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kwthor'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? It's complicated
3.75
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Child abuse, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Racism, Violence, Slavery, and Homophobia
Minor: Cursing
sarahbholm's review
- 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: Xenophobia, Racism, Slavery, Mental illness, Trafficking, Hate crime, and Genocide
Moderate: Drug use, Drug abuse, and Mental illness
mcfeinics'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: Racism, Classism, and Xenophobia
Moderate: Slavery and Physical abuse
jcruppert's review
- 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: Animal cruelty, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Violence, Religious bigotry, Genocide, Mental illness, Death of parent, Gore, Addiction, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Slavery, Animal death, Classism, War, Death, Physical abuse, and Self harm
vdspreads's review
- 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
The commentary on religious zealots and government policy is front and center in this adventure that leads to rebellion. Other themes include racism with supremacy, misogyny, and sexuality. Forest's storytelling combines all these through the lens of discovery for Elloren, her siblings, and friends.
Graphic: Bullying, Xenophobia, Torture, Slavery, Misogyny, Trafficking, Sexual harassment, and Racism
Moderate: Animal cruelty
Minor: Homophobia
crystalsparkles'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
3.5
Graphic: Death, Homophobia, Slavery, Violence, Classism, Colonisation, Bullying, Death of parent, Misogyny, Forced institutionalization, Racism, War, Murder, Religious bigotry, Animal cruelty, Genocide, and Medical trauma
intothestarrysea's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
It started out really rough (I mean, the MC is super privileged and doesn’t realize her race are Nazis), but I’m surprised at the character growth. Elleoren seldom has the “right” reaction and makes a lot of mistakes, but she grows.
Still not a fan of the author’s writing style though. I really wanted to edit this one.
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Misogyny, Xenophobia, Slavery, Homophobia, Colonisation, Bullying, Sexism, Religious bigotry, Racial slurs, and Racism
frantically's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.25
Graphic: Addiction, Religious bigotry, Self harm, War, Bullying, Drug abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, and Xenophobia
Moderate: Animal death, Child death, Confinement, Misogyny, Animal cruelty, Murder, Deportation, Forced institutionalization, Slavery, and Torture
Minor: Rape and Sexual violence
bookishfaye's review
I went into this expecting something really fun & epic & witches and warlocks and dragons and werewolves & elves and fae & a magic school & that sounded like fucking eeevverrything but…. Dear god did this one ever take a turn…
The first hundred pages it became clear that this was going to be a story about realizing your people are the bad ones and you’ve been lied too; it was kinda vague in the early stages and that can go a lot of ways & mean a lot of things so I was like period okay okay let’s see where the author goes with this. The next 100 pages then showcase the most vile metaphors for racism that mirror our world but in a fantasy world in ways that are so incredibly fucking odd & obviously written by a white person?? Like the white coded/white saviour protagonist is wildly sheltered and naive and doesn’t understand why so many people hate her and are terrified of her (though the audience catches on real quick that it’s because they are oppressed by her people/family etc). In one scene, she is pushed by a child of one of the mixed races who then refers to her as a “black roach” & the whitecoded MC “flinches at the racial insult” & I- …. What the fuck???? Also the main army in this book is absolutely coded to be the nazi regime down to the symbol on the uniforms. I just don’t care to see where this author is going with this story, because at this point it is clear to me she didn’t do the proper research to go about representing things with grace and is talking about things that she doesn’t understand & being fucking disrespectful about it. This is not even including the homophobic coded world of women needing to be “wandmated” to a male love interest while they are still children, & if they don’t remain faithful to this pairing they are whipped & put into like… slavery??? Also the 2014 era girl on girl hatred is just eyeroll. This is just an incredibly strange and disgusting way to go about representing racism.
Graphic: Homophobia, Misogyny, Colonisation, Confinement, Antisemitism, Bullying, Classism, Racism, Racial slurs, and Slavery
ka_ke's review
- 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
People like to say the Deadly Education or Zodiac Academy series are adult Harry Potter, but I think the Black Witch Chronicles are a better comparison.
Graphic: Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Slavery, Trafficking, Bullying, Xenophobia, Body horror, Classism, Colonisation, Racism, Religious bigotry, Animal cruelty, Grief, Racial slurs, Violence, Homophobia, and Physical abuse
Moderate: Child abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, and War
Minor: Death of parent