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antinanco's review against another edition
- 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? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Classism, Death, Murder, Physical abuse, Torture, Sexism, Abandonment, and Adult/minor relationship
Moderate: Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Misogyny, Sexual harassment, War, Grief, Pedophilia, Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Blood
Minor: Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Stalking, Cannibalism, Cursing, and Slavery
idajoh's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
On the other hand, the plot and narrative was flat. The characters all felt oblivious and stupid. And everything was told extremely explicitly
Graphic: Animal death, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Sexism, Sexual assault, Death, Domestic abuse, Sexual harassment, Toxic friendship, Child abuse, Classism, Homophobia, Misogyny, and Toxic relationship
shushkeepitdown'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
Graphic: Misogyny, Abandonment, Death, and Sexism
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Grief, Homophobia, Classism, Bullying, and Toxic friendship
Minor: Alcohol
patslibrary'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? It's complicated
4.5
Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Classism, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infidelity, Lesbophobia, Misogyny, Murder, Outing, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Slavery, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Trafficking, and Violence
therainbowshelf'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
2.0
Graphic: Misogyny, Sexism, Murder, Death, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Slavery, Physical abuse, Lesbophobia, Homophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Domestic abuse, and Confinement
Moderate: Grief
v11_'s review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Misogyny, Sexism, Kidnapping, Murder, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Torture, and Toxic friendship
Minor: Trafficking
michellemaas'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
2.0
In terms of this being a fairytale retelling, I will give props to Kalynn Bayron in saying that the premise was quite creative, but the execution ended up lacking. My biggest caveat is that I found the story dragging along often, especially in the beginning (keep in mind that this is a relatively short book, with my version having only been 299 pages). When your short book isn't fast-faced it is a recipe for disaster.
Another problem I had was with the foreshadowing being so heavy-handed. I can appreciate the author focusing on certain aspects so that big developments don't seem to come out of anywhere, especially when you are setting up a big plot twist at the end, but I feel that it was written so obviously that the ending lacked some of the impact it was aiming for.
The last thing I want to mention is the representation. I haven't seen many fantasy books with LGBTQ+ characters as the leads and that aspect was beautifully done. Sophia and Constance were just so perfect and had me fangirling since their first encounter. I also enjoyed the parallels of Erin and Constance since it is a parallel a lot of queer people have to deal with. Some more representation comes from our lead, Sophia, being a person of color. Again, I don't find that many books come out and say: My lead is a POC and I'm proud of that (it's always "olive-skinned") so I thought that was cool.
Ultimately I would recommend you read this because the representation is something else and it's important to support stories/authors with representation, but if you're just reading it for the plot you might be disappointed.
Moderate: Abandonment, Bullying, Child death, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Lesbophobia, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexism, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, and Violence
c45p1n's review against another edition
Graphic: Homophobia, Kidnapping, Misogyny, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Abandonment and Gore
knifewifestan's review against another edition
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
Graphic: Biphobia, Bullying, Death, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Hate crime, Homophobia, Misogyny, Murder, Sexism, Sexual assault, and Toxic friendship
luna_is_superior'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? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Misogyny and Sexism
Moderate: Abandonment, Blood, Bullying, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, and Murder
Minor: Alcoholism, Mental illness, Outing, Physical abuse, Sexual harassment, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship