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augustar14'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? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
It's difficult for a book this long not to feel slow paced. There was plenty of action that got me through, but it still overall felt a little slow.
I also struggle with the main character and her actions/choices at times. I understand her motivations and that her situation is complex, difficult, and influenced by significantly different cultural beliefs. And, at the same time, it is painful to see her grow into the person she becomes. The parallels with the eunuch general are fascinating, and I do plan to at least try to read to sequel to see where that thread goes. His story and decisions are painful to follow, though, too. Overall, it is a difficult read, one that offers little reward for the suffering and pain it puts the reader through. It is not a happily ever after story.
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Gore, Grief, Death, Infertility, Torture, Blood, Abandonment, Murder, Homophobia, Bullying, Child death, Xenophobia, War, Child abuse, Genocide, Sexual content, Racial slurs, Body horror, Classism, Colonisation, Death of parent, Sexism, Misogyny, Violence, Physical abuse, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Medical content and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Vomit and Excrement
queerandtalkative's review against another edition
Graphic: Death of parent, Misogyny, Death, Emotional abuse, Child abuse, Physical abuse, and Violence
Moderate: Colonisation
readbyella_'s review against another edition
- 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
4.5
Graphic: War, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Dysphoria, Fire/Fire injury, and Blood
Moderate: Murder, Sexual content, Misogyny, Homophobia, Death, and Sexism
Minor: Death of parent, Child death, Slavery, Cursing, Vomit, Grief, Emotional abuse, and Animal death
errie's review against another edition
4.0
Graphic: Slavery, Transphobia, Child death, Death of parent, Dysphoria, Emotional abuse, Sexual content, Torture, Body shaming, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Racism, Sexism, Violence, Body horror, War, Child abuse, Colonisation, Death, Gore, Misogyny, and Physical abuse
meganparfitt'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? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Death of parent, War, Animal death, Blood, Child death, Death, Injury/Injury detail, and Gore
Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Misogyny, Emotional abuse, Cannibalism, Torture, Vomit, Excrement, Medical content, and Sexual content
aileron'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? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Blood, Torture, Gore, Ableism, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Death, Colonisation, Fire/Fire injury, Dysphoria, Violence, and War
Moderate: Animal death, Grief, Alcohol, Bullying, Child death, and Death of parent
Minor: Cannibalism, Slavery, Xenophobia, Classism, Excrement, Racial slurs, and Racism
emhromp'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? It's complicated
5.0
At no point in the story could I predict what was going to happen next and although this took me more than a week to finish (which must be some kind of record), I was never bored and continually intrigued. Wow.
Graphic: Abandonment, Fire/Fire injury, Torture, Violence, Blood, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Slavery, War, Misogyny, and Physical abuse
hmatt's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
I persevered because Natalie Naudus, and of course the hype. And also it takes a lot for me to DNF a book, so I just pushed through.
Some things I wasn't into:
- As I alluded to before, I had a hard time keeping track of all the characters
- This might also be a genre (/part one in a series) thing, but there are so many events that happen one after another that I didn't feel were super necessary to building the story. This and the multiple time jumps made the story seem both rushed and too long.
- So many of the pivotal moments are glossed over? Like I didn't even realize that a lot of them had happened until after?
- The above also fed into my lack of conviction over the characters relationships with each other. There were really only one or two relationships that felt fleshed-out and genuine to me, and these were the rare ones where we spent a lot of time with both characters together. The main character and their love interest was completely blank for me, I didn't feel any of the build up and had no investment in their relationship.
All this said, it's a "fine" story for me. I did like the writing style, despite my thoughts on how the story comes together. The steamy scene that has received a ton of social media attention is incredibly random in the context of the book but like, lives up to the hype and I could have done with more of that honestly? Well done. I really appreciated the book in audio form for its accurate pronunciations of words/names I would read wrong in my head, and I'd love to read more historical fiction focusing on this area of the world.
Graphic: Violence, Sexism, Injury/Injury detail, Ableism, Death, Child death, Sexual content, Misogyny, Medical content, Blood, Xenophobia, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, War, Murder, Domestic abuse, and Gore
Moderate: Alcohol, Animal death, and Grief
Minor: Infidelity
aellwy's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Violence and War
Moderate: Body shaming, Death of parent, Ableism, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Misogyny, and Slavery
julesxyz's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Graphic: Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Body shaming, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Child death, Colonisation, Death, Death of parent, Dysphoria, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Grief, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Sexual content, Torture, Transphobia, Vomit, War, and Violence