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booksthatburn's review against another edition
The main character disguises herself as a (specific) boy with a disability she doesn't have. That was iffy enough, but my hell no point was when she bound her chest for five days with no breaks and then kept going through the pain. I'm not interested in watching a character either slowly distort her ribcage through unsafe binding practices, or mysteriously have it just be painful but have no other consequences.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexism, Alcoholism, Death of parent, Child death, Death, Grief, Classism, Ableism, and Misogyny
Minor: Alcohol and War
chancients's review against another edition
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Grief, Medical content, Murder, Death of parent, War, and Violence
Moderate: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal death, and Adult/minor relationship
mengzhenreads's review
adventurous
slow-paced
- 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
3.5
I really loved the concept of this book, but personally I think I would've liked it more if it hadn't focused on the romance and journey narrative in the second part of the book. The first section was super unique and interesting and I loved to see more focus on the main character's journey through the court and tailoring. I didn't hate the romance but I felt like it wasn't really necessary for it to become the main motivation for the rest of the story since it takes away from the themes that the story was trying to express. Overall, I loved the first third of it but afterwards it kind of fell flat which really sucks because I really thought I would have enjoyed this book more.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief
Moderate: Violence, Death, and Sexism
Minor: Alcoholism and Death of parent
lexabrielle's review against another edition
adventurous
hopeful
fast-paced
- 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? It's complicated
4.0
The book was really pretty and I enjoyed it but at the same time I wish Maia's relationship didn't take up as much of the second half as it did, however the action was still somewhat there!! The shift towards romance meant that the pace slowed down a whole lot, which was fine.
HOWEVER THE WORLDBUILDING????? SO SO GOOD!!!
HOWEVER THE WORLDBUILDING????? SO SO GOOD!!!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Sexism, Violence, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Death, Death of parent, War, and Blood
Minor: Alcoholism and Slavery
water_violin's review
adventurous
hopeful
medium-paced
- 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? It's complicated
4.5
This was a really fun and somewhat challenging book; I’m definitely looking forward to the second one! I got very serious Tamora Pierce: the Immortals quartet vibes from the main characters in Spin the Dawn. Gaia shared several characteristics with Daine; Edan shared a surprising number of characteristics with Numair (and some of Daine as well). And their relationship definitely felt comparable as well. Super interesting premise and I’m excited to see where they go next!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Ableism, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child death, Chronic illness, Misogyny, Sexism, Torture, and Violence
alo10014's review against another edition
adventurous
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Blood, Death, Death of parent, and Violence
Minor: Alcoholism and Murder
sarah984's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0
I've seen this book advertised as "Project Runway meets Mulan" but that's unfortunately not very accurate. Yes, teenage tailor Maia disguises herself as a boy to enter a competition to become the next imperial tailor in order to protect her father and brother, but that set up is tossed out almost immediately in favour of standard YA foolishness.
Maia’s disguise barely factors into the novel as she's discovered almost right away, and presents as female for the majority of her page time. (Also for some reason she doesn't consider the fact that if she wins the competition she will have to live as a man forever until someone else brings it up??) I really enjoyed the idea of the competition, and the challenges were interesting. However, the competition ends less than halfway into the book. Afterward, Maia is sent on a very long and boring quest with her boring 500-year-old love interest and makes a bunch of stupid decisions.
This is the type of YA insta-love where it is impossible to see what the two characters see in each other and they reiterate how all-encompassing it is over and over. Maia constantly puts the love interest and his wellbeing ahead of herself and her family, which is annoying in a story comparing itself to Mulan.
Every problem that the characters encounter except for the sequel hook is solved almost immediately via wizard magic so the stakes feel very low. There is one singular interesting character and she's hardly in the book.
I really can't recommend this to anyone interested in it for the concept.
Maia’s disguise barely factors into the novel as she's discovered almost right away, and presents as female for the majority of her page time. (Also for some reason she doesn't consider the fact that if she wins the competition she will have to live as a man forever until someone else brings it up??) I really enjoyed the idea of the competition, and the challenges were interesting. However, the competition ends less than halfway into the book. Afterward, Maia is sent on a very long and boring quest with her boring 500-year-old love interest and makes a bunch of stupid decisions.
This is the type of YA insta-love where it is impossible to see what the two characters see in each other and they reiterate how all-encompassing it is over and over. Maia constantly puts the love interest and his wellbeing ahead of herself and her family, which is annoying in a story comparing itself to Mulan.
Every problem that the characters encounter except for the sequel hook is solved almost immediately via wizard magic so the stakes feel very low. There is one singular interesting character and she's hardly in the book.
I really can't recommend this to anyone interested in it for the concept.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship and Grief
Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal death, Bullying, Death, Sexual content, Violence, and Xenophobia
enakasone's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship
Minor: Alcoholism
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