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kiwij96's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Great concept but genuinely a painful read. Two reluctant young adults with prophesised roles end up trying to bring down a space tyrant while in search for the FMC's sister.
It was just so painfully repetitive at times and the characters didn't feel fleshed out enough. The friendships and relationships felt rushed but the prophecy was so long drawn out as if to hammer home that there was a prophecy (just in case by the 100th page you were unaware). Parts of the plot felt like they had been forgotten about at timesQala shows up, tells Obi he has 3 weeks to make a decision and then returns what feels like a month and a half later in the story's timeline. I also really just didn't understand the relevance of the 1812 storyline other than it being a romance subplot for the majority, it just felt out of place.
The editing process needed to be more thorough, too. This book could have been like 100-150 pages shorter, and was just riddled with spelling and grammatical errors. Also, as much as I love a book with long chapters when done correctly, this made the long chapters FEEL longer.
Felt like DNFing after 50 pages but stuck with it for the rest of the book just to see where it got me. Found family trope was introduced well, good concept and creativity, great introduction to a series albeit a bit long. But generally speaking, this one wasn't for me.
It was just so painfully repetitive at times and the characters didn't feel fleshed out enough. The friendships and relationships felt rushed but the prophecy was so long drawn out as if to hammer home that there was a prophecy (just in case by the 100th page you were unaware). Parts of the plot felt like they had been forgotten about at times
The editing process needed to be more thorough, too. This book could have been like 100-150 pages shorter, and was just riddled with spelling and grammatical errors. Also, as much as I love a book with long chapters when done correctly, this made the long chapters FEEL longer.
Felt like DNFing after 50 pages but stuck with it for the rest of the book just to see where it got me. Found family trope was introduced well, good concept and creativity, great introduction to a series albeit a bit long. But generally speaking, this one wasn't for me.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug abuse, Grief, Abandonment, Death of parent, Addiction, Classism, Colonisation, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Slavery, and Torture
Moderate: Gun violence, Kidnapping, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Religious bigotry
Minor: Blood, Sexual assault, and Pregnancy
sophiesmallhands's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Police brutality, Colonisation, Trafficking, Death, and Slavery
Moderate: Genocide, Grief, Drug use, Forced institutionalization, War, Child abuse, Classism, Injury/Injury detail, and Racism
Minor: Vomit, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Death of parent, Sexual violence, Pregnancy, and Rape
emily_journals's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
inspiring
tense
medium-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? No
4.5
I really enjoyed this book and I'm very excited to see not only where this series goes, but where this author goes as well.
The characters are really the heart of this story, and I really loved that this was such a character driven story, especially for being a big space opera where I think the emphasis is usually put on the plot. I really loved both of our main characters and they both felt extremely complex and lifelike. All the side characters also very much felt like they were their own people and not just devices of the story which I found really impressive, especially for a debut author. I also think the overall plot was really satisfying, I did see most of the "twists" coming but I don't think the book was necessarily trying to hide the twists from you. It was more wanting to take you on the journey that the characters had to go through experiencing these things, so the plot still felt satisfying even seeing where the story was going. I also generally enjoyed the prose of this book, I think the author had a really beautiful way of selecting and composing the words in this book generally.
I do think there were some craft issues with this book, but most of them were easy for me to gloss over and didn't interrupt my reading experience. I also think all of the craft issues are ones that I would typically expect from a debut author, especially one who started writing this book as a teen. Sometimes there was quite a bit of over explaining and I think this book could have been trimmed down by getting rid of some of the repetition. Also, there were a couple of times that there was head jumping, but it didn't happen often enough or extreme enough to really interrupt my reading experience. There was only one time where I really stopped and was like "wait, who are we focusing on right now?", but all the other couple of times it would just be a brief second of confusion. Also, I really really wish there was a glossary in the back of this book and I'm hoping there will be one in the next book.
Overall, this was a good introduction to this world and a very good debut.
The characters are really the heart of this story, and I really loved that this was such a character driven story, especially for being a big space opera where I think the emphasis is usually put on the plot. I really loved both of our main characters and they both felt extremely complex and lifelike. All the side characters also very much felt like they were their own people and not just devices of the story which I found really impressive, especially for a debut author. I also think the overall plot was really satisfying, I did see most of the "twists" coming but I don't think the book was necessarily trying to hide the twists from you. It was more wanting to take you on the journey that the characters had to go through experiencing these things, so the plot still felt satisfying even seeing where the story was going. I also generally enjoyed the prose of this book, I think the author had a really beautiful way of selecting and composing the words in this book generally.
I do think there were some craft issues with this book, but most of them were easy for me to gloss over and didn't interrupt my reading experience. I also think all of the craft issues are ones that I would typically expect from a debut author, especially one who started writing this book as a teen. Sometimes there was quite a bit of over explaining and I think this book could have been trimmed down by getting rid of some of the repetition. Also, there were a couple of times that there was head jumping, but it didn't happen often enough or extreme enough to really interrupt my reading experience. There was only one time where I really stopped and was like "wait, who are we focusing on right now?", but all the other couple of times it would just be a brief second of confusion. Also, I really really wish there was a glossary in the back of this book and I'm hoping there will be one in the next book.
Overall, this was a good introduction to this world and a very good debut.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug use, Genocide, Chronic illness, Colonisation, Slavery, Racism, Addiction, and Drug abuse
Moderate: Body horror, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Violence, Death, Gore, and Grief
Minor: Sexual assault, Child abuse, Alcohol, Abandonment, Pregnancy, Rape, and Sexual content
ruthhelizabeth's review
adventurous
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I received an e-arc of this book from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.
I loved our main characters, and their flawed, courageous warmth. It was a genuine joy to see their character development throughout their building adventure. I'm not normally a fan of books with British royalty in, but I loved how many parts of this faced up to the most problematic elements of having a prince tied up in colonialism interact with a commoner.I look forward to seeing how this is developed in the sequel.
I don't read a lot of epic fantasy or sci-fi and at times I was a little lost in all the detail. However, the strong characterisation kept me invested and moving through the bits I was a bit unsure in.
I would echo another reviewer and raise a word of caution around characterising a ruling class as anything similar to a lizard. I felt like if they had been portrayed on screen, this could have been fleshed out more so it was clear they were not similar to antisemitic tropes. However with so much left to the reader's imagination and in the place they held in the society, I felt this might have benefitted from an amendment.
Overall, this was a satisfying and epic tale, and I can imagine myself picking it up again before the sequel comes out.
I loved our main characters, and their flawed, courageous warmth. It was a genuine joy to see their character development throughout their building adventure. I'm not normally a fan of books with British royalty in, but I loved how many parts of this faced up to the most problematic elements of having a prince tied up in colonialism interact with a commoner.
I don't read a lot of epic fantasy or sci-fi and at times I was a little lost in all the detail. However, the strong characterisation kept me invested and moving through the bits I was a bit unsure in.
I would echo another reviewer and raise a word of caution around characterising a ruling class as anything similar to a lizard. I felt like if they had been portrayed on screen, this could have been fleshed out more so it was clear they were not similar to antisemitic tropes. However with so much left to the reader's imagination and in the place they held in the society, I felt this might have benefitted from an amendment.
Overall, this was a satisfying and epic tale, and I can imagine myself picking it up again before the sequel comes out.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Murder, Colonisation, Death, War, Suicide, Abandonment, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Violence, Drug use, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Racism, and Slavery
Moderate: Pregnancy, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Genocide, Suicide attempt, and Xenophobia
Minor: Gore and Death of parent
oweatherwax's review against another edition
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.0
Found the plot very predictable, this book was full of film sci-fi clichés and no description. This book is nothing new, it could be easily mistaken for Dune or Trek or star wars. There was no exploratiom of deeper themes, a couple of glaring errors, such as wounds miraculously healing or wrong ghosts for the time period. I doubt this book was properly proofread. Not impressed.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Genocide, Suicide, War, and Xenophobia
Moderate: Cursing, Death of parent, Police brutality, Slavery, Blood, Confinement, Antisemitism, Grief, Abandonment, Body horror, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Sexual content
Minor: Suicide attempt, Rape, Pregnancy, and Abandonment
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