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3.63 AVERAGE
3.63 AVERAGE
dark
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Love the complexities of the plotting and the magic system hate the politics pushed.
I really wanted to love this book, and while reading I thought 4 🌟 maybe 3.5 🌟 depending on how some topics are handled. There I mean the cop stuff. Because I clocked that pro cop stuff so fast.
But I thought about the politics pushed, unfortunately, because I felt uneasy. And I ruined it so I'm going to stop now.
I really enjoyed reading it. The magic system is genuinely original and interesting. The writing style quite good honestly even if the French omnipresence of the world building pissed me mainly because I'm French. But the politics GOD.
Good point though, there is a discussion about identity and consent throughout the book that is really interesting and honestly kept me reading. I don't know if it's good DID rep though. However the discussion about content and who you are because of your relationships and actions are the best part of this book and the only reason it's getting more than 2 🌟.
We have this backstory of how Rejuv (an elixir that keeps you young) is made. It's inhumain. And it's dropped. Never touched on again ??
There's this subplot about the MC being from a colonised land and basically enslaved by the former Emperor and yet we never touch on the geopolitical implications?
There's no discussions on colonisation?? It would be fine but it's central to the MC's development.
Or worst, it's actually fine if they were colonised because they did horrible shit.
The plot is basically finding who killed the old emperor, and deciding which of the 4 (i forgot exactly how many) INSANE sons is fit to be emperor. (Spoiler none.) And yet there is no discussion of empire??
And it's not that the author doesn't recognise empire as bad but that she made it personal somewhat ? I do not need to be raped, manipulated and see my family be murdered to understand that this particular empire is bad. I mean, valid reason. But logic works too.
Maybe I'm biased because I've literally taken multiple college classes discussing empire but I feel it should have at least been mentioned.
I believe from clues around the book, especially the lowtown Vs uptown folks, that they live under capitalism. And yet, for a book discussing politics, there is very little discussion (one) about how the empire should be ruled or about wealth inequality. The MC talks multiple time about how money is tight etc. but the only discussion about why isat the end when they basically say, "oh well, it was those crazy men who made it so unequal. And forced me to wear extravagant clothing and impose tariffs. Now everything is going to be fine" ??
Then, sorry but was that book pro cop? I get that the "Firedrinkers" are literally forced to obey orders but sorry wtf did the whole 2nd part of the book implied. That was basically pro cop, very "oh but the Nazis in WW2 only obeyed orders".
And I'm open to someone PLEASE explaining that actually it's not pro cop.
And it's not even talking about the weird "written by a thin white women for thin white women" feeling I got throughout the book.
Overall, I feel like the good point, (magic system which is genuinely extremely interesting and the details of the political plots) are overshadowed by the very right wing politics that are pushed.
I want to give it 3 🌟 or more but I genuinely cannot with the discussion around empire.
I really wanted to love this book, and while reading I thought 4 🌟 maybe 3.5 🌟 depending on how some topics are handled. There I mean the cop stuff. Because I clocked that pro cop stuff so fast.
But I thought about the politics pushed, unfortunately, because I felt uneasy. And I ruined it so I'm going to stop now.
I really enjoyed reading it. The magic system is genuinely original and interesting. The writing style quite good honestly even if the French omnipresence of the world building pissed me mainly because I'm French. But the politics GOD.
Good point though, there is a discussion about identity and consent throughout the book that is really interesting and honestly kept me reading. I don't know if it's good DID rep though. However the discussion about content and who you are because of your relationships and actions are the best part of this book and the only reason it's getting more than 2 🌟.
We have this backstory of how Rejuv (an elixir that keeps you young) is made. It's inhumain. And it's dropped. Never touched on again ??
There's this subplot about the MC being from a colonised land and basically enslaved by the former Emperor and yet we never touch on the geopolitical implications?
There's no discussions on colonisation?? It would be fine but it's central to the MC's development.
Or worst, it's actually fine if they were colonised because they did horrible shit.
The plot is basically finding who killed the old emperor, and deciding which of the 4 (i forgot exactly how many) INSANE sons is fit to be emperor. (Spoiler none.) And yet there is no discussion of empire??
And it's not that the author doesn't recognise empire as bad but that she made it personal somewhat ?
Maybe I'm biased because I've literally taken multiple college classes discussing empire but I feel it should have at least been mentioned.
I believe from clues around the book, especially the lowtown Vs uptown folks, that they live under capitalism. And yet, for a book discussing politics, there is very little discussion (one) about how the empire should be ruled or about wealth inequality. The MC talks multiple time about how money is tight etc. but the only discussion about why is
Then, sorry but was that book pro cop? I get that the "Firedrinkers" are literally forced to obey orders but sorry wtf did the whole 2nd part of the book implied. That was basically pro cop, very "oh but the Nazis in WW2 only obeyed orders".
And I'm open to someone PLEASE explaining that actually it's not pro cop.
And it's not even talking about the weird "written by a thin white women for thin white women" feeling I got throughout the book.
Overall, I feel like the good point, (magic system which is genuinely extremely interesting and the details of the political plots) are overshadowed by the very right wing politics that are pushed.
I want to give it 3 🌟 or more but I genuinely cannot with the discussion around empire.
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I wanted to like this book, but I didn’t. The writing was very unclear and I didn’t know what was going on half of the time. Also the backstories and characters still make absolutely no sense. The ending is also unresolved.
The book is also extremely ableist, transphobic, and fatphobic. It was also very discriminatory toward sex workers and used pedophilia, rape, and abusing women for shock value.
Overall it’s just bad
The book is also extremely ableist, transphobic, and fatphobic. It was also very discriminatory toward sex workers and used pedophilia, rape, and abusing women for shock value.
Overall it’s just bad
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
I wanted to like this more than I did. I don’t know if it was because I listened to the audiobook, but I found it confusing and hard to follow all the way. I did enjoy the unique and diverse representation happening in this book!
dark
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Slow start, but it’s worth pushing through! The ending is great and I learned to appreciate the bone ghosts.
This book made me feel like I was being actively tortured.
dark
emotional
mysterious
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:
Yes
Honestly, this book was quite confusing and a bit hard to follow. I had to restart it multiple times to understand what was going on. It did have a unique magic system and complex characters, but the complexity of the characters made them difficult to relate to. It wasn't my favorite book of the year, but it wasn't the worst I've read so far. Perhaps, at a later date, I can revisit this novel and do another review.
challenging
dark
reflective
tense
medium-paced
I can't say I'd ever experienced slow-burn fatphobia in a book before, but now I have! Idk, if I wrote a cool world and innovative magic system with a fairly unique premise, I simply...wouldn't ruin it by having the described-as-curvy (the only curvy woman in a society where everyone else is tall and thin and being that way is fashionable/desireable, as noted in chapter ONE, mind you) MC think about the largeness and abnormality of her body all the time. Do thin people (like the author) think that's how fat people live? I promise, we don't all constantly think about our bodies. We don't all have internalized fatphobia, either. And the punchline was "fat" finally getting used twice as an insult against the MC near the end by a main antagonist, very much with triumph, like the author had just been waiting to do it and had restrained herself the whole book to that point.
The above might not register if you're a straight-sized person, so make your own call about reading this book. There's lots of well-written shit and you might love it. I just don't think the author had to punch down and worse, I doubt she even realizes she did it. Fellow fat folks, read at your own risk because I clocked that shit from EARLY and was unsurprised to google the author when I was 75% through the book and find out she was skinny.
The above might not register if you're a straight-sized person, so make your own call about reading this book. There's lots of well-written shit and you might love it. I just don't think the author had to punch down and worse, I doubt she even realizes she did it. Fellow fat folks, read at your own risk because I clocked that shit from EARLY and was unsurprised to google the author when I was 75% through the book and find out she was skinny.
This was... hm.
I've been trying to plot out this review in my head (because, honestly? At the halfway point, I was pretty sure I was going to DNF, still not sure if I would've rather done that), but I can't seem to find the words to fully express my thoughts.
Did I hate this? No.
Did I LIKE this? I... don't know.
I liked parts of this, but not enough to make me go, "Yes. I need this book for my bookshelf. I need to annotate everything and thumb through the pages."
I think one of my biggest problems with this book is that it's hard to follow at times. That, and not everything is readily explained? I mean, there are reveals as the story goes on and there's a lot of exposition dumps, but there were still things that made me go, "Uh, when exactly was that explained in the story?" Even once I finished it, I was left with a lot of questions and this feeling of... dissatisfaction. Like, honestly, by the halfway point, you kind of figure out where the story is headed anyway and it's just a matter of getting the characters there, too. So, there's that, but also following around unlikable characters and being expected to root for them is a bit difficult. Especially if they're not that interesting.
This was all just a rambling way to say that I don't really know how to feel about this book fully, but I know I won't re-read it.
I've been trying to plot out this review in my head (because, honestly? At the halfway point, I was pretty sure I was going to DNF, still not sure if I would've rather done that), but I can't seem to find the words to fully express my thoughts.
Did I hate this? No.
Did I LIKE this? I... don't know.
I liked parts of this, but not enough to make me go, "Yes. I need this book for my bookshelf. I need to annotate everything and thumb through the pages."
I think one of my biggest problems with this book is that it's hard to follow at times.
Spoiler
Because Charm split her consciousness into separate lifeforms outside of her own body, there are times that they'll switch POVs mid-page, which can be a bit confusing. For example, it'll be like "Pride did x." New paragraph. "Pain did x." I think I get why it was done that way (maybe?); it might have been to clue the reader into the fact that these are all just Charm's thoughts, just separate. Or something?Spoiler
I do understand that the whole of this book is dealing with trauma and grief and how by cutting yourself off from it, ignoring it, or pushing it onto someone else, you not only never really heal, but you end up getting more hurt and hurting the people around you, too. But it just didn't feel fully satisfying to me. Especially because I didn't give a shit who killed the Emperor. There was a point where Charm and Lady are arguing about how the Emperor turned her into a prostitute and how Charm's like, "Well he saved my life and he wasn't as bad as he could've been." Like? I don't know. Maybe it was just her trying to justify it to herself, but it was still questionable. That, or the author didn't quite do what they set out to do.This was all just a rambling way to say that I don't really know how to feel about this book fully, but I know I won't re-read it.