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gabi_715's review
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- 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? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Blood, Grief, and Murder
samanthas92's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
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? No
3.25
Really long and drawn-out, pretty sure the ending was the best part (literally the last 20 pages) didn't think I was every going to finish it
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
smart_girls_love_trashy_books's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-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
4.0
-POTENTIAL SPOILERS-
Truthfully, I did not expect to like this book so much, because I'm not really one for mysteries. A lot get convoluted, others confuse me, and I can only really take them seriously if they're more comedic, ironically. But something about this book just hooked me, maybe it was the fairytale angle. The chapters were short so it was very quick and easy for me to get through this, which contributed to me finishing this in three days, because I read a part a day.
The mystery was really interesting and handled well, with every character dying in a way related to an old fairytale, and the characters realizing what's in store for them, and the fun part was figuring out who was who and who was behind everything. I really liked the modernization of the various fairytales, such as Rory's family being overprotective and sending her away because of a security threat during her first birthday, or Yuki being related to the Headmistress of the school. Every time a character showed up, I'd eagerly try to look for clues with their names or appearances to try and decipher who were they were intended to be.
Ella was definitely the most developed, receiving the most amount of chapters, and thus I found her the most interesting. She's the good girl, the quiet and nice one, but you can tell she's not passive or a pushover, she has a lot of inner strength in her that most don't see. Her relationship with Frederick was very cute and she deserved everything. I was also pleasantly surprised by how much I got into Svenja and Nani having a relationship, as they started off being more associates in figuring out what was going on, but I ended up liking where their relationship was going to go.
I think my only issue is that I didn't really want to continue a series right now, so the fact the mystery is just getting started by the end disheartened me. So much of the story is just spent running around, trying to find things, not really solving anything, and then a bunch of deaths suddenly happen, and then at the very end it just kinda wraps up with them finding out who was responsible, and then being like 'well now we really can figure out what's going on' I knew it was a duology going in, but I kinda wish it had been advertised better as one? I just feel a bit left-out. I also wasn't a fan of Yuki suddenly developing magic. This story is otherwise entirely grounded in reality, in our world, and then all of a sudden Yuki can summon snow and later on, mirrors, and it just felt extremely strange and out-of-place in a story that otherwise was set in our world. I couldn't believe that aspect.
I was also surprised by how diverse it was. I went in knowing there was some LGBT rep but the amount surprised me, and same with all the disability representation.
Overall, a really solid start to a duology that I really liked, I just wished the book was a lot more upfront about the fact this book was almost entirely set-up for the next book in the series so I would've had a much better understanding of what to expect.
Truthfully, I did not expect to like this book so much, because I'm not really one for mysteries. A lot get convoluted, others confuse me, and I can only really take them seriously if they're more comedic, ironically. But something about this book just hooked me, maybe it was the fairytale angle. The chapters were short so it was very quick and easy for me to get through this, which contributed to me finishing this in three days, because I read a part a day.
The mystery was really interesting and handled well, with every character dying in a way related to an old fairytale, and the characters realizing what's in store for them, and the fun part was figuring out who was who and who was behind everything. I really liked the modernization of the various fairytales, such as Rory's family being overprotective and sending her away because of a security threat during her first birthday, or Yuki being related to the Headmistress of the school. Every time a character showed up, I'd eagerly try to look for clues with their names or appearances to try and decipher who were they were intended to be.
Ella was definitely the most developed, receiving the most amount of chapters, and thus I found her the most interesting. She's the good girl, the quiet and nice one, but you can tell she's not passive or a pushover, she has a lot of inner strength in her that most don't see. Her relationship with Frederick was very cute and she deserved everything. I was also pleasantly surprised by how much I got into Svenja and Nani having a relationship, as they started off being more associates in figuring out what was going on, but I ended up liking where their relationship was going to go.
I think my only issue is that I didn't really want to continue a series right now, so the fact the mystery is just getting started by the end disheartened me. So much of the story is just spent running around, trying to find things, not really solving anything, and then a bunch of deaths suddenly happen, and then at the very end it just kinda wraps up with them finding out who was responsible, and then being like 'well now we really can figure out what's going on' I knew it was a duology going in, but I kinda wish it had been advertised better as one? I just feel a bit left-out. I also wasn't a fan of Yuki suddenly developing magic. This story is otherwise entirely grounded in reality, in our world, and then all of a sudden Yuki can summon snow and later on, mirrors, and it just felt extremely strange and out-of-place in a story that otherwise was set in our world. I couldn't believe that aspect.
I was also surprised by how diverse it was. I went in knowing there was some LGBT rep but the amount surprised me, and same with all the disability representation.
Overall, a really solid start to a duology that I really liked, I just wished the book was a lot more upfront about the fact this book was almost entirely set-up for the next book in the series so I would've had a much better understanding of what to expect.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gore, and Blood
samscha0ticlife's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Chronic illness
Minor: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Suicide, Blood, and Death of parent
mysamcatfan's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Blood, and Murder
kalira's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Blood, Grief, Murder, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Cursing, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide, Violence, and Injury/Injury detail
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
gabyspinktasticlibrary's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Suicide, Blood, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail
jekisah's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
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
5.0
There were some typos but overall it is a great story!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Chronic illness, Blood, and Murder
Moderate: Mental illness, Racism, Suicide, Transphobia, Death of parent, and Toxic friendship
fe_aye's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
relaxing
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? No
3.0
This book was an interesting twist on classical fairy tales and folk stories, fighting fate and finding the truth all the while dealing with the challenges of growing up. An enjoyable read.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Gore, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Cursing, Suicide, Acephobia/Arophobia, and Injury/Injury detail