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theaceofbooks's review
adventurous
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I viscerally loved and viscerally disliked aspects of this book.
The good: The story is told through multiple timelines, and it’s fun to watch them affect one another. The ending is poignant and clever. Also, I’ve never read a modern Arthurian legend retelling focused around the Lady of Shallot before.
The bad: The book is full of anachronisms—and not intentionally. (Peter Beagle does an awesome job with intentional anachronism in The Last Unicorn.) One character drinks hot chocolate, another uses the word ‘polyamorous’ (which wasn’t coined until 1990ish, I think), and so on. I felt as if I was reading about young adults from 2021 dropped into a shallow Arthurian setting. It kept pulling me out of the story, even though I wanted to enjoy it.
The good: The story is told through multiple timelines, and it’s fun to watch them affect one another. The ending is poignant and clever. Also, I’ve never read a modern Arthurian legend retelling focused around the Lady of Shallot before.
The bad: The book is full of anachronisms—and not intentionally. (Peter Beagle does an awesome job with intentional anachronism in The Last Unicorn.) One character drinks hot chocolate, another uses the word ‘polyamorous’ (which wasn’t coined until 1990ish, I think), and so on. I felt as if I was reading about young adults from 2021 dropped into a shallow Arthurian setting. It kept pulling me out of the story, even though I wanted to enjoy it.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Suicide attempt
mdelcol's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt
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