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ecn's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Honestly way over-hyped :/ I really wanted to like it but within the first descriptions of the MC (and her former love life) there was an offhandedly biphobic description of her ex which basically made me hate the MC from the get go.
The mystery was easily predictable and not a single character was likeable. The story also (unsurprisingly) felt VERY white bc no non-white characters felt fully developed or interesting. There was also *no* mention about police brutality in regards to race - ONLY to queer people - which felt insane not to include given the fact that a young Black student was a suspect the entire time. I’m super disappointed in the author for not having any insight to that.
My last complaint was that the entire thing was also extremely cis-centered (as in transness wasn’t even a THOUGHT to the life of the MC which is always suspicious when the person is a ~feminist lesbian (potential terf?))
The mystery was easily predictable and not a single character was likeable. The story also (unsurprisingly) felt VERY white bc no non-white characters felt fully developed or interesting. There was also *no* mention about police brutality in regards to race - ONLY to queer people - which felt insane not to include given the fact that a young Black student was a suspect the entire time. I’m super disappointed in the author for not having any insight to that.
My last complaint was that the entire thing was also extremely cis-centered (as in transness wasn’t even a THOUGHT to the life of the MC which is always suspicious when the person is a ~feminist lesbian (potential terf?))
Content Warnings
Graphic: Biphobia, Animal death, Sexual assault, Death of parent, Death, Classism, Addiction, Sexism, Racism, Incest, Homophobia, Medical content, Lesbophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Infidelity, Drug use, Confinement, Cancer, Rape, Child death, Suicide, Religious bigotry, Pregnancy, Outing, Murder, Drug abuse, Self harm, Alcohol, Police brutality, Pedophilia, Misogyny, Fire/Fire injury, Violence, Suicide attempt, Sexual violence, Grief, and Alcoholism
eloise_bradbooks's review
mysterious
tense
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
3.75
This book is about a chain-smoking, heavily tattooed queer nun, Sister Holiday, who tries to understand who set the school she teaches at on fire... Especially as more and more fires are appearing, and someone seems to be framing Sister Holiday... We also get to learn about who she was before becoming a nun, living a very queer and ver punk life.
Although some elements of this story are quite difficult to read about (please check trigger warnings), I did want to keep reading more about Sister Holiday and what was going on.
I'll admit I felt like I could have cared a bit more... There was a little something that felt distant, like i couldn't quite connect.
I'm not a huge fan of going back into the past to find out more about how people got to be who they are today. I'm always wanting to just get back to the present story, which is a shame because I actually feel like the backstory here, is actually much more interesting than the present one ...
Although some elements of this story are quite difficult to read about (please check trigger warnings), I did want to keep reading more about Sister Holiday and what was going on.
I'll admit I felt like I could have cared a bit more... There was a little something that felt distant, like i couldn't quite connect.
I'm not a huge fan of going back into the past to find out more about how people got to be who they are today. I'm always wanting to just get back to the present story, which is a shame because I actually feel like the backstory here, is actually much more interesting than the present one ...
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Fire/Fire injury, Death of parent, Religious bigotry, Murder, Infidelity, Homophobia, Child death, Suicide attempt, and Grief
Minor: Addiction
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