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aseel_reads's review against another edition
Moderate: Death, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual content, Violence, Medical content, Grief, Abandonment, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Minor: Death of parent and Pregnancy
talonsontypewriters's review against another edition
- 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
2.75
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Racism, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Colonisation, and Classism
Minor: Animal death, Genocide, Gun violence, Homophobia, Incest, Infertility, Rape, Sexual content, Slavery, Suicide, Excrement, Vomit, and Lesbophobia
puttingwingsonwords's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
The pacing problems combined with occasional awkward writing make me think the main fault of this book is that it was under-edited, which is a shame.
Graphic: Death, Gore, Racism, Violence, Blood, Religious bigotry, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Child death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Incest, Slavery, Grief, Death of parent, and Pregnancy
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Lesbophobia, and Fire/Fire injury
Racial slurs for fantasy racescatsandbookspluspup's review against another edition
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
2.5
Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Kidnapping, and Injury/Injury detail
shottel's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Graphic: Body horror, Chronic illness, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Miscarriage, Racism, Violence, Blood, Religious bigotry, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Moderate: Child death, Confinement, Homophobia, Incest, Infertility, Racial slurs, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Kidnapping, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Colonisation
Minor: Slavery, Vomit, Medical content, and War
juan_adhd_reading's review against another edition
- 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
3.5
I hope this review won’t be too long, so I’ll start with the positive, which is Gabriela’s amazing world building skills. The world of Venazia and Fedria felt so vivid and it was incredibly detailed. The remarkable amount of effort she put in developing everything from politics, to mythology, to the familial and inter species relationships that we witnessed. You can just tell everything came from a place of love, and I greatly appreciate that. The fact that the world is latine inspired really helped me visualize everything, as it came really close to my own home. I would definitely read the second book in the series as the story was intriguing and original.
I also want to praise her realistic portrayal of colonization, and how its effects are felt even generations after “liberation”. Eva’s journey and perspective is really valuable, showing the efforts needed to decolonize one self, and the trauma it can carry.
My main issues with this book were the pacing and the characters. Firstly, the first third or I would even say half of this book can be really slow and challenging to read. This is because it focuses mainly on the world building and developing character’s relationships and goals, rather than advancing the plot. That being said, after it picks up, it does so wonderfully, as the rest of the book is full of action, adventure, tension, magic, and drama.
As for the characters, it was incredibly hard for me to love them. For the majority of the book, the goals of most of the characters are selfish, naive and stupid; their actions, despicable (sometimes even downright evil). However, the place from which they make these terrible decisions is one of desperation, lack of autonomy and grief. So while I don’t agree with their actions, most of the times I do understand them.
Here’s a rundown of what I think of each character:
Reina follows suit, and while I do agree her character is way more understandable and redeemable than Javier, she should’ve faced more consequences for her actions. It’s because of her that seven women were brutally murdered, and undoubtedly even more of the ones initially mistaken as Damas del Vacío, without even mentioning the countless infanticides. Yet she gets to be Ches’ hero, the one who stopped Ramaghut, so she doesn’t face any repercussions.
Eva didn’t do anything as dastardly, but she definitely had her flaws, including her incredible naïveté, and lack of action when it’s needed the most (think, when she didn’t defend Doña Rosa).
Maior is by far the most likable, lovable character of the bunch. Although it is acknowledged that initially she was racist to Reina (and called her a duskling, which would be a slur in this world) at the time she was also kidnapped by her, so... And it is pretty obvious that she grows by the end, and does not hold these views any longer (which were mostly forced on her by the hyper religious, racist culture of the Apartaderos).
I have nothing to say of Celeste, except the way she treated Reina with an air of superiority all the time, even when she calls her a friend, annoyed me to no end. I was really glad this was also acknowledged in the last chapter.
Though at the end all characters grew, it was definitely an effort to enjoy the story because of them. At the end of the book, I would say they are at a place where I would enjoy their continuing growth if I read the next book.
Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Toxic relationship, Kidnapping, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Ableism, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Racism, Slavery, Suicide, Religious bigotry, Car accident, and Colonisation
Minor: Emotional abuse, Incest, and Death of parent
tigger89's review against another edition
- 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 dual-PoV was done very well. I found the two voices to be distinct, and the characters were believable. Sometimes they did foolish things — very foolish things — but those mistakes seemed natural. The supporting characters were also excellent(Maior was my favorite, by the end). I'm not sure what I think about Javier. I feel like I know where the author is taking his arc, and I think it's going to annoy me. I'd say he's honestly the biggest weakness of the entire book for me, because he leans on tropes — the sick boy, the jerk, the master manipulator — that I'm not a huge fan of, and yet he's so central. Fortunately he's not the only relationship present, so that softens the annoyance a bit, and the fact that Maior exists almost cancels his unpleasantness out.
The author is also an illustrator and has drawn her five primary characters. They appear in the book, some at the start of part 1 and some at part 2, and can also be viewed on her website. If you're a visual reader like me, I recommend checking all five portraits before you start reading so your brain performance of the book doesn't do any odd recasting. There is sapphic rep here, though in this first book at least it's predominantly incessant longing with some small payoff near the very end. The author claims that the next book will be spicier, so I imagine it will get more development later.
The book has frequent action sequences, mixing physical combat with spellcasting. This is going to be a weird comparison, because the settings and plots are nothing alike — not to mention I trust this author more than I trust Cassandra Clare — but whenever the characters were fighting I kept getting Shadowhunters vibes. In a good way. Don't @ me, I said it was weird.
Moderate: Body horror, Child death, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Racism, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Alcohol, and Colonisation
Minor: Genocide, Homophobia, Incest, Infertility, Slavery, Death of parent, War, and Injury/Injury detail
lanid's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Moderate: Body horror, Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Slavery and Pregnancy
blacksphinx'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
4.0
This is a book about people making bad decisions under duress, and by the end I think it may be fair to say one of our PoVs is a villain protagonist. The story set into motion by these events is fascinating, and I want to watch these girls become both better and worse.
(I wanted to give this book five stars, but people constantly keeping secrets from each other + a really annoying love triangle dragged it down.)
Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Incest, Racism, Violence, Xenophobia, Grief, Death of parent, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Sexual assault, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Religious bigotry, and Classism
Minor: Child death, Homophobia, Infertility, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, and War
booksthatburn's review against another edition
Moderate: Violence and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Slavery and Sexual harassment