Reviews

While I found this book interesting, especially for about the first third of the story, there were a couple of problems with the writing and narrative that made it impossible for me to give this book over three stars and recommend it broadly to others. The first, and most immediately apparent, was the writing style. This book reads, at points, as almost fanfiction-y, oscillating wildly between being incredibly verbose and overly simplistic, often directly stating characters feelings. At first I thought that this was because of the shifting perspectives and in part that seems to be the case, but then there are chapters in which, within the chapter, the style shifts in this same way. Overall, it seems somewhat amateur-ish and the story would have been much improved by taking to heart the writing advice we have all recieved, to "show not tell." Secondly, the pacing of the ending goes completely off the rails and I wish we would have spent more time examining both what actually happened to Cora at the end of the book and the impacts of it. As it is now, readers see the world radically change without a strong understanding of what that changing actually entails. If we had spent more time world-building earlier on in the novel this fast paced ending could have felt more earned because readers would have understood what was happening, but as it is not I think some kind of change needed to be made. Finally, the depiction of graphic sexual violence against a child was somewhat excessive. While I understood the need for the description of this violence's occurance for the reader's understanding of Cora's choices late in the novel, the graphicness of this depiction seemed a bit too gratuitous and I wish there would have been some distancing of the reader from this violence. I understand the potential arguments one could make for the detailed depiction of this violence in some cases, but in this instance it felt unnecessary and I wish that the author would have portrayed the violence in a different way, as I think that the gravity of those experiences could have been understood through less detailed description.

As a side note, I feel that this book being pitched as a Hades and Persephone retelling only does a disservice to this book. People who come to this novel looking for a Hades and Persephone retelling will not get it, please look into the actual content of the book. While this didn't bother me, I could see how someone may feel like they are not getting the story they were sold.

Content Warnings

manji's review against another edition

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adventurous dark medium-paced

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? Yes

3.75

story_goblin's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes

This book is very intense. It’s about finding our own voice through everything that has happened to us. Despite the way she was raised, despite the abuse she suffered, through it all, the protagonist made her own decision in the end. Due to some of my own experiences, it was important to me to see her choose which aspects of her upbringing and abuse to reject and which aspects to mold into her chosen self. I am generally wary of stories that involve abuse because most oversimplify the healing process and/or over-focus on the trauma. This book did neither of those things. It does not pull punches about her abuse, but it also does not spend pages detailing the horrific details. It does not victim-blame, but it does allow the victim to be a complex, complicated person. Who are is not solely dependent on what happened to us, nor is what happened to us insignificant in the crafting of ourselves.

Content Warnings

emily_van's review against another edition

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2.0

Ultimately I’m rating the book so low because the violence and sexual violence felt gratuitous to me, and made the perspective and time shifts even more jarring.

suzea's review against another edition

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adventurous dark tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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