've never read a urban fantasy book before and I found it to be fun.
It's not perfect. We have a prologue that leads into a 14-and-a-half years timeskip that really felt like starting the story off by smacking into a pothole due to a lack of explanation. The story then later gives us the infodump of how that 14+ year situation resolved in a dream sequence, which was, certainly a choice. Our protagonist really has no self preservation instinct and almost bleeds to death multiple times. I felt the plot struggled a little because it had to introduce so many characters to us, not all of whom are big movers and shakers in this particular story. But I never felt like putting the book down. Even if I was a touch annoyed at how slowly we collected clues for the mystery, I just kept reading. I found myself thinking about the story and the characters at work. I just had to know more, and as soon as I finished this book I picked up the second book in the series without even pausing to mark this one off as "finished."
[Side note, I've heard Seanan McGuire talk about the language issues in this book and early series before, it's probably that she kept negativity comparing things to "hookers" and women kept calling each other bitches.]
It's not perfect. We have a prologue that leads into a 14-and-a-half years timeskip that really felt like starting the story off by smacking into a pothole due to a lack of explanation. The story then later gives us the infodump of how that 14+ year situation resolved in a dream sequence, which was, certainly a choice. Our protagonist really has no self preservation instinct and almost bleeds to death multiple times. I felt the plot struggled a little because it had to introduce so many characters to us, not all of whom are big movers and shakers in this particular story. But I never felt like putting the book down. Even if I was a touch annoyed at how slowly we collected clues for the mystery, I just kept reading. I found myself thinking about the story and the characters at work. I just had to know more, and as soon as I finished this book I picked up the second book in the series without even pausing to mark this one off as "finished."
[Side note, I've heard Seanan McGuire talk about the language issues in this book and early series before, it's probably that she kept negativity comparing things to "hookers" and women kept calling each other bitches.]
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Toxic relationship, Confinement, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Blood, and Murder
Moderate: Medical content, Xenophobia, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Classism, and Physical abuse
Minor: Misogyny, Sexual assault, Dementia, Vomit, and Sexual content
Whorephobia, drowning.foreverinastory's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
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? Yes
4.0
I had fun with this one. I always love fae stories.
Rep: white female MC with PTSD, Asian coded female side character, various other fae race side characters.
CWs: Blood, confinement (in a pond as a fish), death, grief, gun violence, injury/injury detail, kidnapping/attempted kidnapping, medical content, murder, racism (within the fae there is discrimination and prejudice towards changelings and half fae), toxic relationship, violence, emotional abuse. Moderate: Ableism, child death, gore, sexual content. Brief: Dementia.
Rep: white female MC with PTSD, Asian coded female side character, various other fae race side characters.
CWs: Blood, confinement (in a pond as a fish), death, grief, gun violence, injury/injury detail, kidnapping/attempted kidnapping, medical content, murder, racism (within the fae there is discrimination and prejudice towards changelings and half fae), toxic relationship, violence, emotional abuse. Moderate: Ableism, child death, gore, sexual content. Brief: Dementia.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Confinement, Death, Grief, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical content, Murder, Racism, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Emotional abuse
Moderate: Ableism, Gore, Sexual content, and Child death
Minor: Dementia
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