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scrubsandbooks's review
Unfortunately not my cup of tea nor am I the audience for this anyway. There were some parts that were pretty interesting so if you love to see young Black teens in theatre during Elizabethan times fighting fae, you might like this. The writing just didn’t connect me.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Injury/Injury detail, and Blood
reviewsandreadathons's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
hopeful
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Death, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, and Classism
lola1229's review
adventurous
funny
hopeful
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
FANTASTIC reimagining of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”, and I sporadically LOLed through the entire story. 😍
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cultural appropriation, Classism, Racism, and Injury/Injury detail
sup3r_xn0va_maya's review
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- 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
2.75
💬:“Bia slithered into Joan’s hand, the blade vibrating at the thought of spilling more blood. Joan spread her stance and glanced around the empty street."
Williams, Brittany N.. That Self-Same Metal (The Forge & Fracture Saga, Book 1) (p. 82). Abrams. Kindle Edition.
📖Genres: fiction, teens, young adult, historical fiction, historical, romance
📚Page Count: 344
🎧Audiobook Length: 10hrs 31mins
👩🏾🏫My Rating: ⭐️⭐️ 2.75/5
That Self-Same Metal is a young adult historical action novel by Brittany N. Williams. This story has Orishas (or African Deities), acting, sword fighting, fae, and Shakespeare. The main character, Joan Sands, works for William Shakespeare's acting company with her twin brother James. Joan has the power to shapeshift metal (she keeps this a secret from everyone but her family) and she uses that ability to maintain the weapons on the play stage. After Joan kills a high ranking fae and saves a terrible man's son, the action in the book begins to start. (this happens around the 30% mark in the book.)
I found the action to be slow starting, the main plot of thetreaty being broken didn't occur until around 25% of the novel. I also found the setting to be really boring, unfortunately. Most of the time the main characters are at the acting house or at Joan Sand's family home. I just didn't get that feeling of excitement or even interest while reading this. I only finished it because it was a buddy ready with a friend.
Overall, I think the concept was interesting but I found the execution didn't quite pique my interest. I'm going to give this 2.75 out of 5 stars
⭐️⭐️.75
I listened to this audiobook for free on [Libbyapp.com]
Williams, Brittany N.. That Self-Same Metal (The Forge & Fracture Saga, Book 1) (p. 82). Abrams. Kindle Edition.
📖Genres: fiction, teens, young adult, historical fiction, historical, romance
📚Page Count: 344
🎧Audiobook Length: 10hrs 31mins
👩🏾🏫My Rating: ⭐️⭐️ 2.75/5
That Self-Same Metal is a young adult historical action novel by Brittany N. Williams. This story has Orishas (or African Deities), acting, sword fighting, fae, and Shakespeare. The main character, Joan Sands, works for William Shakespeare's acting company with her twin brother James. Joan has the power to shapeshift metal (she keeps this a secret from everyone but her family) and she uses that ability to maintain the weapons on the play stage. After Joan kills a high ranking fae and saves a terrible man's son, the action in the book begins to start. (this happens around the 30% mark in the book.)
I found the action to be slow starting, the main plot of the
Overall, I think the concept was interesting but I found the execution didn't quite pique my interest. I'm going to give this 2.75 out of 5 stars
⭐️⭐️.75
I listened to this audiobook for free on [Libbyapp.com]
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Blood, and Racism
mattyb's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Injury/Injury detail, Child death, Blood, and Violence
Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Medical content, Racial slurs, Confinement, Classism, Death, Kidnapping, and Misogyny
Minor: Sexual content, Religious bigotry, Alcohol, Vomit, and Police brutality
caseythereader's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Kidnapping, Racism, Religious bigotry, Classism, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Violence, Sexism, Alcohol, Excrement, and Injury/Injury detail
thelittlestmermaid's review against another edition
adventurous
tense
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.5
I have been working on reading this book since May, and it is now October. It did not take me this long to read due to any lack of enjoyment or entertainment, I was just more excited to read manga instead of books.
This book was very enjoyable! As a theater person whose other hobby is reading, I was thrilled to find a book that would (hopefully accurately) include theater scenes. And this book did deliver exactly that! Alongside that were fun characters, an intriguing plot, and so many mythical creatures and fae.
My two biggest gripes about this book were the entire storyline involving Cecil and the interludes featuring random people around the city. Cecil just got on my nerves and also felt unnecessary, given all the other threatening things going on. The weird side characters just interrupted the main storyline, and I found myself wanting to skip those scenes more than anything else.
I would definitely recommend this book to people who are fans of both fantasy and theater. But really, anyone who loves a good fantasy book featuring the fae would probably like this.
This book was very enjoyable! As a theater person whose other hobby is reading, I was thrilled to find a book that would (hopefully accurately) include theater scenes. And this book did deliver exactly that! Alongside that were fun characters, an intriguing plot, and so many mythical creatures and fae.
My two biggest gripes about this book were the entire storyline involving Cecil and the interludes featuring random people around the city. Cecil just got on my nerves and also felt unnecessary, given all the other threatening things going on. The weird side characters just interrupted the main storyline, and I found myself wanting to skip those scenes more than anything else.
I would definitely recommend this book to people who are fans of both fantasy and theater. But really, anyone who loves a good fantasy book featuring the fae would probably like this.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail and Violence
Minor: Alcohol
heather667's review against another edition
adventurous
lighthearted
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
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, Violence, Sexism, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Gore, Racism, Kidnapping, and Murder
Moderate: Alcohol and Misogyny
Minor: Pandemic/Epidemic, Animal cruelty, and Sexual assault
fareehareads's review
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I almost didn't finish this book. I nearly dropped in several times. But something propelled me forward to just blaze through it in one sitting after days of going back and forth with it.
The story itself follows Joan Sands and her brother James, two fae living in the Elizabethan era and working as a part of Shakespeare's acting company. James is an actor and Joan is the swords expert that teaches everyone how to fight. Their family are blessed by the Orisha, meaning all of them have special abilities, for Joan it's the ability to manipulate iron and other metals. There is a political plot in this, a group of actors with wild personalities, a male and female love interest for Joan, and some fae deaths that lead to an investigation and further choas.
All around the premise sounded so promising but where it felt flat for me was the worldbuilding and convoluted plot. It was very clear that the author was setting up this book to have some larger implications that wouldn't be explored till the next book and I wish it was less heavy handed. The focus of the task at hand kept getting lost and while Joan's motivations weren't unclear, her desires felt very strained and pulled in too many directions. She was clearly meant to be an honorable character with a sense of justice and care for her fellow family and friends. Yet she often acted for her own self interests and didn't actually make any real effort to find out why she was the only one from her family other than her uncle with the specific very important ability that could change everything. It came up and was dropped like it meant nothing.
Also her parents didn't make a lot of sense to me, her mother was hell-bent on keeping Joan from knowing things by saying "she's too young" and that didn't feel like the strongest argument considering how she was killing monsters every other day and supporting her brother completely. It felt like Joan was carrying a lot but there was 0 acknowledgment of that from everyone around her. Also Shakespeare himself being an active character was an interesting choice, but I almost wish it didn't happen at all.
I had a lot more complaints about this than I thought. Anyway a lot of this book had potential, but it really didn't stick the landing.
The story itself follows Joan Sands and her brother James, two fae living in the Elizabethan era and working as a part of Shakespeare's acting company. James is an actor and Joan is the swords expert that teaches everyone how to fight. Their family are blessed by the Orisha, meaning all of them have special abilities, for Joan it's the ability to manipulate iron and other metals. There is a political plot in this, a group of actors with wild personalities, a male and female love interest for Joan, and some fae deaths that lead to an investigation and further choas.
All around the premise sounded so promising but where it felt flat for me was the worldbuilding and convoluted plot. It was very clear that the author was setting up this book to have some larger implications that wouldn't be explored till the next book and I wish it was less heavy handed. The focus of the task at hand kept getting lost and while Joan's motivations weren't unclear, her desires felt very strained and pulled in too many directions. She was clearly meant to be an honorable character with a sense of justice and care for her fellow family and friends. Yet she often acted for her own self interests and didn't actually make any real effort to find out why she was the only one from her family other than her uncle with the specific very important ability that could change everything. It came up and was dropped like it meant nothing.
Also her parents didn't make a lot of sense to me, her mother was hell-bent on keeping Joan from knowing things by saying "she's too young" and that didn't feel like the strongest argument considering how she was killing monsters every other day and supporting her brother completely. It felt like Joan was carrying a lot but there was 0 acknowledgment of that from everyone around her. Also Shakespeare himself being an active character was an interesting choice, but I almost wish it didn't happen at all.
I had a lot more complaints about this than I thought. Anyway a lot of this book had potential, but it really didn't stick the landing.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Racism, Murder, Colonisation, Blood, and Racial slurs
Moderate: Hate crime, Bullying, and Gaslighting
Minor: Injury/Injury detail and Classism
bug_gwen's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
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? N/A
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail and Racism
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