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bibliophilicwitch's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Graphic: Death, Gore, and Murder
Moderate: Medical content and Violence
paracosim'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
4.0
Graphic: Death
Moderate: Body horror, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Murder, and Slavery
Minor: Trafficking and Xenophobia
micheala'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? No
4.0
If it was unclear before, I have strong feelings about characters, and I loathed Grace. Did I knock an entire star off this book because of her? Yes, yes I did. Am I debating not continuing with the series because I don't want her to have a happily ever after? Yup. Jessica /might/ be able to convince me to read the second book, but only if the third book is amazing, otherwise this will live in my heart as a standalone.
Even with that all said, the actual main characters of Miles and Tristan were *chefs kiss* and I feel like this is one of those books that I'll end up rereading on a at least semi-regular basis.
Even though I'm not a fan of first person narration, I liked Polk's writing enough that I'm interested to check out other things that they publishes.
Graphic: Toxic relationship
Moderate: Death, Blood, Body horror, Cancer, Confinement, Genocide, Medical content, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, and Xenophobia
Minor: Suicidal thoughts
purplatypus's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Graphic: Blood, Death, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Mental illness, Murder, and Suicidal thoughts
Moderate: Cancer, Death of parent, Slavery, Terminal illness, and Violence
Minor: Excrement, Infidelity, and Torture
booksthatburn's review against another edition
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
It's world-building by immersion with very few asides and explanations for the first third of the book. By the time it deigns to pause for backstory it's all details of a personal nature; political alignments and players in power. It assumes that the reader knows whatever someone growing up here would have been taught, but it casually drops in just enough explanation that I felt a sense of triumph every time some previously opaque bit of detail was clarified.
Even when I didn't yet know where I was I knew why I cared. Though the explanations took a bit to arrive, the characters were great from the start. Miles was likable immediately, the main plot kicks off with a bang, er, with a person desperately in need of his help, and it was a really fun read. I have a bias towards liking the character, Robin, but everyone felt really engaging (even the ones I don't share a name with). Flipping through it I see some stuff in the early bits that I didn't know were actually important when I started and it makes me want to re-read this immediately to soak up more detail.
The characterization is solid, there's a quaint understated-ness in certain areas which made it really feel like it maps on to a vaguely 1900's, quasi-British sensibility while still being its own thing. Those points of familiarity helped ground me as I got a sense of how this world describes itself, while gradually making it clear that this was truly some fantasy land as the book kept rolling.
I loved the ending, I finished this book really happy about how everything ended up and very excited to read the next one.
Moderate: Death, Slavery, Murder, Mental illness, and Medical content
Minor: Death of parent, Suicide, and Drug use
CW for coercion.