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lunep's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
It was gripping but the characters were flat, I didn't care for any of them, the whole magic thing came out of nowhere and felt weird (and hopefully it gets explained on the second book because it wasn't on this one), and the representation was done very poorly: Ella's "OCD" is nothing like real OCD, Rory, Nani and Yuki's sexualities felt very stereotypical, and Yuki being so cold and emotionless is a harmful aroace stereotype, far from the truth (even tho it can be explained by the fact that she was been brought up to be perfect, perfect can still show emotions), and while I don't think the author was trying to say trans people are beasts, making the only trans character The Beast/Adam from Beauty and the Beast was still a poor choice (because we see that the characters and their stories from the book aren't modern versions of their fairy-tale counterparts that follow exactly the same paths, like Micaeli, I think what the author wanted to do was make Svenja's transition represent Adam going back to his real form after being freed from the witch's curse, without being literal to the story and making it all "oh I found love and that's what made me strong enough to be my true self"). I'm debating between reading the second one (partly because I'm a scaredy cat and this made me sleep with my lights on lmao) and just finding the most spoilery review possible to find out what happens
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Suicide, Blood, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Transphobia, Vomit, Death of parent, Acephobia/Arophobia, Fire/Fire injury, and Abandonment
Minor: Deadnaming, Homophobia, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, and Self harm
meaghancook's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I really really wanted to love this one. There were just too many characters for me to keep straight, but they weren’t fully fleshed out as individuals. Considering they’re supposed to be direct parallels to fairy tale characters, it took me far too long to figure out who they were. And that ending was so rushed and outta nowhere. I may give the second one a shot but probably not any time soon.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Chronic illness, Death, Physical abuse, Grief, Death of parent, and Murder
Minor: Rape
cammiem8's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
I gobbled this book up on an airplane and was really intrigued by the story, but I didn’t quite feel connected to the characters and was disappointed to find out the book isn’t a stand alone. I’ll likely read the next book when it comes out, but I wish this one felt like more of a complete story on its own and not just a setup for subsequent books.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Grief, and Murder
Moderate: Acephobia/Arophobia, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Homophobia, Racism, Rape, and Vomit