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tfarfan's review
dark
hopeful
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
4.0
theswordandthesea's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.0
"You perfect calamity."
My one-sentence review: Autistic best friends find love by becoming monsters and they save the kingdom in the process.
If that doesn't make you want to read this book, here's a longer review. This. Book. Has. Everything. A dungeon crawl through hell. Mutual pining. A fat, autistic FMC who's the weirdo of her town because she invents DaVinci-like flying machines. An autistic, royal MMC who spends his life masking who he really is to fit in with the expectations of his position. Loads of mythological inspiration interwoven throughout. Religious critique! Societal critique! A magical tree.
To sum up that jumble, Alesta and Kyrian live in a society that punishes differences to heartbreaking effect. We start with Alesta fighting off a monster and end up questioning what makes a monster and who the real ones truly are.
This book was such a journey. There are some pacing issues and I can't say it was perfect, but I enjoyed myself the entire time. And I'll love Alesta and Kyrian forever. The world could use more people like the two of them.
As Schwartz says in her acknowledgments, I hope everyone who reads this "finds something to inspire them to go rebel against the real monsters, whether they're taking the form of purity culture, oppressive beauty standards, xenophobia, fatphobia, homophobia, patriarchy, or whatever small-mindedness or systems are standing in the way." That alone makes me want to read anything she publishes.
Thanks so much to Page Street Publishing & Netgalley for the eARC!
My one-sentence review: Autistic best friends find love by becoming monsters and they save the kingdom in the process.
If that doesn't make you want to read this book, here's a longer review. This. Book. Has. Everything. A dungeon crawl through hell. Mutual pining. A fat, autistic FMC who's the weirdo of her town because she invents DaVinci-like flying machines. An autistic, royal MMC who spends his life masking who he really is to fit in with the expectations of his position. Loads of mythological inspiration interwoven throughout. Religious critique! Societal critique! A magical tree.
To sum up that jumble, Alesta and Kyrian live in a society that punishes differences to heartbreaking effect. We start with Alesta fighting off a monster and end up questioning what makes a monster and who the real ones truly are.
This book was such a journey. There are some pacing issues and I can't say it was perfect, but I enjoyed myself the entire time. And I'll love Alesta and Kyrian forever. The world could use more people like the two of them.
As Schwartz says in her acknowledgments, I hope everyone who reads this "finds something to inspire them to go rebel against the real monsters, whether they're taking the form of purity culture, oppressive beauty standards, xenophobia, fatphobia, homophobia, patriarchy, or whatever small-mindedness or systems are standing in the way." That alone makes me want to read anything she publishes.
Thanks so much to Page Street Publishing & Netgalley for the eARC!
cfk95's review
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
theangrystackrat's review
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
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? No
4.5
A tale of learning to love yourself despite what society tells you. This was a wonderful story about two people who are determined to do what's right both for themselves and for their people. This was such a cool remix of a Greek myth, lots of adventure, lore, and magic. I also very much appreciated the autism rep, the fat rep, and the queer rep. We need more books like this!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Fatphobia, and Ableism
sbequette's review
3.0
This book did a wonderful job of including queerness without having a story solely about queerness. And it's everything I wanted without knowing that when I was coming into this book. It was also amazing to see autistic characters without that having to be a major part of those characters' story but still being acknowledged and being included in character moments. I will say for me I found the plot a little predictable but it was really cute and I enjoyed it. And I didn't want to put it down after I finally picked it up.
zgreyz's review
adventurous
dark
inspiring
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Homophobia, Religious bigotry, Fatphobia, Ableism, Body horror, and Blood
viivacious's review
The world building wasn't convincing me, and the way fat phobia was portrayed seemed transported from our world and not done in an organic way. It was annoying to feel like I was reading about the author's thinly disguised issues.
cryptofauna's review
adventurous
emotional
lighthearted
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.75
it was. fine? i feel like there's nothing that special to be said about this book.
honestly, it kind of made me not want to read so i spent a lot more time on my phone this week. allegedly queer but there are like two lesbian couples (side characters). Unless I somehow misread something, this is a straight romance with LGBT characters (which is okay! i just wish it was communicated better maybe)
the main character is also allegedly autistic but there is absolutley nothing to establish this in the book other than her being slightly socially awkward. truly felt like kyr was much more autistic than alesta. to establish her autism a lot of people just kind of allude to in speech that she's weird (a god says her soul is a different shape than most?) but this book could really use some more showing and less telling. [after reading some other reviews, some people are saying that kyr IS the autistic one that the blurb is talking about so that really puts into perspective how mid the rep is when they're both just vaguely quirky to the point where you can't tell whos the autistic one]
i appreciated a plus size main character which you don't see much in fantasy, and it had some interesting magic systems and world building. the romance was also sweet for the most part.
honestly, it kind of made me not want to read so i spent a lot more time on my phone this week. allegedly queer but there are like two lesbian couples (side characters). Unless I somehow misread something, this is a straight romance with LGBT characters (which is okay! i just wish it was communicated better maybe)
the main character is also allegedly autistic but there is absolutley nothing to establish this in the book other than her being slightly socially awkward. truly felt like kyr was much more autistic than alesta. to establish her autism a lot of people just kind of allude to in speech that she's weird (a god says her soul is a different shape than most?) but this book could really use some more showing and less telling. [after reading some other reviews, some people are saying that kyr IS the autistic one that the blurb is talking about so that really puts into perspective how mid the rep is when they're both just vaguely quirky to the point where you can't tell whos the autistic one]
i appreciated a plus size main character which you don't see much in fantasy, and it had some interesting magic systems and world building. the romance was also sweet for the most part.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Grief and Violence
thindbooks's review
3.5
This story follows a teen girl who goes on a journey to save her best friend. This is a cute romance book set in a fun fantasy world. Schwartz had a wonderful story laid out for this book and promised just that. I do have to say that the pacing for this book was fast so it does take a bit of time to get used to. If it was a bit slower, it would have been better to experience the world. The world was great and I enjoyed the conflicts. The story did feel a bit like fan fiction but I think that might be the text format of the arc. The characters were fun and I really enjoyed the representation in this book. The romance is LGBTQ which was cute and well-written. I recommend checking this out if you are looking for a fun adventure featuring representation.
*this arc was sent to me by the publisher to give an honest review in return*
kek513's review
adventurous
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
If 'mutual pining' is your favorite tag on AO3, you'll love this book. If you're like me and mutual pining makes your teeth grind as you yell at the characters to 'just communicate already!!!', then skip this book. The blurb makes it out to be an adventure, but it's not, it's a teenager romance. The last quarter of the book picked up and had some fun happenings, and the world building was decent, but most of the book is a predictable romance about teenagers who don't know how (or just plain refuse) to communicate their feelings. I wanted to like it more because the characters are well written and I love the neurodiversity rep, but I wish the advertising for this book made it more clear how heavily romance-centric it is.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Gore and Homophobia