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bigskydolphin's review against another edition
emotional
funny
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Several people have tagged this as adult/minor relationship. It's not. There is a 12 year age gap but she is 19 and he is 31. It was a quick read but I loved it and will be continuing with the series.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Vomit, Suicide, Self harm, Murder, Death, and Bullying
Minor: Death of parent
av0universe's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
3.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Self harm, Body horror, Vomit, Gore, Blood, Suicide, and Bullying
Minor: Vomit, Sexual harassment, Death, Grief, and Bullying
auri_underthing's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
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? It's complicated
4.5
Three words to describe this book: paper, crimson, crackle.
This story was adorable! And I loved the magic system.
This story was adorable! And I loved the magic system.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Suicide
Minor: Bullying
andrikkk's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
mysterious
relaxing
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
Content Warnings
Moderate: Toxic relationship, Blood, Deadnaming, Grief, Suicide, Bullying, Gore, Drug use, Body shaming, Cursing, and Gun violence
writingcaia's review
adventurous
emotional
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
4.0
Reread: and, have little else to add to my original review. Only that we have a brave and sassy female MC that really carries the story with her wittiness and good heart.
I can't understand such bad reviews. This is a well thought fantasy story with intriguing and super creative magic, world building, and characters, whom although not extensively introduced still made me feel close to them, especially as the book goes. It is a short book and maybe could have been more descriptive to introduce more details and depth however I still really enjoyed it. Can't wait for the next one.
I can't understand such bad reviews. This is a well thought fantasy story with intriguing and super creative magic, world building, and characters, whom although not extensively introduced still made me feel close to them, especially as the book goes. It is a short book and maybe could have been more descriptive to introduce more details and depth however I still really enjoyed it. Can't wait for the next one.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Violence, Gore, and Body horror
Moderate: Suicide
Minor: Bullying
thelizzielibrary's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Were you looking for a Magic School Bus look inside of the heart? This is that book. Typically, one character on a solo mission can be boring, but this was great! I wish I hadn't had the Magic School Bus theme song in my head the whole time though...
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Bullying, Child death, Confinement, Death, Gaslighting, Murder, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Violence
linguisticfanatic's review against another edition
At first I was totally fine with the story. The world and magic interested me even if the MC annoyed me. I was totally fuming when on the first night of the MC being in her teacher's house she thinks about confronting him the next day about what he was working on in his office because "I don't like secrets."? You barely know each other's names! You're in his house! It's his own office! So what if he's working until the early hours of the morning?
All of that aside, I was interested to see the world that was in this book and where things were going. It was obvious to me that there was something going on with the adults in the world and I was willing to be invested in their actions while putting up with a 19 year old moping about her lot in life.
I was going along fine until Lira decided to steal Emery's heart. I was fine rolling with the stolen heart thing. When the adult magicians showed up I was hoping they'd do something to keep Emery going while we got to see what the different professions can do when working together. What type of police force do they have? How about intelligence? It was mentioned early on that paper folding was used for spying, so would we get to see these other 11 paper magicians help in some way? How about medical stuff? What could they do with a person missing a heart, but there are still metal and plastic magicians to pull from.
All of that would've been great to read through. Instead, we have our MC decide that she with her tiny folded birds and fish are going to traipsing off to find Lira and steal Emery's heart back. Even though I was rolling my eyes, I was at the 30%ish mark so I figured that it would just be an adventure in stupidity. I was thinking she'd get trounced and drag herself back home in disgrace, but instead I've been making my way through the 4 valves of his heart watching memories I don't care about. I'm currently in the 3rd valve at the 67% mark and dreading that there's still another valve to go through full of memories to watch and I just can't do it anymore.
I don't care to spend my time with a character I don't like watching memories one after the other. Ceony knows that she can't interact with the memories (outside of select moments) and yet she still goes up to each memory talking and trying to touch things. I can't deal with the stupidity anymore.
There was so much I could see good about where this story could've gone. There was just a very poor choice of storytelling mechanic used for too much of the book for me to stay interested.
All of that aside, I was interested to see the world that was in this book and where things were going. It was obvious to me that there was something going on with the adults in the world and I was willing to be invested in their actions while putting up with a 19 year old moping about her lot in life.
All of that would've been great to read through. Instead, we have our MC decide that she with her tiny folded birds and fish are going to traipsing off to find Lira and steal Emery's heart back. Even though I was rolling my eyes, I was at the 30%ish mark so I figured that it would just be an adventure in stupidity. I was thinking she'd get trounced and drag herself back home in disgrace, but instead I've been making my way through the 4 valves of his heart watching memories I don't care about. I'm currently in the 3rd valve at the 67% mark and dreading that there's still another valve to go through full of memories to watch and I just can't do it anymore.
I don't care to spend my time with a character I don't like watching memories one after the other. Ceony knows that she can't interact with the memories (outside of select moments) and yet she still goes up to each memory talking and trying to touch things. I can't deal with the stupidity anymore.
There was so much I could see good about where this story could've gone. There was just a very poor choice of storytelling mechanic used for too much of the book for me to stay interested.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood and Body horror
Minor: Bullying
whirl's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Enjoyable book, but feels a bit lacking in something.. not sure what. Interesting take on paper magic, but also a bit too childish in parts
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood and Confinement
Moderate: Gore, Violence, and Confinement
Minor: Death and Bullying
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