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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
fr0ggo's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Good book, but it had a bit too much gory murder for me, I like that they included an aro ace character tho!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore and Murder
bekkz27's review against another edition
challenging
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? No
3.75
This book was really interesting. I didn’t hate it like I thought I would. The characters grew and changed. I found myself rooting for them when I started the book hating them all. Well done to the author. Can’t wait to start the next one.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence and Murder
Moderate: Body shaming, Chronic illness, Deadnaming, Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide, Transphobia, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail
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
mkesler14's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
I loved this books take on Grimm fairytales! Fairytale stories meet murder mystery. The book is mainly character driven for the first 2/3 of the book in my opinion, the overarching plot of the murder mystery really doesn’t happen until the last couple of chapters. I think the intent of the book was to set up the characters and story to start a series. Intrigued to see where the sequel of this series takes us. I love the spin on each of the characters as they relate to characters we know and love. A unique concept for sure, and lots of LGBTQ+ content too! My friend and I read together in our book club, it was really fun trying to figure out who was who based off context clues.
My only thing is since this may be setting us up for more, there’s a good chunk of loose ends/plot holes. I also wish we could’ve seen a little more plot development in the first two parts.
Last thing: Ella Stan for Life ✌🏼
My only thing is since this may be setting us up for more, there’s a good chunk of loose ends/plot holes. I also wish we could’ve seen a little more plot development in the first two parts.
Last thing: Ella Stan for Life ✌🏼
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Suicide, and Murder
Minor: Panic attacks/disorders
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
faduma's review
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
- 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? Yes
2.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Murder, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, 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
stewartj0421's review
dark
mysterious
sad
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? It's complicated
2.75
The concept of this book was intriguing from the get-go. I am always a fan of modern retellings of classic stories. However, there were a number of issues that impacted my enjoyment of this book.
Firstly — and this is no fault of the author — I think I am past the stage of enjoying YA. There were elements of the story that simply came across too undeveloped-frontal-lobe for me. However, I must also say that the highest quality YA books should be enjoyable for adults. The quality of this book did not meet that standard.
My second issue is with the editing of the book. There were lots of errors throughout the story that caused me to believe it was poorly translated, at which point I read the author’s biography and confirmed that she is Brazilian, which likely affected some of the composition and structure of the sentences. While I have great admiration for an author who writes in many languages and/or in a language that is not their first, a poorly written or translated story does not make for an enjoyable reader experience. There were just too many awkwardly phrased sentiments for my taste.
Lastly, I struggled with alternating between four different character perspectives. While I understand the purpose was to familiarize us with each of the main “princesses” of the story individually , in effect it made it more difficult to keep track of everything that was happening.
Despite my criticisms, I am a huge fan of the concept and I think the author is commendable for taking on such a concept in the first place. While I will not be reading the second book, I do hope that some of my issues are improved upon in future publications by this author, because I think she has the potential to be a great storyteller.
Firstly — and this is no fault of the author — I think I am past the stage of enjoying YA. There were elements of the story that simply came across too undeveloped-frontal-lobe for me. However, I must also say that the highest quality YA books should be enjoyable for adults. The quality of this book did not meet that standard.
My second issue is with the editing of the book. There were lots of errors throughout the story that caused me to believe it was poorly translated, at which point I read the author’s biography and confirmed that she is Brazilian, which likely affected some of the composition and structure of the sentences. While I have great admiration for an author who writes in many languages and/or in a language that is not their first, a poorly written or translated story does not make for an enjoyable reader experience. There were just too many awkwardly phrased sentiments for my taste.
Lastly, I struggled with alternating between four different character perspectives. While I understand the purpose was to
Despite my criticisms, I am a huge fan of the concept and I think the author is commendable for taking on such a concept in the first place. While I will not be reading the second book, I do hope that some of my issues are improved upon in future publications by this author, because I think she has the potential to be a great storyteller.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and Murder
Moderate: Fatphobia and Suicide