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voidthearea's review against another edition
- 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
2.5
Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Gore, and Death
alainral'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? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
As a side note on the treatment of Judaism: I think it's great that the book dealt with antisemitism and attempted to portray a Jewish character positively. However, Abrahams should have had more personality and integration with the plot to feel less tokenish. Additionally, the author made the insensitive choice to use the word "cabal" more than once. Especially with that applying to a secret vampire group (see the blood libel connection), that made me pause a bit. Overall, though, I think the author's intentions were good.
Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Slavery, Antisemitism, Violence, and Blood
Minor: Domestic abuse
Lgbtq, reformed vampirejo_d'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? Yes
Graphic: Blood and Murder
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Slavery, and Grief
Minor: Suicide and Suicide attempt
booksthatburn'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
Prague is a city in the grips of change. Most of these developments are incremental, such as the lights being installed in the city to make travel safer at night. There are many kinds of monsters: those who attack people in the night on their way home; those who lead travelers off of paths and into danger; and those who require some ideal performance of humanness in order to acknowledge personhood. Twenty years ago, the ghetto was opened and Jews were declared to be citizens, but this declaration of their equality hasn't been able to erase old prejudices. People with a little bit of power (real or imagined) are slow to welcome changes which threaten their sense of privilege and stability. One of the lamplighters is a Jewism man who discusses his awareness that many of his fellow lamplighters still are unsure whether he's one of the monsters they should be fighting. There’s also a scene which plays out very much like transphobia, with a character, assuming that he would never be intimate with a pijavica, because he would obviously be able to tell what they are ("clocking" in modern parlance). However, by that point the reader already knows that he’s wrong, that he has, in fact, had many wonderful conversations with a pijavica. There follows a scene which plays out in the first half like a gay/trans panic scene, where after an intimate encounter he find out that something about his bed partner isn't what he assumed. This scene highlights the ridiculousness of his earlier assertion of his perception powers, and is one piece in a long arc of him questioning the definitions and worth of "humanity" as he's been taught to revere and preserve it. He also comes into possession of a Will-O-Wisp who's magically enslaved, and the more they interact the less he's able to pretend that's there's some essential difference between them which means it's okay to exploit them.
I like pretty much everything about this book, especially the way the other various plot threads weave together. The lamplighter and the vampire are pursuing parallel tracks of investigation, but have very little reason to think that they might be on the same side. Generally, I don’t like plots which revolves around continued misunderstandings, but this one seemed very natural and didn’t bother me. The story has a nice alternation between me and characters, so that it avoids dull moments and allows for some scenes to have partially alternating perspectives without changing locale. There’s a pretty vibrant cast of secondary characters, helpful and nefarious alike. There’s also a specificity of place and time without getting bogged down and details in a way that might slow down the story.
Graphic: Blood, Violence, Grief, Murder, and Death
Moderate: Physical abuse, Confinement, Grief, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Terminal illness, Medical content, and Slavery
Minor: Antisemitism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Classism, Xenophobia, Mental illness, and War
queenie_ofthe_void's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
All that aside, I loved Ora and I loved Domek. Also love a story with snarky personified object/spirit. Literally one of my favorite tropes so Kaja really hit the spot.
Moderate: Slavery, Toxic friendship, Death, Gore, Blood, Violence, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, Murder, and Body horror
m4rtt4's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Death, Blood, Violence, and Gore
Moderate: Murder, Sexual content, Grief, and Medical content
wrensreadingroom's review against another edition
5.0
Moderate: Blood, Body horror, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Religious bigotry, Alcohol, and Sexual content
lethargarianreads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Blood and Violence
Minor: Cursing and Sexual content
lumie's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
This is not a novel that makes you think, or that will leave you shattered from the depth of its characters. But it is a really entertaining read and for that it was well worth it. The characters are, for the most part, interesting (Lady Ora and Kája in particular), the scenes are fast-paced, the setting is absolutely gorgeous, and the mystery kept me gripped throughout. During the final 150 pages I just couldn't put it down and ended up reading it in one go until way too late in the morning.
I would recommend this book to anyone who's thinking of visiting Prague. Walking the city's cobblestones during the day and reading this book in the evening will really bring a little bit of extra something to both experiences, I think.
4 stars out of 5.
Graphic: Blood
kindra_demi's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
The story follow a two different povs which are quite clearly distinct: that of a blue collar worker and a high society lady. One of a vampire hunter and the other of a vampire. And with these opposing situations, the stories join together into a fun and easy read about learning who the real villains are.
About the only complaint I have for it (and this could be simply I just missed it while listening to the audio book), other supernatural characters would be introduced but as someone without a lot of knowledge about supernatural, I didn't always know what kind of creature they were talking about.
Moderate: Death, Medical content, and Blood