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jec52's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
The point of view from just one place in one time was a really nice angle, exploring the world through this lens.
There were some aspects I didn’t particularly enjoy, including very heavy handed scenes (unnatural dialogue) and some just bad writing is some smaller parts.
But overall, I enjoyed the book and would like to explore more of the world in the series.
Graphic: Violence, Child death, and Sexism
Moderate: Miscarriage, War, Child abuse, Rape, Grief, and Domestic abuse
colorcrystals'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
5.0
Graphic: Sexism, Misogyny, War, Grief, Xenophobia, Blood, Child death, and Death
Moderate: Pregnancy, Rape, Death of parent, and Colonisation
Minor: Suicide, Physical abuse, Miscarriage, Classism, Child abuse, and Domestic abuse
jocogr's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Death, Injury/Injury detail, and Blood
Moderate: Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Miscarriage, Suicide, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Death, Child death, Violence, War, and Child abuse
thecriticalreader's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Graphic: Blood, Child abuse, Child death, Gore, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Injury/Injury detail, Sexism, Violence, Grief, War, Pregnancy, Death, and Emotional abuse
Moderate: Vomit, Kidnapping, Fire/Fire injury, Suicide, Rape, Racism, and Xenophobia
Minor: Ableism, Abortion, Classism, Homophobia, Alcohol, Sexual content, and Slavery
takarakei's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Unfortunately I felt like I read 3 different books that felt a bit disjointed.
- The first ~1/3 of this book is fantastic - good world building and character introductions, multiple povs to round out the perspective, very cool magic and I thought we were being set up for such a cool adventure.
- The second ~1/3 was one long battle/war scene. This is maybe a "me" thing because typically battle scenes are really not my favorite thing to read, but this went on FOREVER. Even with the magic being super cool to read, at some point I was just really over reading about it and it felt rather repetitive.
The deaths in this section also felt mostly like for shock value to me - The last ~1/3 after this battle the book took a sudden turn into a super character driven not-plot where we just follow the aftermath of the battle where they are rebuilding this town and it was honestly boring. As my friend said "the culmination of this epic fantasy is….logging and building a school….."
- ALSO I HATED the Takeru redemption "arc" cause it's not an arc, it was a complete 180 out of nowhere with no build up and sorry I do not sympathize with him! His character development was not nuanced enough for me to care, and in the end he was still doing dumb things. IMO if Takeru had been explained to be mainly just distant/cold but not outright abusive to Misaki/the children this change would have made more sense.
I guess I just didn't expect to literally not leave this one small town the entire book (Misaki's flashbacks do not count imo). The men in this book were all incredibly insufferable and useless. Misaki was also a bit frustrating to read at times because while I can understand why she entered into this marriage based on societal expectations, I cannot understand how she became a completely different person for 15 years.
After finishing I did some research and realized this book was written as a prequel to a YA series this author wrote that I guess holds the more conclusive ending to the empire etc??? But that made this read not like a completed standalone because at the end I still had a lot of questions about how things in this world would get resolved.
The audiobook narrator mispronounces words which was very irksome as someone who speaks some Japanese. These are not words that were made up by the author, but real Japanese words that were being used in their original context. I found actually the narration was inconsistent with some pronunciation.
Graphic: War, Death, Violence, and Child death
Moderate: Rape, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Suicide, Child abuse, Toxic relationship, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, and Domestic abuse
Minor: Xenophobia, Racism, Colonisation, Homophobia, and Slavery
bookswithangeli'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
5.0
Graphic: War and Misogyny
Moderate: Suicide, Murder, Violence, Miscarriage, and Rape
Minor: Child abuse
cwallace1005's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
3.0
Graphic: Pregnancy, Violence, Blood, Infertility, Sexism, Miscarriage, Death, Suicide, Child death, and Grief
Moderate: Rape, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, and Torture
Minor: Child abuse and Kidnapping
kylek's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Her body was angled slightly to hide the sword at her hip, giving the appearance of a diminutive housewife. In it's own way, that was better cover than any shadow.
I had been expecting the first half of this to be very boring and just not good because of how people talk about it, but I did not find it boring at all, nor was it bad. Was it slow? I guess. It's the type of slow that you'll find in any epic fantasy/sci-fi. It took like 35% to set up the world and characters, which to me was pretty standard for epics.
With that said this is a very tough one to read in one go because it's so heavy. It was just a lot and for a long time. I think I continuously cried for a solid 30-35% of this book. It just broke my heart over and over again. This book deals with very heavy themes, like TRIGGER WARNINGS
I don't want to say much more than this, just that after this and Blood Over Bright Haven, ML Wang is now an autobuy author.
Graphic: Blood, Death, Violence, War, Injury/Injury detail, Domestic abuse, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Suicide, Child death, Pregnancy, and Sexism
Moderate: Rape and Grief
Minor: Child abuse
bibliofritz's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Miscarriage, Child death, War, Child abuse, Sexual assault, and Violence
susanatherly's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Sexual assault, Death of parent, Murder, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Miscarriage, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, War, Infertility, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Child abuse, Vomit, and Child death