Reviews with content warning for Body horror - Las que estamos muertas

I've finished the series and I truly want to encourage everyone to read these books. Each one is better than the last. 🥺
This series is truly focused on action and all little plot twists and new revelations. The writing is impeccable and truly makes you hope there was a movie to visualize all these wonderful places and creatures (Forna said they are thinking about it!).
This book serves to create a vivid image of Otera (and characters) on which the sequels build upon. I love that the book is not confusing at all and it's easy to keep up even though it's YA high fantasy. 💚

The first book explores many heavy topics but the sequels less so. Check TWs!

I love that there isn't any drama with friendships/relationships as everyone loves one another to their last breath. You can just focus on the story line and not worry about petty drama. Also with each book they are more diverse (queer, non-binary)

Trigger warnings:
torture, misogyny (extreme religious patriarchy), racism (at the beginning), sexual violence (other characters talk about their experience or we are aware that some others experienced it but nothing happens to FMC or is on page; it's mostly discussed in this book, mentioned in 2nd one, and 3rd not at all), war, death of a parent, body-horror (blood, death, murder)

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thethingwithfeathers's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.25

Loved the concept/magic system. Love female friendships. Love girls with rage. Belcalis <3

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coffeeandcrafts's review against another edition

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adventurous 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? No

3.0

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a_bow's review against another edition

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adventurous dark hopeful inspiring reflective tense fast-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? No

4.0

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rubybereading's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious sad tense fast-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

5.0

OMG!! Wow wow wow!! This was intense. This took me almost a full month to finish because I was reading a few other (very much LESS intense) books at the same time. Turns out, those other books served as perfect palate cleansers in between all the heavy subject matters, plot, and character treatment and especially character BUILDING of the more relevant characters of the book. This book shocked me!

I thought it was going to be very mid based on the first few chapters. Midway through, I was intrigued and enjoyed the story, thinking it was a very solid book that still left much to be desired. So, I paused reading this for a few days (a few separate times) and instead spent those times starting and or finishing a few other books that were, again, much less

"intense". Maybe I'm a lightweight. Idk. But this book was A LOT for me (first it was the colorism shoved down our throats in the first chapter, the plot jumps throughout, and then the torture and treatment the girls were going through, the heavy subject matter, the gore, etc). I ended up deciding to finish it JUST to get it over with so I could move on (since I'm trying NOT to DNF any books). And then, MY GOD (!!!). Somewhere after the halfway point, it took me to a whole nother REALM! This book turned me every which way but loose gotdamnit! And it left me wanting MORE! This book could've and probably SHOULD'VE been twice as long. That's part of my only slight criticism: there were time lapses throughout the story where the reader is just given the basic gist of what happened during the lapses instead of making it a part of the plot. The whole "telling us instead of showing us". It would've been nice to be able to read more of the character growth, experiences that enhanced her abilities, growth in strength and self-esteem, etc. Instead, there were multiple points in the story where we're told days, weeks and even months went by and something significant happened or occurred to the main character, and then the story would just continue from there. I would've preferred reading about it in detail, and definitely would not have minded if the book was even twice as long in order to do so. And I would've had to be literally peeled away from the pages! That would've made this book perfect! Still, it's a 5* for me! Having the palate cleansers and the short breaks definitely made this a better read for me though. Nonetheless, 5 star! 5 star! 5 star!!

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annniina98's review against another edition

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3.0

I was left wanting more. There were so many time skips, that you really didn't see Deka's character arc, nor the relationships building. They learned things and became friends, but it wasn't shown as it was happening. It was just told that it had happened. That left me at an arms length from everything that happened in the book. I liked it, it just had potential to be better, with like 100 pages more of the book.

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jachnax's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional inspiring 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? It's complicated

5.0

This book is so powerful, lush and thought out. I loved every page, every sentence and i will immediatly pick up the sequel.

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kiwij96's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Very YA-style writing at times, bordering on juvenile, but this book deals with some heavy themes which needed more mature writing. Definitely check the trigger warnings for this story because it deals with rape, torture, femicide, murder and gore. Generally good worldbuilding and differentiation between different cultures in this world. However, there was an unnecessary romance included and it felt massively out of place. Alao, there are only so many times you can read about girls getting dismembered and tortured.

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