Reviews tagging 'Animal death'

Ruinsong by Julia Ember

39 reviews

pebbletown's review against another edition

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  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.0

This was a quick sapphic fantasy novel with a cool magical system, but I couldn't stop thinking about the political implications of the worldbuilding here lol. Not sure the author thought through the plotline of "the aristocratic families who lost their wealth and political power have been made the oppressed class of this society" beyond "the old system was bad but this new one is also bad!
We should invent democracy! :)"
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venti's review against another edition

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dark emotional medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.75

just eh 

also i thought the social commentary of a rebellion for the oppressed upper class was a little funny. like this would be far more interesting if it was from elene’s pov and/or was the story of how she overthrew the government to torture rich people. pure comedy 

also the tulip at the end feels like a sequel hook but if it isn’t it feels weirdly reductive to the whole conclusion of the story? like i got the vibe it was from
elene and was to show she still had her powers and could potentially be evil again (ooh scary) but like why did we need that? the story was fine with her just being in prison. we could gather from the idea that the expelled mages using magic that she had a possibility to use magic again, that was already established, and cadence literally says so herself. so the tulip feels a little unnecessary to me.
maybe i’m reading too much into it tho lol. also the romance was boring 
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tonguesandteeth's review against another edition

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medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Good book, I took a break from reading around the middle-end of the book. Nice wlw representation, especially from a wlw author. Loved the fantasy aspects. 
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eclectic_hellscape's review against another edition

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fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.0

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owlieali's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional fast-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

4.0

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tallywinkle's review against another edition

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  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No

2.0

I feel like this book was promising and then it was thrown off once
the dog was killed basically out of nowhere??? This left such a sour taste in my mouth and the rest of the book never really got better.
The pacing was weird, the romance set up felt weird and not organic or believable. 
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motherbeetle's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

This book is deeply fucked up in ways I did not expect. It was so good! It had my attention from the start and I struggled to put it down to do other things. The world is compelling & I could not stop thinking about this book. The ending was a bit confusing but I’m satisfied with how it all came together. 
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kolbier's review against another edition

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dark emotional tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated

4.0

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arieloley's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.5

This book has so much potential. I loved the concept and it was clearly a highly developed world. Some of the descriptions were really beautiful and drew pictures, while others felt forced, especially the automatic and brusque description of everyone’s skin colour. Overall, there was a sense of virtue signalling, which isn’t bad but felt like the author reallyyy wanted her audience to know where her politics lie. I think it’s great, I would just prefer it to be written in more smoothly. Also, parts of the plot felt quite rushed, and information sometimes seemed to pop up completely out of no where. 
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krishnak's review against another edition

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adventurous slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

It was just boring and not very well written.
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