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abby_can_read's review against another edition
- 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
Overall, I had a good time reading this book. It was a cute and there were parts that kept me entertained.
Graphic: Child abuse and Ableism
Moderate: Death of parent, Body horror, Violence, and Domestic abuse
Minor: Transphobia, War, and Homophobia
book_gremlin42's review against another edition
- 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
4.0
Moderate: Child abuse, Ableism, and Body horror
bree_h_reads's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Child abuse, and Ableism
Moderate: Genocide, Animal death, Confinement, and Animal cruelty
Minor: Racism, Religious bigotry, Xenophobia, and Colonisation
scrubsandbooks's review
- 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
It was a cute story, I laughed a whole lot at many moment, and thoroughly enjoyed myself. This one is a good one if you’re looking for an East Asian setting that would make for a quick easy read without an overly convoluted plot. The climax though seemed to drag one and a few twists were more on the predictable side.
Graphic: Body horror, Ableism, Domestic abuse, Child abuse, and Violence
Moderate: Animal death, War, and Homophobia
Minor: Confinement and Vomit
mezzythedragon's review against another edition
2.75
But yay for not-so-subtle BTS references,
Moderate: Child abuse and Ableism
vicwaltz's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I think the biggest thing is that the novel reads like a middle-grade targeted anime but that's not how it's marketed. The premise is super interesting and I really want to love it but I just don't. That said, I think if this reaches the audience of younger teens/tweens, it will be well received.
Specific to the audiobook: The narration does a phenom job bringing the characters to life! Excellent quality.
Graphic: Death, Child abuse, and Ableism
sarahyjackson's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
I found myself sort of rushing through the climactic event scenes but I sort of felt that way in Sailor Moon, too. Sometimes it really do be the friends and hero you make and become along the way.
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Ableism, Body horror, Child abuse, Death, and Emotional abuse
Minor: Lesbophobia
noellelovesbooks's review against another edition
4.25
This is my first read by S. Jae-Jones and WOW it was great! Such beautiful and intricate world building, characters that are easy to relate to and love. We get to meet a cast of, mostly under 18 year old's, who are finding out they have the weight of the world on their shoulders. Being a teen is hard enough but imagine trying to save the people you love from possession and destruction?
Fantastic read and I can't wait to see what will happen in the continuing books!
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Genocide, Confinement, Transphobia, Animal death, Violence, Body horror, Child death, Death of parent, Ableism, and Homophobia
bookswithmick's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
This is not age appropriate for any group of people. The characters act like ten year olds and are EXTREMELY juvenile and immature, and yet they're also making sex jokes constantly and talking about porn. It is both very middle grade and very adult and YA readers are not going to jive with it, even though they're technically in the middle. Who wants to read about kids with the maturity of ten year olds making porn jokes? Certainly not me. And "joke" is a strong word. Nothing in this was funny.
The plot wasn't the worst, but it also was not original. It didn't even start until like 30% in, and by then I was so irritated it was hard to get into it. The world could have been good, but it wasn't explored much because we just had to constantly hear about Zhara having the "good-looking giggles" every. single. time. she saw someone she found attractive. A lot that happened was repetitive and I've absolutely read in plenty of other books, the characters were obnoxious, the hints at the plot twists were blatantly obvious, and it was all just very poorly executed. Could've been decent even though it was unoriginal, but the writing was so bland and repetitive that i just ended up hating every moment.
Also why is BTS randomly in this?? There's a boy band that shows up super far into the story and is very obviously BTS and it just doesn't fit at all with anything that has happened. It felt kinda weird and off.
The last thing, and one that I really struggled with: for a book that's supposed to have good representation, it does NOT. Yes, there are LGBTQ+ characters and nonbinary pronouns and that was all good. We love a queernorm world. However, there is a disabled character that was represented in a way that made me really uncomfortable. I do not have this disability so my opinion may be skewed, but she was made out to be completely useless by most of the characters for the ENTIRE book, solely because of her disability. She is defined by that alone. I couldn't tell you anything else about her besides her disability, and that's just depressing to write in this review. Don't distill someone's entire essence down to a disability!
Furthermore, the MMC is constantly put down and made fun of for being stupid and vapid. Constantly. I can't even count the number of times they told him, to his face and behind his back, that he was thick (dumb) and too obsessed with working out/his appearance and that some people liked to be around him because he was too stupid to notice anything or be a problem. WTF??? Mocking intelligence is not cute and it's not funny and is NOT something we should be encouraging in a joking manner in a YA book (he's also made fun of for not understanding porn; no idea why that was in there at all and it made me feel super weird and icky).
Obviously I am heated. This book was bad on so many levels and I honestly cannot think of anybody to recommend it to, since the characters act like actual children while also making very inappropriate "jokes" for children. And with the way some characters are treated, i just....cannot recommend this.
The good? The cover is colorful. I liked that. And i liked the concept. The execution was just not there.
Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the ALC. I feel bad I disliked it as much as I did but such is life sometimes.
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Ableism, and Child abuse
Moderate: Body shaming
ezwolf's review against another edition
- 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
4.0
The way the author used English to mimic how characters would have spoke in other languages was so interesting and gave it a unique quality. The magic system, while similar to others I've read about, still felt different than what I've read before.
I loved that both Zhara and Han had younger siblings that they were fighting to protect. And Xu! I loved Xu, they are probably my favorite character with Yuli coming in close second. Even though there was a romantic subplot with Zhara and Han, the friendship between them and Xu and Jiyi and eventually Yuli felt genuine and just as important as the romance. And the inclusion of queer characters was a delightful surprise.
The writing was a bit repetitive at times, but it didn't take away from my enjoyment of the story.
Thank you to NetGalley for making this available in exchange for an honest review!
Graphic: Ableism, Death, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, and Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Child abuse, Blood, Body horror, Alcohol, Grief, Kidnapping, and Adult/minor relationship
Minor: Homophobia, Death of parent, Animal cruelty, Alcoholism, Sexual harassment, Misogyny, and Animal death